Matchbox Mania: Meet My Fiat-Abarth 131
You all might have heard I’ve gotten a job working at a place full of car geeks. Not just car nuts, but geeks, in the most base sense of the word. Basically, it’s fantastic, although I’m busier than a Ritalin-abusing beaver. Anyways, a lot of these car geeks have decorated their workspaces with matchbox cars, and in the grand spirit of fitting in, I’ve dug about in the deepest recesses of my closet and liberated a few specimens of my suddenly quite ancient-seeming childhood. I figured as I get time, I’ll share them with you one by one. Not too much to say about this one other than OMG IT’S A FIAT-ABARTH 131 DECKED OUT IN FULL WRC LIVERY! I had such good taste as a child. Also, it has some sort of rudamentary suspension for semi-realistic minature sofa cusion rallying. I can’t believe I had this one. Anyways, I’ll share more as I get time, and feel free to use this opportunity to post up highlights of your own matchbox collection in the comments.
Related posts:
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- A Masterpiece Worth Having: The Fiat 600 derivation Abarth 750, and other spicy meatballs
- Hooniverse Fastback Friday: A Gorgeous 1959 Fiat Abarth to celebrate Black Friday.
- 1955 Abarth 207A Spider Corsa Boano
Looks well abused and loved.
My cars (Hot Wheels; Matchbox's are for toddlers), are all some 800 miles away in my dad's shop with all the other cool toys.
Actually now the Matchbox car are the ones that are almost always based on a real car model. Hot Wheels are about half real cars and half wacko oddball stuff. They are now both owned by the same company too.
Yeah, me too. Mine are in storage, too, along with my Corgis and Hot Wheels. I've got some nice ones, too.
Real Fiat 131s looked just as bad after a year or two, and they didn't need to be rallyed to get that way.
My old man bought one new, kept it for a year. Among the many disappointments was the fact that the red paint would literally rub off on the towel when drying it after a wash – no polish or abrasives, just the friction of terrycloth.
I have that exact same one sitting in a box somewhere at my folks house. I'll need to dig it and my Porsche 935 out of storage and make vroom vroom noises in the family car. I am sure my wife won't mind.
Gotta agree on that one. Hot Wheels just don't have the accuracy and feel to them. Matchbox has REAL cars, Hot Wheels is like a miniaturized version of George Barris' shop. Look okay at first, but then feel really crappy after just a few minutes of looking at them.
Dinky>Matchbox>Hot Wheels>your sister's Barbi Dream Car
You had me until that last one. Only the Barbie Dream Car made that satisfying crunching noise as it hit the landing at the bottom of the stairs.
Majorette > Matchbox at least back when I was a kid. So many of them had plastic lights, suspension, opening doors/hoods, and just felt heavy, I loved them.
Looks like it's fresh from the Dakkar. Most of mine still have most of their paint. But not for lack of trying.
I have a Matchbox 959 I bought in Belfast when I was ten. It's got treaded rubber tires and everything, very highly detailed but the usual 1/64th scale. The other day I noticed that the licence plate number is my birthday. /Twilightzone
Also, Majorette limos did the best jumps.
That would be from the Matchbox "Premiere" series.
+1.
I think ALL the FIAT Matchbox rallycars came from the factory all chipped and dented. I have a 131 on my desk with red/green stripes on white with the Alitalia livery. I can't figure out the pic-posting, so you'll have to trust me.
Can anyone help us technically challenged folk with details about how to attach a photo to a reply, it would be nice to see a few of these Matchbox and Hot Wheels treasures.
Take a look here for some quick instructions: http://hooniverse.com/2010/08/03/how-to-embed-ima…
Bam!
<img src="http://i54.tinypic.com/1nzrbd.jpg" width="600">
ur-quattros:
<img src="http://i54.tinypic.com/15484mf.jpg" width=600>
Part of the Japanese contingent:
<img src="http://i52.tinypic.com/14ea1zb.jpg" width=600>
Roller, baby! '79 Silver Shadow II
<img src="http://i52.tinypic.com/1zldwcj.jpg" width=600>
Okay, last one, lest I get completely carried away.
Black with gold Campagnolos and the wing, as nature intended:
<img src="http://i53.tinypic.com/4govm0.jpg" width=600>
Fingers crossed that this works… Some cars that this crowd would appreciate.
The Abarth, a few quattros, Porsches, a MINT Poison Pinto, a Fox Mustang, Lotus and the SpiderMan minivan with a little pic inside… and the SUPERKING QUATTRO. And when was the last time you saw an old non-aero Audi 5000??
<img src="http://i53.tinypic.com/1zbtqh5.jpg">
YAY! It pays to read instructions.
Nice Siku!
Nice spot. I got it in North Carolina in '89 while I was driving an '83 5000s in college.
I got a few more Sikus when I visited Germany in 2000.
I picked up quite a few of them when I lived in Dresden. The weekly flea market was a great place to pick up a lot of obscure models, much like the Audi you posted. I also have the wagon variant.
Oh man, you have a couple ur-quattro variants I don't! And I would punch a baby for the superking!
Like this one?
<img src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j129/hoopd87/Matchbox/IMG_0431.jpg" width="500" >
Here's one for the Škoda fans out there:
<img src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j129/hoopd87/Matchbox/IMG_0475.jpg" width="500" >
And here's a nice old Bedford lorry for good measure:
<img src="http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j129/hoopd87/Matchbox/IMG_0503.jpg"width="500" >
I have a white rally car SuperKing in a closet some where in the box. I remember buying them thinking I was the only jackass in the US who'd appreciate them. Circa 1989.
The fat-tires quattro is Majorette, #88 is a McToy quattro, the Pirelli is a generic China-built car and the Duckhams-Pirelli is area Matchbox.
Also, Alex, congrats on working with the Forza team!
Corgi Matra Rancho and Husky (Corgi's sister brand) Sunbeam Alpine
<img src="http://i612.photobucket.com/albums/tt206/sunbeammadd/c02aa9e4.jpg" width=600>
oh yes, this guy destroyed all the competition in my collection. I always thought it was some mythical car until I started watching group B rally vids on youtube and reading up on the cars. http://www.breithaupts.com/fre200mb.jpg