Greenlight Collectibles’ Pace Car Garage set boasts six die-cast pace cars, including this unusual 1963 Chrysler 300.
photo courtesy www.greenlighttoys.com
Well, we knew that this would come eventually. Indianapolis-based Greenlight
Collectibles, a die-cast outfit run by a former Indianapolis Speedway employee, has
launched a six-car set of Pace Cars in its Pace Car Garage set.
Truth be told, much of the ground is not new — others have done the ’70 and ’72 Olds and ’78 Corvette in pace car colors before — but it’s been nearly a decade since those have been on the shelves, and many argue that a revived
Pace Car line, with contemporary levels of detail, has been long overdue. Greenlight’s efforts will satisfy the vast majority: opening hoods with
detailed engines; soft tires with clear, pad-printed letters or stripes; nicely detailed, painted and serialized die-cast chassis, and more.
But our favorite of the lot, hands-down, has to be the ’63 Chrysler 300. (We’re always suckers for cars that have never been done in scale before.) Just take it out of the package and hold it — there’s an uncommon heft there. It’s modeling a big car, granted, but still — it’s a serious chunk of
metal. The styling is on the money. The luminous, smooth blue paint practically glows. The tampos are crisp, the hood opens smoothly to reveal a
four-barrel V-8 painted aqua (with a separate black air cleaner, thanks), the wheels roll smoothly (not always a given, even with higher price-point
cars), and the separate dash is painted black, while the center of the TV-screen-shaped steering wheel is picked out in silver. Look more closely and there are console details that are also silver. Just an outstanding model in every conceivable way, and for about $5, it seems a bargain.
Our only criticism of these new Greenlights revolves around wheel choice and stance: All of the cars (save the ’07 Vette) sit a bit high, judging by the photocards in the packaging, and three of them (Chrysler 300, ’78 Corvette, ’65 Coronet) are wearing a five-spoke mag that doesn’t match the photocard on the car. (Granted, it would work well in other muscle car lines, but still… ) And the Coronet used as the sole Daytona 500 Pace Car in an otherwise all-Indy set. Beyond that, we’ve got no holes to poke.
We picked up our set from 1stopdiecast.com. Learn more about Greenlight die-cast at www.greenlighttoys.com.
(This post originally appeared in the July 12, 2007, issue of the Hemmings eWeekly Newsletter.)