There are some good things coming from M2 Machines this year. Some very good things! Don’t believe me? – Then feast your eyes on this pair of 1:64 scale Studebakers that are in the works for the Auto-thentics line.

Alien Projects’ trick “Dreamliners”

No, they don’t come from outer space, but the very first offerings from Chris “Nightstalker” Walker’s Alien Projects company surely do look like something out of a time warp. Part COE tractor, part flatbed, and completely Kustom, the tandem truck rods are a natural extension of Walker’s talent for altering models - if not reality - in small scale.

Welcome To Smallville

The phrase “high detail” usually doesn’t apply to 1:64, especially when talking about mass produced models. At least, it traditionally hasn’t, until now.

Take me Home

Maybe you grew up in countrified surroundings, enjoy taking the long way home, or love the thrill of a good barn find. In any case, Greenlight’s got you covered with this set, marketed under the “County Roads” handle.

Greenlight’s “Factory Two-Packs” assortments caught our eye with attractive packaging that allows displaying the models without having to remove them from their cases.

Steel Ya

Don’t tell mama, but Greenlight Collectibles’ Black Bandit line is a cool, vaguely menacing take on a nice group of once well-behaved small scale cars.

Let’s face it… information on variations can be found all over the place (especially the Internet), and by the time you get to read the info in a magazine, it’s usually old news. So, here’s the plan: In each issue of CRM (and now, the web site), I’m going to pick a rare variation, talk to the people that worked on the model, and discuss whatever it was that caused the changes, using the information that came straight from the proverbial horse’s mouth. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many of the people behind the scenes at Mattel over the years (many of whom, like the company’s then-Senior VP at the time, Amy Boylan, were noted in the back pages of the Second Edition of my Hot Wheels Variations, The Ultimate Guide). Whether you’re a die-hard Hot Wheels collector - or a collector who just wants to learn about these highly collectible members of the Hot Wheels series - I think it’s going to be a great time, and a lot of fun.

Let’s get started.