Maisto Out of The Closet!

I was searching last night, you know, googlin and what not. Low and behold I find images of our long lost Stunt Runtz. These things were pretty bad ass for their time. Sure they could have used a little “cool” kick, but they were pretty dope as is. They were characterized stunt riders, busting some wild tricks on their crotch rockets. For the time, I’d say they were pretty amazing.

Stunt Runtz

Stunt Runtz

When I came to Maisto a few years ago and saw all the cool stuff they had under their belt, I knew this was the place for me. Myself being the figure/character aficionado that I am, saw these and loved them. The names on these however, well, that’s another story. I’m just glad I’m here now, so names like that never, EVER, get used again. EVER!

Outstanding Willys street rod

I see a lot of cars but when I saw this one on Saturday it really shows what’s what. Every Saturday morning from about 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. a very informal group called the Donut Derelicts show up with their cars at a large strip mall parking lot next to a donut shop. It’s in Huntington Beach, California at the corner of Adams and Magnolia. There are no rules, no judging, and hardly any spectators. Well, maybe there’s one informal rule: unless it’s a non-running hulk that you’re trying to sell, you’d better be driving your car in (no trailer queens). The group attracts an amazing variety of cars that can range from a brass-era classic to a full-race off-road truck. Just in the top photo you can see a restored ’30s Ford sedan, a tri-five Chevy street machine and a Shelby Mustang behind the Willys.

This ’33 or so Willys was engineered to the nth degree. Everything from panel fit to it’s overall design is 10 out of 10 in my opinion. There isn’t an inch of wasted space or an excess ounce of weight. Somehow, a blown Hemi was shoehorned under the hood without any bulges in the side panels. The attention to detail and the exercising of restraint is impressive. The body is perfectly sprayed in one color with not so much as a pinstripe or decal on it. The grille was expertly restored and has the Willys emblem nicely painted. Nothing looked like the car was assembled then someone discovered that some part didn’t fit so a modification was needed. Whoever built this knew what he was doing.

Here’s a bit of trivia: Willys is pronounced “Will-iss” and not “Willies.”

A Few Fotos From Our Friends At GFG

nothing like a little RR on a sunday. see it all at WTW – including a new video of Diko’s new 458 Italia arriving!

Thanks Diko.

the time maisto met saber

well, i must be feeling a little nostalgic – 2 posts, 2 older stories. this one goes back a few years, maybe around 2005. custom shop had been in existence for a little while, and we were starting to get a little bit of street cred, as the kids called it in those days.

upon my return from a trip, i had a voice mail from a woman that was representing the world famous graffiti artist saber. mmm k, that’s good, i think, but street cred or not, i have no clue who saber is. so i ask r2b2 – “do you know a graffiti artist named saber?” r2b2 just laughs, says “oh yeah, we should meet, and btw, maybe you want to check this out”

f – me. now i don’t know a whole hell of a lot about graffiti, but that is one massive piece of work. turns out it is considered the largest piece ever done. in the world. so i called the lady back, said hell yeah we want to meet. turns out she is his mom, but she has been in licensing for a while. so saber was doing some stuff for scion at the time, as they were just getting off the ground, so we thought, why not worth a try. so we gave him a hummer h2, asked him to doll one up so we could see the effect. this is what he came back with.

mmm – yeah, i get it. i like it. in fact, of the 12 pieces or so of die-cast i have in my office, that h2 is in my glass cabinet. locked. so we say yeah, saber, here is a few bucks, give us some scion stuff. and he did. and we made it.

we had some fun with it. actually got them into kmart for 1 season, had a poster at sema, which saber signed a crapload of

and there you go. i think r2b2 and i had a little more fun with saber than we did with trump. the product did better too… btw, if you want to follow up on saber, check him out on here:  saber on FB

2009 Hippie Line – Peace the …. OUT!

story time –  here it is. january, 2009 – get to hong kong ready to kick the year off with a banging new line of products capd had been working on hard for the previous 10 months. plus, i am there to show the bosses the first wave of 2010 products.

and then i see this…

whhhhhaaat?  we didn’t do this. was i having a flashback? i mean, i ingested some things i’m not too proud of now back in the 70′s, but are they affecting me now?

i’m confused. then, they tell me our great distributor from germany, bauer, is bringing this, wants it in 4.5″and 1:24, is going to buy it. and i am like hhhuuuuhhhh?

now we did something like this 10 years ago, CH did a post about it here 1:18 VW BUG. and bauer was with us then.  i guess they felt it was time for a flower power comeback.

and who were we to argue. i mean in the state i was in, i was looking around for the man, popping a stick of gum in my nouth, making sure i had nothing on me,…

they went on to do pretty well with the stuff. we never brought it in here, nor put it in the catalog. but they are out there, in the wild, probably in europe. somewhere.

that’s it – i’m out. gotta take my kid go buy a blacklight poster. peace.

