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When JL's have been scarce, what other brand of diecast have you bought most?
Hot Wheels 12 (22.6%)
Matchbox 15 (28.3%)
Greenlight 13 (24.5%)
Jada 6 (11.3%)
Other 7 (13.2%)
Total Votes: 53
What do you buy when JL is not on pegs?
Topic Started: Mar 18 2008, 10:55 AM (1,357 Views)
Dragnet_Supporter
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SUV
I started out last year buying more Jada, and I still grab the occassional Jada when something nice catches my eye. But lately, the brand that's interesting me the most is Matchbox. Granted, they aren't JL quality, but they have been making some leaps into more realistic castings IMHO, and being on a tight budget, I can grab a couple of MB off the pegs when I'm out for very little money, and the wife doesn't complain too much at those prices either.
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jedimario
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RAWR
I voted for all of them :lol:

I'm always picking up a little bit of everything. I even bought a 1/43 Burango Gallardo police car yesterday B)
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craftymore
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Support your local demo derby.

I've mainly bought MB when the jl pegs are absent or loaded with pegwarmers. I think in the last 16 months, I've bought at least 100 MBs. I'd agree with dragnet on this one, they don't have the quality of JL, but for the price you can't beat them. Whenever HW has some realistic castings out on the pegs, then some HWs go home with me. Motormax is another brand that I bought a lot of castings of last year in place of JLs so I forgot to check other. The jadas are too big for my likes and I'd have to travel anywhere from 35-50 miles just to see GLs on the pegs which does not guantee finding anything that I want.

Let's hope JL gets their act together and get some of the newer nicer looking castings out onto the pegs like the 73 Caprice wagon, Mark III, and the IH Scout. I'll buy every IH Scout casting that I can find. Keep your eyes out for them as I'm on the hunt for them. :P
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Lovemy1971Camaro
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Speed Junkie
I been getting Motormax and Muscle Machines. I have gotten all the R1 Muscle Machines except for the '64 GTO chase car.
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STUTZ
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Diecast junkie
I resort to buying Greenlight, Matchbox, and Hot Wheels.
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bray
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Hot stuff
Pretty much only Greenlight for me.
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Dragnet_Supporter
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SUV
I also try a bit of everything, if it looks good, or just sparks something within me. I'm buying HWs whenever i see a BWFs, that goes for pretty much any other brand BWF as well...but HWs has quite a few of these.

GL has not been overly big around here over the past year. I would see a couple of pegwarmers at Target, and just didn't bother, except for one recent BWFs Road Runner from the Pinks series. This looked a lot like a JL until I opened it to find mismatched tires between front and rear, and a front axle that moves quite freely from one side to the other when the car is turned. From all I've heard about GL, this really looked like a poor man's JL to me.

I agree jada is a bit large. I've sort of kept the ones I bought last year in their own case, seperate from the other 1/64s, which got to be a bit of a pain.

That's why I am now settling on MB as a nice secondary choice. My expectations were not high for these before, but some nice little surprises kept pulling my eye to them in the diecast isle. Finally, I just broke down and started buying a couple here and there. This is a new avenue for me, but if they continue to keep coming out with the sort of realistic castings they are doing lately, I'll keep letting them trickle into my collection :thumbup:
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DadsCoronet
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DadsCoronet
HW I'm very picky about. If it's a BWF, it's bought.
I agree with what others are saying about MB. There are some neat castings being done by them.
For "other", I mean Castline - they make the M2 Machines AutoThentics. Very nice detail on those castings.
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eyecandy
Compact
jedimario
Mar 18 2008, 12:16 PM
I voted for all of them :lol:

I'm always picking up a little bit of everything. I even bought a 1/43 Burango Gallardo police car yesterday B)

me too. I buy based on the car, not the brand. Heck, if I find a Ford GT in a .49 walgreens special, i'd buy that!! I didnt like jada at first, but theve grown on me, theyve been getting a little more stock, which is good.
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roadwarrior
Station Wagon
Whatever I like ;)
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
Johnny Lightning's never been my only brand. I grew up on Hot Wheels and Matchbox (with Majorette probably being in third place as a kid- everything else was basically "cheap junk" to my Mom and she rarely purchased off brands for me). I've had Racing Champions in my collection since they first came out in 1989 with a set of 6 NASCAR stock cars. Likewise JL joined my collection with Muscle Cars USA #1 back in 1995. At the time I was fifteen and I was starting to feel a bit out of place in the toy aisle, thinking perhaps I was 'too old' to be playing with toy cars. JL was one of the reasons I didn't stop. I discovered Yat Mings in 1995 completely by accident- I had had some as a kid (Mustangs, mostly) but in 1995 I needed some cars for a school project, and I wanted some cheap cars that I wouldn't mind getting wrecked. At the time KB and Woolworth's both sold Yat Ming, and both were conveniently located right down the block from me (directly across the mall from one another). Well, I opened them up and knew right then and there that I couldn't sacrifice them for a school project...or anything else for that matter. While not as rugged as the Hot Wheels or Matchbox (I collapsed the suspensions on two Yat Ming Mustangs as a kid :(),they had more detail than either of those brands had at the time, and more to the point they had more vintage cars in their line from the time period I happen to be most interested in, vehicle wise, and that's the '70s and '80s.
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Dragnet_Supporter
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SUV
Swifty
Mar 19 2008, 02:03 AM
Johnny Lightning's never been my only brand. I grew up on Hot Wheels and Matchbox (with Majorette probably being in third place as a kid- everything else was basically "cheap junk" to my Mom and she rarely purchased off brands for me). I've had Racing Champions in my collection since they first came out in 1989 with a set of 6 NASCAR stock cars. Likewise JL joined my collection with Muscle Cars USA #1 back in 1995. At the time I was fifteen and I was starting to feel a bit out of place in the toy aisle, thinking perhaps I was 'too old' to be playing with toy cars. JL was one of the reasons I didn't stop. I discovered Yat Mings in 1995 completely by accident- I had had some as a kid (Mustangs, mostly) but in 1995 I needed some cars for a school project, and I wanted some cheap cars that I wouldn't mind getting wrecked. At the time KB and Woolworth's both sold Yat Ming, and both were conveniently located right down the block from me (directly across the mall from one another). Well, I opened them up and knew right then and there that I couldn't sacrifice them for a school project...or anything else for that matter. While not as rugged as the Hot Wheels or Matchbox (I collapsed the suspensions on two Yat Ming Mustangs as a kid :(),they had more detail than either of those brands had at the time, and more to the point they had more vintage cars in their line from the time period I happen to be most interested in, vehicle wise, and that's the '70s and '80s.

I think you hit the nail on the head. I outgrew toy cars a long time ago. It was JL that brought me back. And I bet that goes for a lot of us. So technically, all the other brands we buy, owe JL a debt of gratitude.

They should all contribute a third of their profits to the JL line to pay for new castings, solve distribution problems, and keep the line going for generation to come :thumbup:
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Lovemy1971Camaro
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Speed Junkie
Dragnet_Supporter
Mar 19 2008, 02:47 PM
Swifty
Mar 19 2008, 02:03 AM
Johnny Lightning's never been my only brand.  I grew up on Hot Wheels and Matchbox (with Majorette probably being in third place as a kid- everything else was basically "cheap junk" to my Mom and she rarely purchased off brands for me).  I've had Racing Champions in my collection since they first came out in 1989 with a set of 6 NASCAR stock cars.  Likewise JL joined my collection with Muscle Cars USA #1 back in 1995.  At the time I was fifteen and I was starting to feel a bit out of place in the toy aisle, thinking perhaps I was 'too old' to be playing with toy cars.  JL was one of the reasons I didn't stop.  I discovered Yat Mings in 1995 completely by accident- I had had some as a kid (Mustangs, mostly) but in 1995 I needed some cars for a school project, and I wanted some cheap cars that I wouldn't mind getting wrecked.  At the time KB and Woolworth's both sold Yat Ming, and both were conveniently located right down the block from me (directly across the mall from one another).  Well, I opened them up and knew right then and there that I couldn't sacrifice them for a school project...or anything else for that matter.  While not as rugged as the Hot Wheels or Matchbox (I collapsed the suspensions on two Yat Ming Mustangs as a kid :(),they had more detail than either of those brands had at the time, and more to the point they had more vintage cars in their line from the time period I happen to be most interested in, vehicle wise, and that's the '70s and '80s.

