Matchbox Monday collects some Leipzig photos

Batch C of the 2025 Collectors series only had 4 models in it. Boo! Number 11 was pushed back to the last batch. It happens. They were hoping for 4 batches of 5 models. But, as the last batch is now out, we do know that the delay was only minimal. And that all 20 models slated to be released were released. We were so close to having a full 100% Matchbox completion this year. It rarely happens. If Target hadn't skipped batch F, we would have had all Target Reds. Mind you, they currently are not up to M, so we still wait for news on the last of those. But, we were so close this year. It has been a good, but bittersweet, year. I still lament Abe Lugo being let go. But, before I get into these 4, I wanted to say now, when you get to the end, I have some photos of events that took place in Leipzig, Germany on the first weekend of October. As you know, the Modell-Hobby-Spiel took place, and Dirk Schleuer ran a convention alongside it. He also had 2 auctions running in and out of the event. Those are now finished, and some high prices were realized. Congratulations to those who bid, and to Dirk for another successful convention. I wanted to add some pictures, as they give us a little more insight into 2026, as things are a few months further along in preparing stuff for the year. But, before that, batch C. Go!

Out of the 4 models included, 3 of them were new castings making their debut. The first of them, taking the number 12 slot in the series, is the MB1478 '59 Cadillac Coupe De Ville. It debuts in metallic lavender.

This was an original Cadillac colour option that year. They called it Wood Rose Poly (poly being their term for metallic). So, this is a true replica of a real vehicle. The De Ville name had been used as a version of other Cadillacs beforehand, but was a vehicle in its own right for the first time in 1959. So, this is the 1st generation. It is the first time that Matchbox has made this in miniature, as the only De Ville they have done was the MB739 '69 Cadillac Sedan De Ville, which was part of the 3rd generation life span. When the vehicle launched, the most prominent part was that huge rear tail fin with dual bullet rear lights in it. For 1960, they toned this part of the car down, and then replaced it with the 2nd generation in 1961. So, the '59 is quite a unique, and standout De Ville among the 8 generations, as it was replaced by the DTS in 2005. So, this is a good model to replicate.

And, yes, the model has huge tail fins. They stand out, even when shrunk down to this size. In fact, comparing the shape of the model to pictures of the real thing (I couldn't do it in person), I am amazed at how well the real vehicle has been replicated in miniature. 

Of course, there are minor things. The C-pillar on the real vehicle is very thin, and the rear window goes right up to the edge. They couldn't get that spot on. It would be impossible. But, the shape has not been compromised. It is just a thicker pillar on the model. Comparing the side view to pictures of real ones, the shape is spot-on. The wheel arch really does shape like that around the front wheel. The front bumper does go up that high when viewed from the side, and the rear also goes up there. However, the rear lights do have a chrome edge. I don't think they could have got the chrome part up that high to replicate it without making the rear look awkward. Again, a minor compromise. 

They tried their best to use the tampo print to replicate that part, but it doesn't go around the sides as much as it should. But, I feel it is about as good as they could have done that. I don't think it is something that you can fault them on. I honestly don't think they could have done a better job at the price point. After all, these are still toys. Premium toys, but still toys. The lower light section in the bumper is amazingly replicated. Perfect there. The badging is right, and it has a license plate. Now, this is where I am going to dock it. The plate reads 4R5M 31R. I love these. The number to letter code system. If we change each number to its letter in the alphabet, we get DREM CAR. What is a drem? I am guessing they were going for "dream car" in the plate, but missed adding a 1 in the middle. But, that sort of ruins it. You translate it and think,  "that's not even a word". If there was a space issue, they could have gone with something else. 4R51MY - "dreamy". Easily fits. I did think about 4R51M9N for "dreamin". Yes, dropping the g at the end is also not great, but people would get that better. Yes, am I focusing on the little things? Of course. This is a spectacular model. It has been exceptionally well done, and there is precious little to point out. So, what little tiny nuggets of information I can find to point out, I will. 

Another issue I have is with the doors. Sure, these open and close perfectly. That is not the problem. They have done amazing work there. 

When closed, there is precious little gaps surrounding it. It is snug. The lines are smooth. That is not a problem. However, and this is a common recurring theme, the doors are darker than the rest of the body. I don't know why they keep getting this issue. But, it does stick out like a sore thumb.

Although, if you do hunt around, you might find a body that is a little darker, and a better match for the door. 

