A Silver winged Bullet from RLC Brings the Swagger
The Redline Club. An exclusive (not as much these days – this one is 1/20,000) Hot Wheels group that gives you the opportunity to purchase some very special Hot Wheels releases. These cars end up being metal base and body with very exquisite paint jobs. Tampos are always top notch, the cars are rolling on Real-Riders, and like the vehicle here – are very special cars that can sometimes come with very special doors.
This specific car is the second iteration of the Hot Wheels ’55 Mercedes 300SL with opening gullwing doors. I’ve always loved the 300SL’s looks and those doors are just so cool. Make the car in chrome and it’s a winner in my book. Tampos are understated on this car, but they’re very well done. Headlights, grill and front badge, side badging, rear badging, a cool license plate and a tiny tampo for the exhaust end all adorn the outside, with some details also present on the interior. I like that Hot Wheels didn’t go crazy and let the beautiful lines of the car speak for themselves.
Usually when Hot Wheels adds doors, the gaps tend to be quite large. They’ve done a great job here and not only do the doors fit well. They have just the right amount of staying power to lock in whichever position you want them in without fear of them closing.
I think Hot Wheels could have picked a better wheel for this car, but the Minilite-esque wheels always look nice on classic cars. Specifically, these are the RLR8SP’s. I do think the red line adds just enough flare on this subtle casting, though.
While this is the second ’55 Mercedes-Benz 300SL from Hot Wheels, it should be noted this is the 4th of 5 300SL castings released. The mainlines do not feature the opening gullwings and have two side mirrors, differentiating themselves from the RLC casting. The mainline castings also feature removed bumpers, different side skirts, and different glass – hearkening to 300SLs that were modified for racing.
Opening an RLC car is always a treat. Hot Wheels has taken great care in the recent years to up the ante on packaging. Most RLC cars nowadays come in a clear acrylic case, but there are still multiple layers above that. The secondary box is always well decorated and gives a short history of the car inside. This car also has interior supports to hold up to gullwings for display. Similar cases were used for the recent Countach variants.
Now of course we should compare the two versions of this car side by side. We can see the tampos overall are the same, except for the license plate variation. Wheels are obviously different as is the color, but I didn’t expect the interior to be quite so different. While the tampos are in fact the same, they seem better done on the green car simply due to the contrast. They both sport different colored steering wheels than the rest of the interior, but on the green car, it is much more noticeable (and a preferred color combo to me).
Overall they’re both fantastic models and both worth picking up. The paint is flawless and the casting itself is fantastic. Another star in the RLC lineup!
Added by
Casthead Admin
01-02-2024
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