I think you hit the nail on the head. I outgrew toy cars a long time ago. It was JL that brought me back. And I bet that goes for a lot of us. So technically, all the other brands we buy, owe JL a debt of gratitude.

They should all contribute a third of their profits to the JL line to pay for new castings, solve distribution problems, and keep the line going for generation to come :thumbup:

I was out of toy cars for 20 years.. I came back in 1999 (I think) when someone I used to work with gave me a little green '71 Camaro made by Matchbox. At first I only collected F bodies, then it bacame F bodies and Corvettes then it became Chevies, then it became all everything. I haven't looked back since! I started out collecting Matchbox, Johhny Lightning and Racing Champions. Then became exclusively Johnny Lightning & Greenlight up until last year's Autofest when the LC people totally dropped the ball & stole Mark's event and left him hanging out to dry. When I started seeing other diecasts like MotorMax, I was a changed man! Now I buy a little of everything.
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
There's so much more out there than Johnny Lightning- and the cool part is that Yat Ming, MotorMax, and Maisto (all brands that used to be disregarded as 'drugstore specials' or 'generics') are finally branching out into premium diecast and are giving the big guys a run for their money. :thumbup:
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Lovemy1971Camaro
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Speed Junkie
Swifty
Mar 22 2008, 02:31 PM
There's so much more out there than Johnny Lightning- and the cool part is that Yat Ming, MotorMax, and Maisto (all brands that used to be disregarded as 'drugstore specials' or 'generics') are finally branching out into premium diecast and are giving the big guys a run for their money. :thumbup:

I totally agree, but I wonder if that is a good thing or a bad thing for the premium brands. The more competition they have means less $$ being spent on their brands which snowballs into less money for them to spend on R&D and improving their product.
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
It's a bad thing for any brand that loses their core audience by say, stopping production entirely for a few months while "rebranding", or one that has distribution issues where their cars (for whatever reason) are not making it onto the pegs of national retailers, or one that has a much higher price point than the rest of their competition. Perhaps even one that has recently experimented with plastic bases, ticking off a good chunk of their diehard brand-loyal customers?

Maybe I'm being a little too critical of JL in the above statement, but the last two years or so has been like watching a stumbling drunk try to make it out of the bar. You have moments where it looks like he's going to make it (some new castings pop to mind- the Scout, Lincoln MK III, the upcoming '75 Corvette and '80 Monza), and then you have the above mentioned fiascos. Or a total miss on a casting like the '73 Caprice wagon which, sadly, looks horrible (great casting choice, but lousy execution!). The fact that the little wagons keep selling out of the online retailers (though oddly enough are hanging on the pegs at Wal*Mart) tell me that collectors are starved for wagons and that someone should do this one right.

Companies can't afford to make this many mistakes in such a short period of time. Especially not in a competitive field such as 1/64 diecast with the economy tanking...
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Lovemy1971Camaro
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Speed Junkie
I personally don't think it's being overly critical. What is happening is happening with the Johnny Lightning brand. They've made some blunders but they don't seem to learn from them or want to listen to their audience as harsh as it may be sometimes. I thought I read somewhere that they don't want to spend much time on Hobby Talk any more because of all the nasty comments directed towards them. Instead they've chosen to go to JL Talk because it's so much more friendly. It sounds to me like they want to surround themselves with "yes men". Just my opinion of course.

One huge problem I see for the Johnny Lightning line is this. With the new brands like Greenlight and M2 getting into the mix. These companies have updated technology incorporated into their lines. They look better to be sure. Johnny Lightning is an aging brand unfortunately and the fact that they've chosen to bast-ardize their line even further with the old Racing Champions castings that are outdated by easily 10 years doesn't' do much for their image of high quality diecasts. Even YatMing is making some decent castings now as well as Shelby Collectibles.

I always hear "the possible end of the Johnny Lightning line" Sometimes I wonder how far from the truth that really is.
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
There's still some brand loyalty left, and there's an entire archive of castings available. If RC2 ever decides to sell off the line, there will likely be a buyer or two.

