Two Lane Desktop

I can remember back in the early part of last decade: Not a whole lot of bronco's and when Hot Wheels Final Run'd the Ford Bronco from the 1980's (which was revived in 2013), there was a lot of hollerin' for someone to make a Bronco.  Come 2005 and Hot Wheels makes the Bronco concept...as a Blings!?!?!?!  Well shortly after that manufacturers listened and next thing you know various replica's of the 1966-77 Bronco's started to show up.  Now late to the party Greenlight produces their first Bronco and, come to think of it, 4x4-style truck. Ford goes after Jeep, International Scout The Jeep CJ post Word War II was gaining popularity for it's function and maneuverability not found in any other car or truck.  This led to the increase of 4x4 systems in pickups and eventually Jeep competitors.  The International Scout was the first, then in 1966 the Ford Bronco.  What's interesting about the Bronco is that, aside from the engine and axles, this was...

If you see the letter's "M" on any BMW you probably know that's the sportiest offering in the BMW model line.  Since the 1980's BMW's M division has been cranking out these special versions of almost each BMW model for those who crave performance.  My personal favorite M cars come from the late 1990's with legends like Z3 M, Z8, M3, M5; flashy colors with raw performance to the rear tires.  But times change and so with that the latest M cars are heavy, wearing colors that go unnoticed, and the move to highly-advanced twin-clutch transmissions means the classic three-pedal, row your own manual is almost close to extinction.  Despite the fear, BMW M division wants you to know that they are still building cars for performance junkies, and this 1M is proof of that. The 1M coupe is based on a regular 1-series coupe.  The line started in 2004 as a modern-day successor to the 2002, the car that made BMW famous for "the ultimate driving machine" be...

If you haven't noticed lately there's been a resurgence of pony cars in America, and these are just a few examples:   Plum Crazy Challenger Talk about a mess: This was originally slated to be released at the end of 2012, but was pushed back in 2013.  Even more, the original color in that appeared in the nine-packs was a light green color.  The revised version for 2013 is now purple.  Oh, and it is still part of the 2012 line.  This is the Matchbox Dodge Challenger SRT-8. Show in 2006 as a concept, the SRT-8 arrived in 2008 as a sole offering before offering more trim levels in 2009.  The classic 1970 styling is nicely executed here, though the new Challenger seems bloated and large in today's standards.  Based on the Charger/300 platform, the Challenger is revised for two-door duty, but sadly shared the same dull-plastic interior of the first-generation Charger/300 platform.  Since then the Challenger has much improved changes like a ne...

Nothing says Great British like British Racing Green and here's a few examples of this: Bond, Aston Bond After the first Aston Martin in the Hot Wheels line, the V8 Vantage in 2005, several Aston Martin's have surfaced and it was only a matter of time before the classic DB5 arrives. Well, for 2014 it's here! To start off the appearance in a smooth green (absolutely no metalflakes at all!) looks delicious, the details of the front and rear lights, plate, winged logo's, and GB decal are fantastic although Mattel should do a better job of lining them up properly.  The gray grille looks nice and the lace wheels look good on this casting (more proper skinny real rider tires will make an appearance in the Retro Entertainment line later this year for the "Goldfinger" film.), yet something doesn't seem right about this casting:  To me it looks like it was designed from a wooden block because not all of the curves flow gracefully like the real car and t...

Now for two completely different cars from Hot Wheels: Rotary wonder Mazda is well-known for making the rotary engine finally feasible for mass production in an automobile.  There were a few previous examples before the RX7, but the classic wedge-shape of this two-seater is the most memorable of them all.  From 1979 to 1985, the RX7 featured an almost triangular-shape that gave the car a more expensive look, but at a price equivalent to a midsize car at the time. The motor was a 1,146 CC Twin-rotary Wankel motor that was small enough to sit behind the front-axle for better weight distribution, with a four-speed manual sending power to the rear wheels.  Turbo and 5-speed was offered later in this generation.  The interior featured a sporty look with the front air vents giving an aviation-like theme to the cockpit.  International markets had the option of two extra seats in the rear, but let's be honest who would fit back there? Hot Wheels did a stunni...

For the first blog, let's take a look at these two fine Chevy's in the Hot Wheels line: On the left is the 1961 Impala from the new Cool Classics Series.  This series takes mostly classic vehicles, covers them in a paint effect called SpectraFrost, adds new shoes (wheels), and transforms the base from plastic into metal.  Most of the vehicles in this line are a pass for me, but there were a few exceptions.  The '61 Impala being one of them. Bubble-Top Fantasy After a few years of evil-looking rear-ends, the Impala started the 1960's with happier spirits, rear-end wise, and started to take an even more art form.  The bubble top that was available for '61 and '62 represented a classic design element for these cars.  While not as strong as a sturdy post-pillar roof, the design was smooth and light, to the benefit of drag racers.  I actually preferred the 1962 body style over the '61, but thanks to Hot Wheels it's starting to grow on me.  Intro...

If you haven't already noticed, every time you visit this page you will see the title and the main image.  The image is just what I imagined when I first thought of this blog.  The name started as my mind was coming up with the movie name "Two Lane Blacktop."  Then I started to think more, and next thing you know I had the name for this blog:  Two Lane, but Desktop instead of Blacktop since most of the pictures that I take of these miniature cars are usually on some desktop surface.  The main image I saw was two 1:64 scale cars on a two-lane blacktop road: one going toward the image, the other away from the image.  Then I noticed my black bookshelf with the orange-colored wall as the backdrop (no, this had nothing to do with Clemson, I wanted the room color to match the metallic orange color that I've seen on a few vehicles).  All I needed was white lines (stripes of paper) and two vehicles, of course realistic. Out of the many vehicles in my colle...

Hi, and welcome to Two Lane Desktop, the site where you'll see pictures and information from my personal collection of diecast model cars.  All brands are mentioned here, including Hot Wheels, Matchbox, Maisto, AutoWorld, Johnny Lightning, Jada Toys, Greenlight, M2 Machines, Welly, Motormax, and a few others on occasion.  My name is Joe and I've been collecting diecast since I was a toddler, but gained focus on the hobby in 1998 when it seems everyone was getting on the diecast collecting hobby, collectors and manufacturers alike.  The hobby's been through tough times recently with retail sales and stiffer copyrights from auto manufacturers meaning more generic, kids-oriented vehicles or fewer new casting tools.  Still, there's a charm about diecast collecting that I like:  The more realistic a casting is to the real vehicle, the more I like it! Now I've done articles about diecast on websites before, but this is my first blog, and first time my shared ex...