September 2nd Matchbox Ambassador Update, by Dirk Schleuer...

Ambassador Update 02 September 2015

Hello Matchbox friends,

Summer time is vintage car time...at least for me...several smaller and bigger meetings, rallys and lots of fun.

Beginning in August, I went to a small place near the river Rhein called Hitdorf and did that with a very special car – see pic below.

Sorry – pic is from a local newspaper so you normally do get a better quality from me! You know that Matchbox sold a model of that vehicle only some years ago?

(Check: http://www.mbxforum.com/11-Catalogs/00-Software/jnmb75nds.php?uSeries=ClassicEuropean Economy Cars&uCatalog=3002)

With the special protection the trips to follow will surely be safe!

Having fun with our Messerschmitt KR200 Convertible – my Mom and me!

But know show you some new stuff coming:

New models from the 1-120 series:

New color for the very sought after Tesla:

And a new layout for the police Dodge Charger:

Even better from this angle?

All these pics will surely also turn up on Johns and David's Lamley Group (http://lamleydlm.blogspot.de/).  My friend John Nijhuis has devoted an extra page for my updates and report – check: http://www.mbxforum.com/01-News/900-Ambassador/jnambassador11.php

Rather sad news is that the supreme heroes series has been canceled. Only wave A with four models was produced and the other models shown from coming waves were just samples and not produced. But don’t be too sad – the best of world series is coming and surely fill the gap – check pics of three more models coming:

Lets start with the bike – surely special even in this very special set:

 

Printing on the seat proves that it is still before production and the pic came in really hot from the design team at the ToyBox at Mattel.  I include big pics so you don’t miss a detail...

And it surely would be wrong to miss a detail on this Land Rover with emergency layout!

One more pic to enjoy!

Also we need a Cadillac – check out this beauty:

But we are not finished yet – highlight surely is Michaels 5.000 design – the bus:

And the other chocolate side...

But also the front view is nice and shouldn’t be missed:

Last time I did ask you about new Matchbox Originals to do and I still keep that question alive. I do get several ideas of licensed vehicles to be produced and surely everybody can name on the point 5- 10 castings never done before and surely worth doing. But I think these ideas will help the design team even more!

Oil field pipe truck:

Timberjack log skidder:

And on my lunchbreak a had one of these on my pedestrian way: Nilfisk City Ranger – surely a great challenge to create:

Because it bends in the middle to turn quicker:

Sometimes you find funny things on the way/road. This time a plane pulling kind of car...

If you know the wheels – yes – it is a duck (Citroen 2CV). At least the most useful and needed parts of it and surely it pulls a plane – prove picture!

I did take the picture on my rallye last weekend – the rallye was called “GoldRace” and took us from Jülich near Aachen (Aken) into the Netherlands and back home. Good weather and lots of fun:

Every team do get a Matchbox model Duesenberg with their own race number on it – so ours was number 2...

From time to time I play with the little explore the world model ;) You surely can guess its purpose?!

We had lots of fun at the rallye and I wish you also lots of fun with the best hobby in the world... 

Dirk 

A Complete Look at all 10 Matchbox Ambassador Routemaster Buses (plus one completely encased in acrylic)...

Last month, at the Matchbox Gathering in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a new Matchbox Ambassador was named.  Dirk Schleuer of Germany was chosen to take on the responsibilities for a span of twelve months, replacing Larry Scaduto.

If you are a regular reader of Lamley, or any Matchbox-related forum, you know that the term "Matchbox Ambassador" is thrown around a lot.  Many of you probably know what it is about, but I am guessing many of you don't.

The Matchbox Ambassador position was formed a little over a decade ago as a way for the Matchbox team to maintain a direct link to the collector community.  It was a way for the Matchbox team to disperse information simply, and have questions and feedback passed directly back to them.  The Ambassador would release regular reports from Mattel, which at first were distributed through email and then posted on various diecast forums.  In turn, any comments or questions from collectors would be sent directly to the Ambassador, who would pass them on to the team.

