#461 NOREV MINI JET – PEUGEOT 504 (Nº 301884), PEUGEOT 604 (Nº 301896), TRAPEZE BERTONE (Nº 306976) and MERCEDES AMBULANCE (Nº 318977) (1975 and 1976)

These are my three oldest Mini-Jet models. Compared to those shown in previous entries, these have a more detailed chassis and the casts are slightly better detailed. If you want to read more about Mini-Jet, I recommend you to visit this entry.

This three models are also numbered in the chassis (6 digit number).

Unfortunately, they are not in their best shape (except the Trapeze Bertone), but they are still rare colectables.

PEUGEOT 504 (Nº 301884 or 405) from 1975

PEUGEOT 604 (Nº 301896) from 1975?

 

TRAPEZE BERTONE (Nº 306976 or 412) from 1976
(Rare color combination green/orange)

 MERCEDES AMBULANCE (Nº 318977 or 410) from 1976

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: PEUGEOT 504 (Nº 301884 or 405), TRAPEZE BERTONE (Nº 306976 or 412) and MERCEDES AMBULANCE (Nº 318977 or 410)
• Scale: Approx 1:64
• Year: 1975 and 1976
• Company: Norev (France)
• Size: 6 cms

#460 MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE – HORDAK and MANTISAUR (1985 and 1986)

 The Mantisaur is one of the few vehicles/creatures that I have at home. I thought it was time to show something different from a figure in this action figure toyline, so I chose the Mantisaur ridden by Hordak, who is supposed to be its owner.

The Mantisaur was released in 1986 (5th wave), and it is a rather expensive toy compared to other vehicles/creatures, although I do not know exactly why...

The creature has a very long body to which four legs and two arms are attached. At the tail it carries a machine gun, which is the most usually lost/missing part. To keep the figure on top of it, the Mantisaur came with a saddle and foottraps.

The Hordak figure shown here is the first version ever, released for the first time in 1985 (4th wave). Mattel decided to introduce this second bunch of bad guys for a reason I do not know… and if this was not enough, they also introduced the Snake-Men, so at the end there were much more villains as heros.

The figure came with a red plastic cloak, which is very fragile, a white crossbow (each member of the horde came with one of these in different colours and with slightly different designs), and a red bat-shield that could attach to one of his arms. The figure also came with a removable armour. Seen today, the face of the figure is really frightening. For some reason, I never had an Hordak figure as a kid, but back then, I didn’t find it so terrifying as I find it now.

Hordak and Mantisaur were also available together in some European countries as a “gift set” with reference number 1621.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: HORDAK (Ref. 9172) and MANTISAUR (Ref. 2085)
• Toy Line: Masters of the Universe (Wave 4 and 5)
• Year: 1985 and 1986
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 5½’’ or 14 cm
• Size of the creature: Around 30 cm

#459 MATCHBOX – PEUGEOT 305 (K-84) (1986)

This is a rather unusual scale for a Matchbox… the car is made in 1:32 scale, similar to a contemporary Corgi line (see entry #99), to another one made by Guisval (see #125), or to older models from Dinky or Siku, but still a rarity in the Matchbox family.

The car is decorated as a rally car and it represents a quite rare model by Peugeot. It has practicable doors and trunk and a few nice details, like chromed parts, realistic hubcaps and even the windows are dirty with mud. The base is made of plastic, what makes the car rather light considering its size. Previous "Superkings" models had metallic base, but around 1980, the new models were already mounted on plastic bases, making the model cheaper to produce and also lighter.

I haven’t seen much models from this series, but according to the package there must be quite a few out there, note for example the Audi Quattro, a Ford Sierra or the Porsche 911 Turbo from the nice illustration at the back of the box.

The package is also interesting, because that dark blue design was typical from the early 80s to the mid 80s.

The Peugeot 305 was available in several colours and decorations. This one was the last available during 1986 and 1987. The first version of this model was released in 1981 or 1982, and it was made in metallic blue (without any kind of racing decorations). Later another decoration in white with racing stripes and RN14 would follow, than a blue version with RN5 (as in the box flap) and finally the toy you’re seeing in this entry.

The same Peugeot model was made by Solido in 1:43 scale, but to my knowledge, no other die-cast manufacturer made in before the 1990s.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: PEUGEOT 305 (K-84)
• Scale: 1:32 (approx.)
• Year: 1986
• Company: Matchbox (Great Britain)
• Size: approx. 13 cm

#458 MICRO MACHINES – HIGHWAY WARRIORS COLLECTIONS #3, #4, #5 and #9 (1990)

I have no idea where did this idea come from… maybe from some American car show, maybe from some kind of movie or videogame in which the cars have to fight like gladiators against each other, but Galoob started a new line of miniatures that were car+armour.

These cars were sold as usual carded in a blister pack, and each pack included two “warriors”, that is, two cars with one armour each. The cars unfortunately were old designs from that same year or previous ones, but the armours were completely new, futuristic, impressive designs, and there were a lot of these collections made, some even had trucks, vans or machinery inside instead of a car. Each armour was used twice in the several collections that were offered that year. This subseries was started in 1989 with 6 collections and continued in 1990 with 12 collections (the six original ones, plus six new ones, although some numbers were assigned differently). I use the numbering system of 1990. Unfortunately, the “Highway Warriors” sub-series was discontinued in 1991.

I knew they existed, although it wasn’t until last December that I completed one of these sets. I still have some loose armours waiting for their car to be added to this blog entry. I think it was a really good idea to include them in the 1989 and 1990 waves….

Collection #9 comprised Dent Driver and Auto Hammer. Dent Driver snaps onto ’87 T-Bird and Auto Hammer snaps onto MR2.

 

 

UPDATE1 (Dec/2021): This is collection #5 with a truck and an U.S. Van

UPDATE 2 (June/2024): Added collections #3 and #4.

This is collection #3

And this is collection #4

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: HIGHWAY WARRIORS COLLECTIONS #3, #4, #5 and #9
• Scale of the cars: 1:150 aprox.
• Year: 1989 and 1990
• Company: Galoob (U.S.A.)
• Size: approx. 2 cm