Matchbox Mitsubishi Galant Eterna, Rover 3500, and Oldsmobile Aerotech Concept

What I like about Matchbox is the ability to make cars that no one else has made or do them in a fine matter and then have the castings fade off into history.  Sure they are not as recognizable as more familiar castings to collectors like Corvette's, Tri-five Chevy Bel-Air's, Mustangs, etc. yet they possess a charm of their own and once collectors see one they take notice.  These three are a good example of less-often done models that have some interesting characteristics of their own.

Mitsubishi Galant Eterna

In the 1970's with the oil crisis making a demand for fuel efficient vehicles Japanese automakers were in the right place and now were popular with buyers in the U.S.  However, most of their vehicle lines were rather boring to enthusiasts so as expected they would be to kids as well.  The exception to this was Tomica whose Japan-based roots managed to make a small assortment of JDM vehicles.  On the other hand Japan also had some interesting sports cars to date like the Celica, Supra, Skyline, 2000GT.  Somehow this Mitsubishi fits in the middle.  Believe it or not Matchbox has only made two Mitsubishi models and this Galant was one of them.  There was also a confusion of names as the car is sold in several different guises: for Mitsubishi it was the Galant Lambda, for the U.S. it was called the Sapporo, also known as the Plymouth Sapporo and Dodge Challenger, and the Scorpion.  This was a sporty, sleek two-door four passenger coupe to the Galant line.  The car featured a sleeker front-end and a wrap-around rear window.  The powertrain was a 2.6L SOHC I-4 with balance shafts to smooth out engine vibrations and produced 105 horsepower through a 5-speed manual transmission.  The car looked sporty, but Mitsubish called it a luxury coupe so sales were not successful due to the confusion, replaced in 1983 with the Starion that has a more sportier look and feel to it.

Painted in simple green this Galant looks sort of blocky and sporty at the same time.  All Japanese models from Matchbox in the 1970's have a metal black base, opening doors, and a mostly clean profile in earlier models then stickers and graphics in later models.  The front has a square grille with quad headlights and an ugly impact bumper just below.  The sides have a clean look with a smooth beltline, detailed trim, lack of a B-pillar, and nice 5-spoke wheels that are a big change from the standard Matchbox wheel at the time.  At the back you can see the fastback roofline with wrap-around rear window and C-pillar trim details.  The rear has a silver bar with tri-taillights and a lower bumper that is better concealed than the front.  Eterna is located as a badge on the trunklid and on the front and rear license plate areas.  The metal base shows off the drivetrain details and the Superfast logo.  The car also has a working suspension that gives this nimble car some great handling abilities.  The doors open up to an interior that has seating for four with right-hand drive steering wheel, shifter on the center console, 3-spoke steering wheel, and a dashboard layout that is nicely done and has all of the gauges and controls for the radio and HVAC located at eye-level with the driver.

Rover 3500

Rover is known for making British vehicles that are not as well-known or liked around the world and sometimes even in the U.K, yet there were some success like the Austin Mini.  The 3500 was designed to take on the Citroen DS line of cars and to be a modern and futuristic car for the brand.  The in-house Rover design, the last for Rover at the time, consisted of inspiration from the Citroen DS, BMC 3500, and even the Ferrari Daytona.  The design was futuristic with a wedge-shape nose and fastback rear, a dashboard where the gauges float on top of the dashboard, and simple construction of the rear axle (now a live rear axle), drum brakes in the rear, and in the beginning a 3.5L pushrod Rover V8 that produced 148 horsepower through a 3-speed automatic transmission.  The success of the car did not end up well thanks to build quality issues and eventually the 3500 was replaced with the Rover 800 in 1986 with help from Honda.

There are plenty of Rover 3500 models in diecast, but this is the first time that I seen a nice, clean one in this copper orange color with a cool feature:  The sunroof has a black sliding tab to open and close the sunroof.  Very neat!  The front of the car has a wedge-shape look with flush headlights and side signal lights that recall the Ferrari Daytona, bumpers that are well-concealed, and foglights mounted below the bumper.  The sides show off a wedge-shape 5-door fastback with clean lines and the basic Matchbox wheels look good here.  The rear has a simple and sporty look with flush taillights, rear bumper, and even a trailer hitch for towing.  To really set this car off the interior has a butterscotch color that works well with the exterior color and has seating for five, the right-hand drive and funky dashboard layout, and the rear cargo area that is mostly covered up.  The base underneath, as a turn from the old Lesney design, is now plastic and has more details of the drivetrain and exhaust system.  The working suspension remains and it gives handling a cross between sport and a rather soft feel.

Oldsmobile Aerotech Concept

Concept cars are designed to wow the crowd and most of the time to gauge interest in an upcoming model.  The Aerotech Concept in 1986 provided both even though production seems unlikely, and unlike other concepts this was no trailer queen as it has miles and speed records on its life.  The car was designed after the experimental program with PPG that GM sponsored with several show cars, and the Aerotech took off after that.  What GM did was create a sleek race car that was aerodynamic and tests the observation of durability and economy of a four-cylinder motor.  The frame is a March indycar single seat chassis where a 2.0L DOHC turbocharged Quad-4 motor from Oldsmobile was mounted mid-ship.  A 5-speed manual connected to the rear wheels.  Then the body was dropped over the chassis as a sleek design that featured underbody flaps to adjust wind flow and sponsored two versions: the short tail (shown here) and the long tail, or ST and LT.  With A.J. Foyt the Aerotech broke a speed record of 257.123 mph in 1987 on a closed oval track in Texas.  A second version with the revised lights and the new 4.0L DOHC Oldsmobile V8 was developed and broke 47 endurance speed records in the same track as the one used in 1987 speed run.  The Quad 4 would be used in production Oldsmobile's and the styling and V8 motor was the precursor to the Aurora sedan in 1993.

Unfortunately most of these Matchbox Aerotech castings have been ruined by the Tyco-era design of wacky graphics and multiple color combinations.  To truely enjoy this casting get the first release, the silver clean version with 8-dot wheels.  Now that's more like it!  The car is sleek and low like a race car and if it wasn't for the name on the base you'd think this was a generic race car!  The front is smooth and lacks any headlights with an Oldsmobile badge and center scoop just ahead of the round glass canopy.  The sides are clean and have Oldsmobile Aerotech along the sides.  Most of the NACA ducts are mounted inside between the outer sides and interior to feed the intercooler and radiator with flow-through ventilation.  Quad 4 badges are mounted above the scoops and the air from them leads to the rear tail where a rear spoiler is visible and like the front there is no taillights.  The base underneath is plastic and very streamline smooth.  The interior is a one-seat affair and casted in the metal body with steering wheel up front, shifter to the right, and all of the controls are located along pads on both sides of the driver.  The nifty trick is the opening rear trunk that exposes more details in the form of the engine.  You can see the intercooler, radiator, battery, valve cover with Quad 4 stamped on it, and the exhaust that snakes up and over the rear transmission.