Collector’s Excitement

For most of us collectors, it comes for the first time when we are kids, we walk through the toy hall in our local grocery shop, and there they are, toy cars.

I think the most common brands are Hot Wheels & Matchbox, but I’m sure that for some of you it could have happened with any other brand, that maybe no longer exists or in some cases, with companies that release unlicensed cars.

The point is, we go there week after week and see the cars hanging in the pegs, and we like them, we truly enjoy seeing them and we hope our "parents" (use “partner” instead of “parents” if you started collecting as an adult) will buy them all for us. Why? Because they’re beautiful, you like to play with cars (this statement is still applicable as an adult).

If we’re lucky, we get to bring 1 or 2 home and add them to the collection, if not, you go home empty handed hoping for a better outcome on your next visit.

But then the day comes, you go to the same shop you go every week, you walk through the same hall, but there is a difference… In the peg, you see the most beautiful car you have ever seen (for me it was the Hot Wheels Deora II from the Highway 35 Collection released in 2003).

The Highway 35 - Deora II from my personal collection

 

Something lights inside of you, and suddenly, you realize you want this car, no no; you love this car, you need this car... you won’t be able to smile again if you don’t have this little guy in your house. You go to your parents (partner), you plead to do all the house chores for months, there is no small price to pay, and your parents take your deal, and you get that beautiful little piece of engineering.

My friend, there is a big chance that in that moment, you became a collector, the happiness that you felt in getting that beautiful piece, it is something that you will be aiming for from now on, every time you go to the grocery store or the mall or the toy store.

Now you want to get all those amazing pieces out there, from buying 2-3 a week, you start buying whole boxes, and from having 10-20 cars on your collection, you start collecting hundreds. But you know as well as I do that putting aside the fact that you like mostly all of the cars in your collection, there a chosen few, that make you feel like you were 8 years old every time you see them, amazed!

This, is the collector’s excitement, the reason why we’re here, we love these little guys not just because they are precious to us, but also, because they make us feel hopeful and happy and full of joy…

…and yes sir, probably just like you, I have a problem, an addiction you might say, my name is Joaquín, and I’m addicted to little cars!

 

A delayed apology.

There are some bad scenarios linked to addictions, but in my case, I got lucky, because my addiction brought me to open the store, and already for 9 months, besides still loving little cars, I’m enjoying connecting with other collectors and helping them bring those little “show stoppers” to their own collections.

As a part of this new “job description” I created the Model of the Month Blog Post, where I will describe, what is the best model we received in the store in a particular month and why… of course the selection is not a democracy, it’s just what I liked the most, so there could be some discrepancies in taste, but hey, to each its own right?

So, to start with the Model of the Month – December, I have to firstly say, I’m sorry for the delay, we are almost at the end of January, but I have a reason, I was on holidays with my family and living in another continent and all, I don’t get to see them very often, so I decided to work only on the essentials (like customer service) and leave the additional (like the Model of the Month) to when I was back. So, I'm hopeful you will understand.

Still, before I left, I received some orders and I was able to choose the winner of December, and BTW, just so you know, this is not a substitute for January, we still having one of these at the end of January as well, which is basically…next week.

Well, after the needed apology, we can get into it

 

Working with a Concept.

As explained above, in the previous posts I usually choose a model that either surprised me greatly or something that has a great relevance in the Collector’s World, and most of the time, both things together.

In this case, due to how the things unfolded in the last 2-3 months of the 2024, I realized that I was not going to be able to choose just one model, because this particular design, was licensed by 3 different brands, 2 of which, I had available at the store, and several of unlicensed releases were made by other brands. Needs to be said, in order to keep things official, these unlicensed brands won't be mentioned in this post.

This model was incredibly successful, everybody wants one, and some people were able to get a Hot Wheels, others a Mini GT, and some others a Sparky, maybe you got the 3 of them, you lucky dog!

All of them have their pros and cons; price, availability, details, etc. so I could not rate one brand over another, what I can truly tell you is that, this was, without a doubt, the year of “Rexy”.

Without further ado, the Model of the Month is not just one model, but a concept: the Porsche 911 GT3 R from AO Racing, commonly known as “Rexy”.

Rexy's livery presentation in YouTube

Who is AO Racing and where did “Rexy” came from?

Autumn Oaks Racing or AO Racing is an American Racing Team that focuses on Endurance Racings. They participate in IMSA and in some of the WEC races like the 24 Hrs of Le Mans, they were founded in 2022 by GitHub co-founder and technology entrepreneur P. J. Hyett, and American race car driver Gunnar Jeannette.

AO Racing logo.

 

They seemed to be just a normal new team in their first race, but in their second event, On March 18 2023, the 12 Hrs of Sebring, they brought a completely different livery design on their Porsche, a green T-Rex livery named “Rexy”, they actually changed the official name of the car to “Porsche 911 GT3 Rawr”. And the car became immediately a fan favorite and probably the most recognizable livery on a race car in the last few years.

Why a T-Rex? Well, that is because Hyett, inspired by his kids, was using a T-Rex (for his boy) and a Unicorn (for his girl) on each side of his racing helmet, when they decided to go bold for a new livery, someone suggested a T-Rex like the one on Hyett’s helmet, and a star was born.

