Flat Fender Diecasts

Okay, it’s a slow Saturday watching football. But I said I’d share, so here it is. My diecast collection.

The first vehicle ever registered in my name was a 1947 CJ-2A. That was 1985. I’ve been infatuated with them since well before then. Mine came very stock, with bad compression, old tires, sketchy roll bar. What more could a kid want?

Sorry for the picture of a picture but I was too lazy to take it out and scan it. I might have to upgrade that later.

The collection started about 20-years ago. The first diecast might have been a gift and then I started buying them on Ebay.

The most recognizable, in name anyway, are the Hot Wheels. Redlines to be specific. In 1971they came out with the “Grass Hopper”. Yes, I had some Hot Wheels as a kid, but those are long gone. They came in many colors. The true number of colors is debated, but I wanted them all!

Here are the ten straight forward colors listed as Spectraflame: Back row: light green, red, magenta, Rose, yellow. Font row: blue, green, purple, aqua (on one side), pink (hot).

There is a blue in there, but there is also RUMORED to be a light blue or “Ice” color. This is not an “Ice”, it’s a faded blue. Probably as close as I’ll ever find.

This one is a unicorn. Orange was listed as a color, but not for the Grass Hopper. The paint appears to be original, but I’m no expert. For now, it’s a mystery.

In the category of reproduction, resto-mod or rebuilt/repainted, I have three. The “Olive” on the left was produced but I’ve never even see a picture. It is my understanding the Grass Hopper was never produced in “Brown” in the middle, but it’s listed as a color. The “Gold” on the right was never produced or even listed/rumored as a possibility, but you can one repainted in any color.

After the 1971 run, Hot Wheels came out with a ‘new’ Grass Hopper, with and without an exposed engine.

The last early Grass Hopper were military versions in the late 70’s.

In the 20’s, that’s 2020’s, Hot Wheels did a retro Grass Hopper (upper right in green) and then came out with an all ‘new’ Grass Hopper as a dragster in many colors and interiors.

Most recently, Hot Wheels released a higher end Grass Hopper in “Green” and “Red”. Those are special because they are lifted, big tires, roll cage and a working, flexible suspension (lower left and lower right).

There’s more to the collection than Hot Wheels. Here are the Matchbox and Tonkas. The bottom rows are the “Willys Concept” cars and I might have to get rids of them for the space.

I should have stuck with the 1:64 scale but I didn’t. If you zoom in, there are about 20 of “Sarge” from the movie ‘Cars’.

The last case are Muscle Machines and Johnny Lightnings. I pretty sure I have all the Muscle machines but Johnny Lightning keeps making more versions.

My favorite collected Willys is not the diecast but the 2006 GI Joe Army Jeep. I decided “Sarge” needed a new ‘retired’ life as a rock crawler, so I put that body on a Traxxas TRX-4. This one I get out and play with on a regular basis! And yes, the winch works.

Remote controlled Sarge is rocking the same tire cover my trail TJ does.

Here’s the original GI Joe Army Jeep in desert camo. This was THE first “hot rodded” Willys. The British SAS modified it to survive and become a weapon in North Africa during World War II. This only has a few of the modifications done during the war. Some of the original photos are crazy with overloading the Willys with gear.

Everyone needs to collect something.

Make life fun!

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Rubicon Ronin

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PS – Did I mention I have a few Tonkas as well?

The entire ‘toy’ Willys collection numbers over 200.