To keep things fresh, and to give certain collectors a chance, it was decided that each Ambassador would serve for twelve months, from July to July to correspond with the Gathering.  Dirk is the 11th Ambassador, continuing a long line of prominent and very knowledgable collectors who have served.  (With one exception. Some doofus with a blog and a willingness to write - a lot - got the gig for one year back in 2012.  Thankfully order was restored with Nigel Cooper being named the year after.)

If you talk to each Ambassador, I think all would say it was a blast to do, and created a much different perspective on what Mattel deals with in creating and releasing an entire year of product.  I think all will also say it was nice to hand the reigns to someone else after doing it for a year.  It is hard work.

But for all the work it takes, and for all the grief that can be directed an Ambassador's way, there is a huge payoff.  At the end of their tenure, each Ambassador is handed a Mattel-produced gold-plated Routemaster Double Decker Bus attached to a plinth and encased in plexiglass.  Each Bus includes the Ambassador's name, years of his tenure, and the number of his term.

They are very special models, each a one-of-a-kind, but also part of a unique subset of models, released as a one-off every year.  When Dirk gets his next July, it will be the 11th released.

With 10 buses now handed out, it seems like a good time to get them all together.  Actually putting them in one place would be extremely hard to do, as some are in the US and others in Europe, but thanks to Matchbox guru and historian Marcel Colign, we now have a photo collection of all 10.

Marcel was kind enough to share the photos he has compiled with Lamley, and has given us permission to post them here.  You will see that over time the buses have changed slightly, but they maintain the same theme and bright gold color.

But before I show them, I should probably pass along the story of one additional bus that was made as part of an elaborate and very successful prank pulled by the Matchbox team for Ambassador #3 - and my Lamley cohort - David Tilley.

David is well known in Matchbox circles for two things - his love of the most minute shade variations (another story for another time), and his role as the DLM (Diecast Liberation Movement) supreme leader.  He will open everything.  And I mean everything.  David has destroyed preproduction and test packaging, plexiglass cases for event models, and anything else that houses a model, no matter how rare.

Knowing this, and knowing that David Tilley's Ambassador Bus would be opened the second it was given to him, the Matchbox Team came up with a plan.  I will let recently-retired Matchbox Design Director Michael Heralda tell the story:

The Gold Routemaster Bus has become the iconic model given to all outgoing Matchbox Ambassadors as a parting gift. The very first Gold Bus was given to John Yanouzas and since this was sort of an experiment with our production team in Asia (to produce a gold plated bus) they made two samples - each one slightly different in body coloring due to the prep and plating process. We gifted John the better looking of the two which meant that I was the keeper of the other one where it rested happily on my shelf with a hundred other samples and models I liked.

When David Tilley's term as 3rd Ambassador (2007-2008) was coming to an end I revised the original artwork to include his name on the bus and sent it off to our production team. Then the idea of playing a trick on him hit me. David, as many collectors know, is the poster kid for the Diecast Liberation Movement (DLM). Wouldn't it be funny if David could not liberate his gold bus at the dinner presentation! That second spare gold bus came in handy when it was decided to encase it in a solid block of acrylic!

I remember how reluctant and nervous the guy in the model shop was thinking that the chemical reaction of the acrylic catalyst would eat away at the gold plating and destroy the model. I kept reassuring him that it was worth trying. Eventually he agreed and I was with him when he placed the bus in the mold and was there when he removed it. We both smiled to see that the only flaws were with some bubbles and mold marks. Once it "cured" completely he glued a black base to the bottom of the acrylic block making it appear like it was a regular presentation acrylic case with a gold bus inside. Visually, I knew it was good enough to fool David Tilley! And it was!

When the time came to present the gold bus to David, during the dinner event at the Collector Gathering, everyone in the room started laughing as David tried unsuccessfully to remove the gold bus. He did however manage to remove the black base that was glued to the bottom of the acrylic block. The look on his face was priceless when he realized there was no possibility of removing the bus without the aid of a hammer! Quickly I handed him the real gold bus and confiscated the one in acrylic.