However, the front is a bit of a let-down. We have the badge on the front. Then a big chunky grey bit around the window. They sort of went a bit overboard trying to replicate the window chrome edging. I think it is too thick, and looks a bit tacky. And no license plate? Why? Scoring this is as follows. Inclusion? Yeah, I am giving it a 10. I think it is a great addition, and can easily switch to the Moving Parts series for future outings as well. Casting? As I said, the find and the shape are just about perfect. I cannot fault how they have created the model. Design?  The letdown. The colour is great. A real look for the vehicle, but the doors being a different shade makes it look odd. The rear licence plate giving us an incorrect word, and the front being left off, are not great. The tacky, overly thick window edging is a let-down as well. So, for that, it gets a 7. I never mentioned the wheels. White walls? Nothing wrong with that. But, the final look does sink it. 27 out of 30 is pretty decent, but I think it could have been better finished. 

It is a new casting, so I finish off with a little base shot. 

The second model in the set is the MB1480 '90 Honda Accord CB. It debuts in the number 13 slot in the set, and appears in silver for its first outing. 

I can't believe that this is the first time that Matchbox has ever done a Honda Accord in miniature. The real vehicle debuted back in 1976, and is now in its 11th generation. This is a CB, which is the chassis that it was built on, which is another code for it being the 4th generation. I am amazed at how few classic Hondas that have been done. Maybe one day they will do a Prelude as well. A 3rd generation 1987 Prelude? 1970 Honda Z600?  A few ideas of alternate Hondas that could be really cool. 

And, you might notice that the box that is included in the package shows a closer view of the vehicle inside on the side that is hidden. 

Garry Gopinath was tasked with creating this one. He has done the Honda proud. It looks fantastic! There are no opening features on this casting. So, does that mean it is destined to appear in the basic range?

I would think so. That's a plastic base on the model. So, this features the usual components that basic range models have. There is no reason not to put it in there. 

Again, I use pictures to try and judge the casting of the model. I don't know anybody locally who has a 1990 Accord. Well, I think he has nailed it. The front end does appear to be narrower than the rear in real life. He has captured that shape perfectly. And I like that he has created the B-pillar out of the body section. Many nowadays are made from the window section. We get wing mirrors, a small spoiler on the rear, and a window section that fits perfectly inside the metal body section. 

That sunroof is slotted in perfectly. There is absolutely nothing that I can say about the casting that could have been done differently. He nailed it. 

The sides only saw a simple black stripe, as well as the MBK logo on the front edges. The front and rear see the usual tampo depiction of the real vehicle front and rear ends. I believe Honda referred to the colour as Polaris Silver. 

And best of all, the rear license plate code makes perfect sense. 90 80N41. Translation - 90 HONDA. It's a 1990 Honda. Perfect. The rear lights almost feel old-school to me, with the simple red and orange sections. And that works. With the Honda nameplate, badge, and Accord nameplate added, the rear couldn't be any better. 

This is the exact sort of vehicle I love to see from the Matchbox brand. A stock vehicle, exactly as you would expect to see it on the road. Even the wheels suit it well. This pattern fits the era. And grey hubs work so well. This is very east to score. Inclusion. 10. Casting. 10. Design. 10. If I could have had one minor gripe, it was that the side stripe doesn't quite line up with the front or rear stripe. But, that is something that is found on some examples, with better alignment on others. It is purely a manufacturing thing. I don't score down for that. Doors being a different colour? Sure. But a slight mis-alignment in tampo hits. Something that you have to check up-close. I'm okay. 

And what's better than 1 of these? 2 of them. Yes, I have noticed that this model is also one that can vary in shade during production. I love a shade!

This is the final new casting of the batch. The MB1475 '94 BMW 850CSi. It debuts in the number 14 slot in red.

If you remember the last batch of Collectors, we saw the debut of the MB1481 '93 Jaguar XJ220S. This was a new casting of a vehicle that had been done by Matchbox before, but was the "S", rather than the normal issue, and was slightly different. The best part, it was made to an almost identical scale, and the 2 models looked excellent side by side. It made me a little more optimistic about the second casting that was of a vehicle that had been done before. The MB240 BMW 850i has debuted back in 1993, and saw action until 2005. But, this was a '94 CSi. A later issue, and different variant. 

Well, I have been trying to find out what makes a CSi different to the i. When launched, the 8-series debuted as the 850i in 1990, and then they added the Ci and CSi variants later. The Ci is actually the same, just a re-naming. The CSi is a higher power output model with more power under the hood. The exhaust tips are a different shape, and the bumpers were slightly more rounded for better airflow. And the suspension was lowered. That's it. When shrunk down to miniature size, this is not noticeable. 