 

Both sides of P.J. Hyett's helmet.

 

You’ll be glad to know that “Rexy” is not just beautiful; in 2024, just in their second year competing, the AO Racing team won 3 races, and with that, they secured the GTD Pro Class Championship, putting “Rexy” officially in the IMSA’s history books.

AO Racing has entered the LMP2 Pro-Am category with a Oreca 07-Gibson named Spike, the Dragon, probably a model that we will see soon in different scales.

Spike's livery presentation in YouTube

 

The Models

After a huge intro, finally we can talk about the models.

The 2 available at the store were these:

• Hot Wheels Car Culture Race Day - "Rexy" Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)
• Mini GT - Porsche 911 GT3 R #80 2023 IMSA Sebring 12 Hrs GTD AO Racing.

Hot Wheels (left), Mini GT (right)

 

I didn’t have any availability on the Sparky model, so we can only talk about these 2.

Both companies work in completely new toolings to release this model, and in terms of scale and sizes, both are 1/64, however, the Hot Wheels is a little bit bigger, this is of course because the Hot Wheels are more sturdy and durable models, I haven’t test the resistance myself, but the Mini GT always seem to be a little bit more fragile.

In the front, the Hot Wheels got the extended teeth in the grill, which Mini GT cuts a bit short, but they added sharper spoilers by the sides.

Hot Wheels (left), Mini GT (right)

The headlights on the Hot Wheels seemed to be part of the “glass piece”, on the contrary, the Mini GT has separate pieces in the “ambarish” color that you can see in the real model.

In terms of the livery execution, both look flawless, the only difference that deserves to be mentioned, is the position of the sponsors and the difference in the numbers, while Hot Wheels just shows the plain 80 number in white in the hood and sides, Mini GT adds it in a Green Box that looks more “race official”.

Mini GT (left), Hot Wheels (right)

 

The Glass around the cockpit has more detail in the Mini GT, showing Black bolted edges and a split windshield.

The interior in both is a replica of the real model, having just one seat for the driver and a roll cage, however, in the Hot Wheels all the interior is black which makes it difficult to see the details, in contrast, inside the Mini GT you have a white roll cage.

Details of the glass and the interiors in the Mini GT

 

One of the big differences are the air intakes, Mini GT included them in their casting and painted them black, instead, Hot Wheels made a hole in the model to show the rear vent, and added the front one to the casting but left it green.

Hot Wheels (left), Mini GT (right)

 

Now that we are on the sides, the side mirrors need to be mentioned, Hot Wheels has them as part of their body and Mini GT has separate pieces of “bendable” plastic attached to the car.

The wheels are an interesting topic, Hot Wheels uses green rims, as a counterpart of the black rims/Michelin wheels you see in the Mini GT.

We know that Hot Wheels doesn’t design model specific wheels, but the green rims are actually a thing called “Rexy’s dress shoes”, the AO Racing team bolts those green rims when they go on tours or in exhibitions, and they change them for the Black Racing wheels for the competition, so if you get both models, you can actually say that they are representations of “Rexy” in different situations… This is the line you’ll say to your partner once they ask you why you have the same car twice.

Hot Wheels (top), Mini GT (bottom)

 

Another big difference is the back wing, Hot Wheels uses a more generic, green plastic wing, versus a full metal specifically designed wing in the Mini GT.

Hot Wheels (left), Mini GT (right)

 

To finish in the back, the Hot Wheels car has a rougher finish where you can barely see all the details like the bar light, the number 80 and the AO Racing logo.

Hot Wheels, back details

 

The Mini GT model seems to have a red acrylic insert for the bar light, super defined lines and well detailed logos, names & number, plus a beautifully made exhaust system above the back diffuser.

Mini GT, back details

 

In terms of weight, the Mini GT has 10 grams less… which I have no idea if its important, but I added this detail as a bonus.

 

Conclusion

To be honest, I was not trying to choose a winner here, in terms of price, I think that the Hot Wheels is more affordable, however, due to the madness, it could be a lot more difficult to find than the Mini GT.

In terms of details, of course I will go with Mini GT, is an overall, well executed model, but they are build for different purposes, so I love that I could get both of them 😊.

If you are in the case that you still haven’t got one and you are not sure if you should go for a Hot Wheels or a Mini GT, well, this would be my advice:

If you find them in the wild, a Hot Wheels is always a nice model, it looks really pretty and you won’t miss a lot versus the Mini GT, however, we have to accept that “Rexy” was last year's model, so it will be really difficult to find them at Walmart, you will probable have to go to the secondary market, and if you are in Europe like me, with the Shipping and Taxes costs, it could get pretty expensive, so maybe a Mini GT could be a better idea.

Regardless, this is a model that has to be in your collection, because, just like with those models we talked about at the beginning of the post, this is a breath taking piece, one of those releases that made everyone go wild, and I’m sure that once you have it, your heart will fill with… Joy?... of course not, it will be full of RAWR!!

Hot Wheels (left), Mini GT (right)

 

PS. BTW, you probably already know this, but there is a version of this car in Pink that is called “Roxy”, but hey… that’s a different story…