Another great point though about the newer brands coming in with the added benefit of better technology. They don't need to recast the same cars they did ten years ago to do them better now. Remember, when the first Muscle Cars USA program came out Playing Mantis was trying to do them in the style of the original Toppers, meaning somewhat tooned. All of those castings have since been recasted... at the expense of doing ten other new castings.

As for the Hobby Talk/JLTalk thing, I don't know how true that is so I won't comment on it. What I can say is that here at the Garage we're unaffiliated with any of the brands, so they can all be discussed freely (within reason- I don't want to see outright bashing, but if someone's not getting the job done collectors have the right to voice their complaints). It would make sense for a company to look at their criticisms and try to correct them. Right now I see a lot of JL collectors who are displeased with the current situation involving their favorite brand.

I don't want to see JL go out of business. That is no benefit to anyone (except the competition) as it removes one of the big players from the game.
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Lovemy1971Camaro
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Speed Junkie
I remember the old Muscle Cars line and looking back on it.. Those cars are terrible by today's standards, but back then they were one of the coolest things going. While yes, they have recast most of these cars and sunk money into better technology, they still made a good deal of $$ of the old castings.. They certainly didn't hurt themselves any by updating. I've heard both sides of this argument though. Some people out there actually prefer the lack of technology in those older castings. I believe Peter spoke about that quite a bit. But then he's an old Topper guy. ;)

I dont want to see Johnny Lightning go out of busiiness either, but I think they have serious issues that need to be addressed.
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chenty
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Fullsize
What ever catches my eye, first I go for the JL's then the MBX
and then over to the HW's, then I just wonder around hoping
that SOMETHING will bite me :lol: :lol:
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Woody68RS
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Subcompact
JLs really got me going into diecast again. In fact, 5 more Camaros and the Camaro wall will be totally full. I branched around the corner from the Camaro wall with some PIP's, BWF's, Impalas, and various assorted WLs.
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But I do dabble in various brands, especially with the scarcity of JLs and I've gotten somewhat hardcore into Hot Wheels - specifically Treasure Hunts and Camaros, but I grab whatever strikes me. I have a display for the T Hunts.(I do have the regular and Super Hot Bird, just haven't hung them up yet)
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And then I recently rearranged my shelves to display my Greenlights both regular and green machine.
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I also have tote tubs and more tote tubs of other makes and things I can't fit on display including a bunch of Jada, Maisto, etc. I'm running out of room, and we're hoping to move in the next year or two. I plan on building a 80X100 garage/workshop with lifts etc. and I hope to have a room dedicated to diecast in there when the time comes. If JL keeps producing, I'll keep buying. But when I can't find them, I'll spend my cash on another brand that fills what I want. I think sometimes the diecast producing companies try to tell us what we want instead of listening to the wants of the collector, and in my opinion that can ruin a company. Lets say Camaros or Mustangs are our number one seller, so what do we do? we make a Gremlin and tell you that's what you want. I'm not knocking Gremlins mind you, just using that as an example. I see the need and desire for more new castings, but ask the collector don't just make what you can cast and license inexpensively.
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Lovemy1971Camaro
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Speed Junkie
Now there's a man who like Camaros!!!!!

Whatever happened to that orange 1:18 Camaro you had? I don't see it anywhere.
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Woody68RS
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Subcompact
Lovemy1971Camaro
Mar 22 2008, 09:36 PM
Now there's a man who like Camaros!!!!!

Whatever happened to that orange 1:18 Camaro you had? I don't see it anywhere.

A good friend of mine RAOK'd it to me ;)

It's sitting with the Car Show Trophies :D :D


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Hey... that looks kinda like your car doesn't it??? :thumbup:
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James
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Mr.Bowtie
:wave: Another Camaro lover, Swifty better not post a Camaro as CotD, we vote it to CotW the first day. :thumbup:

Any pics of the real live 1:1 that won all that hardware?

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Woody68RS
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Subcompact
James
Mar 22 2008, 09:48 PM
:wave: Another Camaro lover, Swifty better not post a Camaro as CotD, we vote it to CotW the first day. :thumbup:

Any pics  of the real live  1:1 that won all that hardware?

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and I have run it a couple times 12.9's all day...
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sorry to dip off topic here...
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