Its a great conversation piece and one day I hope to see it displayed in a (Matchbox) museum along with its story - this one is dedicated to all members of the DLM army everywhere!

We are hoping, tucked somewhere deep in the Mattel storage facility, maybe near Indiana Jones' Ark of the Covenant, this acrylic-encased bus remains.  And that someday it will be pulled and displayed. Such a cool model attached to a fantastic story.

At least we have the actual 10 out there to show, including David's actual bus, that you will see below was removed within seconds of hitting is hands.

A special thanks to Marcel for compiling these, and letting us share.  Here they are, all 10 buses, from first issued to last:

#1 - John Yazounas (2005-2006)

#2 - Jim Gallegos (2006-2007)

#3 - David Tilley (2007-2008)

#4 - Terry Ozima (2008-2009)

#5 - John Nijhuis (2009-2010)

#6 - Chuck Wiersma (2010-2011)

#7 - Shabbir Malik (2011-2012)

#8 - John Lambert (2012-2013)

#9 - Nigel Cooper (2013-2014)

#10 - Larry Scaduto (2014-2015)

Cool collection eh?  I hope to one day get them all together at a future Matchbox Gathering and get them all photographed.  Maybe next year when Dirk accepts his.

In the meantime, let's hope they all stay happily where they are, avoiding that unknowing relative that picks it up by the plexiglass.  Yikes...

August Matchbox Ambassador Update, by Dirk Schleuer...

Ambassador Update 01 August 2015

Hello Matchbox friends,

As said, I will send you frequent updates, rather than waiting to post the information until a next report is due to be issued. With the new team in charge, we do get pics and info at a stage that is way before we used to get them in previous years. Some info is spread direct thru Instagram “@matchboxworld” and some is coming thru our channels like my reports or the blogs like John and David's Lamley Group (http://lamleydlm.blogspot.de/). To cover you with the information in time as well I will use these updates.

You might have seen this pic from the new licensed GHE-O Toy Fair model already:

Surely a beauty and a must have for me!  Note that this will not be available at retail, so the secondary market is the only way to get one if you are interested.

We are proud that we can also show you the backside of the model:

Always nice to see what the boys can do to the design and details when they aren’t limited to create a $1 toy!!!

That brings us to the “next step up” models – the Best of World series is surely a home run. Also not tied up in the $1 problem the range, shows 12 super models to collect. My favorite so far is surely this Lambo LM002 with these perfect fitting tires and a nice deco:

But also the design for the standard model corvette to come is worth having a look at.  Especially if you check it against some weird decos from the last years:

And yes – I really want to collect your ideas of future models to come … the team is working on 2017 at the moment. As always around 25 new castings are in line. It is just a fact that being a $1 toy not every casting can be a licensed car, even if we only suggest licensed models. I'm pretty sure that we can still name hundreds of good alternatives to do as a Matchbox, but we might help the team more if we also find ideas for “Matchbox originals” (non licensed/generic), models like the glass truck from Larry’s report. So lets make an agreement: you send me your idea of a model, and it is licensed, you also include a Matchbox original idea, or a decoration for an existing casting.

Ok – I will start:

Being German and liking sport cars, I'm really a fan for this unique sports car: Wiesmann (www.wiesmann.com) – you rarely see them on the street, but if you see one you take a second to enjoy it!

Ok – I will keep my promise to submit an idea for a Matchbox original model. Just passed one of these today – we see them in different versions around, and we all need them to get the road we want to drive on – a street building machine – picture is one version, but I guess we can all live with this being a nice addition to our “INC” company vehicles:

The other idea is a design for an existing casting. You all know we do get the BMW M1 (1M) last years in a very special livery for the Leipzig show. But the car was also used as a safety car – check this:

So far so good … Have fun


Dirk