So it appears that they have simply recast the old BMW 8-series. To me, that is a bit of a downer. I would imagine that the original casting must still be around. It was used in late 2005, which means it should be at the factory, sitting there in storage. Which sort of makes this a pointless exercise. They should have just pulled it out, tidied it up a bit if needed, and re-issued it. 

I mean, admittedly, the new casting is very well done. I wasn't expecting anything different, to be honest. It looks like a brilliant rendition of the real car, shrunk down to a smaller size. Small being the operative word.

Because, let's bring in the original for a show and tell. It debuted in the 1993 basic range in silver. The first thing we notice is the way the original was constructed. They created the front grille section out of the base. A rather unusual way of doing things. But, the shape was there. The doors opened. It looked like an 850i. 

If you look at the 2 castings, you will notice that the new one is noticeably smaller. They have built it to a totally different scale. It felt small when I first opened it, but seeing it next to the older one, it really enhances how small it is. And they didn't even add the sunroof. 

The new one comes with a plastic base, which means it can be moved to Moving Parts for further issues. It also means that the front end is part of the body section. That is actually an improvement. But, this could have been done by tinkering with the original. If they had left it with the metal base section as well, it would have given them another tool for the premium slots. 

They both feature the same opening door feature. Weirdly, the new model's door is the same size as the original. Considering the model itself is shorter, I am not sure how that works. But, I have to say, I do feel that this particular model was not a great choice for a new casting. 

Even though the new casting is well done. The doors are very smooth in their operation. The original did have some issues with the doors staying flush. 

As to the design, the red is gorgeous. It looks stunning in Brilliant Red, as BMW calls it. But, the license plate says BMW 850i. Not CSi. Another fail. The rest of the front detailing is exactly as I would expect. 

For a premium model, this simply has front and rear tampo. So, the only thing above and beyond a regular release (if this had debuted in the Moving Parts series) would be the real riders. They didn't even bother detailing the black door handle or side indicator. I really feel that this is a bit of a letdown. 

So, how do I score this? Badly. Inclusion. I would give it a 2 out of 10. Bringing back an 8-series could have worked, if they pulled out the classic casting, tinkered with it a little to get it ready, and re-issue it. Starting from scratch seems like a pointless exercise. Casting? The casting is good. But it's small. I am not impressed with it. The detailing is all there, though. So, I would score this a 6. Design. Bland, basic, license plate not right. The real riders chosen for this are the ones that look like regular wheels as well. It does feel like you are getting a core model for premium money. A 4. A grand total of 12 out of 30. Oh, dear. That's less than half. This was definitely the stinker of this batch. 

But, as I had the original casting out, let's do a dive back on it. As I said, it debuted in 1993.

And one issue that the construction showed was getting the body and base sections to match. Darker body, lighter base, or lighter body, darker base. Yes, things did vary wildly that first year.

It was also a part of the Showstopper series that year in white, and a charcoal model was a part of the World Class series. It saw a premium outing and core outings in year 1.

For 1994, things got a little crazy. Tyco had not long taken over, and wanted to create loads of weird looks on models. However, they decided that the US market was more likely to accept this stuff, so ROW markets continued with the silver. Except it now sported the spirals that were debuting that year. 

But, if you were in the US market, you would find it now in black, with bright yellow interior and design. 

Now, 1995 got even weirder. They decided to add this black look to the ROW market. By now, wheels had turned chrome, as gold was for the debut year only. I did spot brighter yellow or duller greeny yellow tampo.

But, while that was happening, they only went and changed the US range look. It was now red, with a skull and crossbones on the hood, and "Ripper" down the side. Part of the way through the year, the hood print was removed. Part of a chase that Tyco had created, by altering tampo prints on 20 releases. During 1996, the red switched over to ROW range, and was deleted from the US range. It's almost as if the US was running 1 year ahead of the ROW range at this time. There is an early run of the skull & crossbones issue that still had gold wheels, as it was an early change in the year. Final plain hood models did switch to concave 5-spokes. Both wheel variants I am still hunting down. Also, it is worth noting that KFC had a promotion in the USA in 1995, but felt the tampo on this was not good, so it was completely deleted off. 

As the model was no longer in the US range, as an ROW exclusive, it was given a more realistic look in 1997, as they were moving back towards realism. They even popped some 8-dot wheels on this blue release. However, I always thought it weird that the rear lights were pink.

1997 also saw 2 more premium issues. The burgundy one was a JC Penney exclusive release in the Premiere Series. The plum one was an Ultra Class outing. 

