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As an Escort fan, a rally fan and a Mark Jones castings fan I am excited to see this model in the metal, but until then, Mark was kind enough to send through some close-up pictures. Fraser adds that the Escort may have been his first licensed car with chrome bumpers. “One of my favourite castings is the Matchbox 1972 Lotus Europa Special, which was created by Ryu Asada,” he explains. “He had a lovely method to get those thin bumpers so I used it on this.” Ryu himself adds that the Matchbox Lotus was a favourite project. “I had to fight hours or days to keep those chrome filler caps as separate parts,” he says. Here’s a look at the Europa and Escort together. You’ve seen this one before, right? Well, kind of. With its 5SP rims, it’s very similar to the debut release and has a lot in common with both the earlier, metallic Fast & Furious car and the Car Culture edition. Note that this one has tinted windows compared to the mainline debut’s clear ones and there’s no Hot Wheels logo ahead of the rear arches.
Another authentic 70s Escort colour is the basis for the last mainline release to date. The fictitious rally livery isn’t the best and the model has warmed the pegs in my local supermarket for some months. The first STH item for 2024 is the Ford Escort RS2000! Fraser Campbell designed this casting, first appearing in the 2023 Retro Racers series. The First Edition release is the most beloved, with its mismatched wheels and simple livery. Mattel came up with three designs in 2023, and it was only a matter of time before a new one emerged.Our version of the Ford Series X rally vehicle. This Escort put Ford on the rally map with its customizable wheels, engine and other car parts! Detailed taillamps, eggshell blue, mid blue & navy blue stripes, "RS2000X" on sides, "HWS RS2K" license plate The Ford Escort is a small family car manufactured by Ford of Europe from 1968 to 2000. Frequently the best selling car in the United Kingdom, the Escort was also used for motorsports, especially rallying to great success. Many drivers such as Björn Waldegård, Hannu Mikkola and Ari Vatanen used Escorts and won numerous races with them. The Escort made its bow as #221 in the 2015 mainline, in a blue-and-white scheme that we’ll see plenty more of in the listings to come. I’d have liked to see the white stripe extend right across the arches, but it still looks brilliant. What a start!
The two Gumball 3000 issues from 2019 are nicely done. I especially like the off-white version, which has a vintage rally look about it and would make a good basis for a custom rally car, if I had the time and talent! If you tuned in to the Lamley IG Live last month with Hot Wheels designer Mark Jones (IG @designspeed744) then you’ll have seen the first pictures of the upcoming ’78 Ford Escort RS1800 Mk2. This model will be released in the Ford Car Culture Premium set later this summer.The RS1600 returned to the mainline in 2018 as part of the Hot Wheels 50 th Race Team set. There were 10 different castings in all, some of which came in multiple colours, including the Escort, which had both a regular release in matt French blue and a Super Treasure Hunt issue in a darker, spectraflame shade. As you’d expect, the Super is a real beauty –one of the very best of all the RS1600s. I was fortunate to get it in a trade. I was probably the one who added the Escort as a model submission prior to when the movie license was even considered,” remembers Fraser. “When the project was started, I think the license deal for the movie was still in the works. Getting the Ford license was no big deal so first and foremost, the reference we used had to be from an RS1600 – just in case we couldn’t get the movie license. That explains some of the differences from the movie car. As with many recent Hot Wheels castings, the RS1600 has had plenty of mileage as a licensed Fast & Furious movie model. The real car was driven in Fast & Furious 6 by Brian O’Conner, played by the late Paul Walker. We’ll step through all 16 versions of this beautiful Escort in a minute, but first some notes on its creation from designer, Fraser Campbell.
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