So far, all my Matchbox cars have hailed from Italy (via Taiwan), but today’s contender is a hybrid in the primal automotive sense of the word. It’s a Hot Wheels Classic Cobra, devoid of any mention of the words AC or Shelby for reasons apparent to anyone who’s ever read the words “Carroll Shelby” and “lawsuit” in the same sentence. And despite the fact that it looks like it was once a star on the popular web series “Will it Blend?” this Cobra suffered only at my pudgy little hands, which apparently decided upon destroying all the paint. Let’s hope it wasn’t lead-based, although that would explain a few things.


It’s worth mentioning, however, that while it’s clear from the photo that the hood opens to reveal some kind of abstraction of what a 427 must look like to a Taiwanese die-cutter, they absolutely nailed the Goodyear whiteletters … made of actual rubber.

How cool is that? Why I singled this one out for particular abuse, I don’t rightly know.