And in Australia, the model saw a promotional release in black as part of an AFL series.

In 1998, the ROW basic range model turned burgundy. Premiere World Class series 15 also gave us a bright red release, much like the new one.

In 1999, the model was only sold in the German market. It looked a lot like the 1998 ROW issue, except for one small addition. The front saw some black detailing. 

It also saw a yellow Coke themed release in the 1999 Coca-Cola 5-pack. 

The model was not used in 2000, but returned as soon as 2001 hit. It was in the first batch. The first run used the last of the concave 5-spoke wheels before switching to the new (at the time) flower wheels for all remaining runs.

It was also given another Coke outing, this time as a single issue. However, as this was now 2001, this too had switched to flower wheels.

At the tail end of 2001, BMW themselves requested a special set of models to be sold directly through dealerships in Germany and Austria. Matchbox had some BMW tools, and the 328i and 328i Police were simply given unique looks. A new Z8 and X5 casting were in development already, but the Z3 was deemed too bad, so a brand new one was created. The 850i? Well, it was decent, but I had mentioned about doors. BMW said they wanted those doors flush. So the model saw a little tinkering to fix the issue with the badly fitting doors. This is a sample that was sent to BMW for approval. 

Before they produced this lovely realistic blue one for the dealers to sell. 

However, after that, they did not bother with the casting again until the 2005 Superfast series. It was given a dual release, burgundy for all markets outside the USA, with the USA itself getting a charcoal one. 

Which was followed up at the end of the year with a blue Superfast Autobahn 5-pack release, exclusively in the USA. After this, the model was retired. I am guessing for good, as we have the new one now. 

And this brings me to the last model in the batch. The only one that has been seen before. The MB1334 '20 Ram Rebel. It takes the number 15 slot in the series in white, with an NYPD livery.

I tried searching to find out if this is real. I can confirm that the NYPD does use pickup trucks, but whether the Ram Rebel has ever been one of them, I could not verify it. So, I do not know. 

Usually a police vehicle would have lights on the roof, but I did find one picture of a pickup truck they used that didn't. So, again, this is a possibility, but as the casting was not originally created to be a police vehicle, I would think even if the real one did, the Matchbox one wouldn't have a light bar. 

However, that does not detract from what is a lovely issue. The unmistakable NYPD look, along with full detailing all round. It looks stunning. 

Front, rear, both sides and hood. That's 5 lots of tampo print. This is how I expect a premium to be. Very well detailed. What? Me? Making another dig at the BMW?

Wait! Make that 6. The hod opens. The engine bay is beautifully detailed as well. This is a stunning model. Whether it is a real vehicle or not, I am giving this a 10 out of 10. It looks amazing. Surprisingly, the Ram Rebel has not seen many outings.

As the model debuted in the Collectors series in 2022 in red.

Then it moved to the Moving Parts series for 2023, where it also appeared in white. 

And that's it. This is release number 3. It never saw any use in 2024. And with no Moving Parts issue for 2025 either, it does feel like this is not getting a lot of action. Hopefully it will see further outings in the future. So, as I draw to a close, there is 1 more thing to do. 

Show some Leipzig photos. These came courtesy of Dirk Schleuer, who was running the event, as well as Christian Nowack and Luke McKenna, who were in attendance. Thanks to all 3 for passing these on.

Dirk has a large display within the Modell-Hobby-Spiel, where he selling a lot of Matchbox products.

It must take forever to set all that up. Of course, there was the dinner, speeches and auction as well on the Saturday night. As things have progressed within the Matchbox department over the last few months, we did see a few sneaks of stuff that we never saw last time.

For example, the VW Vanagon is a little further advanced in the planning stages. It is going to be seeing a National Parks release as a debut. 

And the Datsun 240Z Rally will be debuting in yellow.

And the Mazda Autozam in Collectors will debut in white. 

And when they unveiled new items, there were a number of items not seen previously. 

2 displays full of items. How about a few closer shots.

A Porsche Super Chase.

And another Porsche Super Chase. One for basics, one for Moving Parts.

And the Land Rover Forward Control is getting another outing. 

The Brits are turning green.

And the VWs are turning brighter and sunnier.

And some other shots to whet our appetites. 2026 is looking to be another stellar year.

Which brings me to the end of another report. 3 new castings, all of which could be used in core ranges.

And 1 casting that has seen action in both premium and core guises. 

So, as these head off, attention turns to my next report. It is quite a big one. I am looking at all the rest of the Jurassic stuff from 2025. Until then, I hope everybody has a safe and happy week.