Freeway Fotos: Something Different

Normally I’m all about the cars, new, old, American muscle,Japanese, and even some exotics you know the usual suspects of awesome. I do love the look and the freedom of motorcycles on the open road. I would love to build a bike one day maybe after the 67 is done, just have to wait and see.

So on the way into CAPD I saw this bike on the 60 and had to snap a few pics of it. I really like the less is more on this bike, and how it’s set up. The rake is just enough not crazy, the bars are totally do able, not like ape hangers over your head. That’s cool for some dudes I’m not a fan but do what you like. The back tire isn’t so wide it looks like it should be on a car, another plus one in my book. No front fender, simple black paint, just enough chrome to pop, you can actually see the cables! It’s a machine and I personally like that you can see that side of it. A real classic look in my opinion, this bike looks great today and will still look great 25 years from now.

Some may find this bike bland and not flashy enough, it’s not hip with the current trends. How many more bikes need realistic flames really???

New Maisto 1970 Chevrolet Corvette 1:24 Special Edition

CORVETTE SUMMER!!!
Bowtie fans here is a new 1:24 Vette dipped in bronze.

Freeway Fotos: What’s your dream car?

I took this pic a few weeks ago, we were out getting dinner and I spied this old Chevy Truck sitting in someone’s lot (Reminded me of our “Old Friends” line.) Rusted and beaten down a bit, but I could see her potential. She could shine once again with a little attention, sweat, and lots of love. I can’t believe people let these jewels just rust away.

It got me thinking about my dream car. Sure it would be sweet to be rich like Jay Leno and be able to have garages and warehouses full of cars. I mean, there are so many awesome cars out there, I’m sure I could create a lengthy list of cars I’d love to have. However, my dream car, started when I was a young boy. My grandfather had picked up a 54 Chevy Bel Air, he told me when I was old enough, it would be mine. I don’t remember what color it was when he picked it up, but I do remember him painting it Green on the bottom with the top painted White. She was gorgeous. This is obviously not the car, but this is an example of the color combo.

When I was 14 my grandfather passed away and unfortunately, the car I was promised was sold. So this car has always held a dear spot in my heart. Now that I’ve grown up (some would argue that), I’m on a mission to get one (53-54) when I am able to save up some money for one. That is not the case right now, obviously there are other priorities. When I do get one though, I could see it starting something like this.

And finishing with something like this.

So, what’s your Dream Car?

Rossi to Ducati in 2011

in case you had not heard, this is big news. valentino rossi is joining ducati next year. in europe, this makes lebron’s “decision” seem like chopped liver. here is the official story from ducati…

Rossi and Ducati together again from 2011

to be honest, i couldn’t figure out that pic on the ducati website – but i think it is a dm (ducati motors) and vale (valentino). typically, motogp teams provide data for new bikes, liveries, etc sometime in the beginning of the year. based on this news, we are seeing ducati in 2 weeks to discuss a “new” plan of attack. just sayin…

VW Autostadt – See You Soon…

i have said to anyone that asks, my job does not suck. the latest example of this is coming up in about 10 days. i am hitting the road again, this time to hong kong, italy, and germany. when i suggested the appointment with vw, they graciously accepted, but extended it beyond the normal 2 hour or so meeting. after the meeting they offered to take us to visit autostadt, their amusement part/distribution center/infotainment center on their factory campus in wolfsburg. and they invited us to dinner to boot! these guys are too much – if you see a couple of extra vw titles next year, maybe you will know why.

but i did not know of autostadt, so i did some research…

on top of a tour through the enormous factory, a guide to the evolution of roads, and cinema in a large sphere, Autostadt is also home to the largest glass doors in the world and the longest printed line. The line starts from outside Wolfsburg and travels through Autostadt to a point on a farm. It is about 4 miles (6.4 km) long.

but it wasn’t a long line, or big doors that got me so interested in this. it was the two towers that are connected to the Volkswagen factory by a 700 metre underground tunnel. these towers are the distribution center for VW cars.

now no ordinary towers, these two beautiful structures house about 880 VW autos. i believe that you can order your vw, and when it is ready, you will go to this dc and watch the final preparations of delivery of your car.

those of you that know me, i am an organizational freak. my wife wanted pics of the house we moved into last year put up on fb – i chose pics of the garage, with the new rack system i installed. so to see a d-c like this, wow…

of course, you will get a full report when i get back, or if the internet is ok, maybe while i am gone. at any rate, i can’t wait to see this.