The Last Golden Age of Matchbox: 2005/2006 Superfast Nissan Xterra...

Our ongoing series showcasing the best of Matchbox from 2005 to 2011 will usually focus on castings that made their debut during that era.  But not always.

There was a lot of magic happening at the time, and with lines like Superfast, some existing models took on new lives.  There is no better example than the Nissan Xterra.

The Xterra was big deal when it debuted in 2000.  The SUV craze was in full swing, but the vehicles lumbering down the road were less about "sport utility" and more about status, ride height, and comfort.  The Xterra was the opposite, more about the "sport" and "utility", with its emphasis on function, and its look as unique as any in the SUV world.  I remember the Xterra - especially in its signature yellow - being the first SUV that I always noticed on the road.

And Matchbox jumped on the Xterra bandwagon quickly.  It was a no-brainer candidate, and debuted within the same year as the real Xterra.  The only problem was Matchbox, at the time, was producing great castings, but giving them terrible decos.  Those early 2000's were marked by Matchbox's hatred of subtlety.  There seemed to to be a fear that no one will know the Xterra is an off-road vehicle if there wasn't an attention-grabbing graphic on the side to tell them.  Hence:

With the occasional exception, the Xterra was relegated to crazy 5-packs, play sets, and cartoon-themed models.  It seemed a waste for such a fantastically made casting of such a unique car.  Look underneath the goofy graphics and you see a very nice casting.

Then 2005 happened.  John Coyne and Felix Holst, along with a slew of designers like Michael Heralda and a new designer at Mattel named Ryu Asada, started pushing realism.  As we have documented extensively, this group of car guys started making castings of cars from all over the world, new and old, and started what we have dubbed the Last Golden Age of Matchbox.  

The era was highlighted by all the new castings, but the team had at their disposal a plethora of existing castings that fit in with exactly what they were doing.  Models like the BMW X5, Porsche 911 Turbo, and most certainly the Nissan Xterra.

All of these models finally were scrubbed clean of the crazy decos and given realistic colors and designs, and the Xterra shined with its new look in the 2005 Superfast line.  It was a daytime talkshow-worthy makeover.

As we have documented before, the 2005 Superfast line was especially unique, because it was actually two 75-model lines.  One for the US, and another, with the exact same castings but in different colors, for what Matchbox collectors dubbed ROW (Rest of World).  That means the Xterra received two colors.  Green for the US and signature yellow for ROW:

To me, whenever I think of the Xterra, I picture it in yellow, so the ROW version is the one to have.  Unfortunately, the ROW models are the harder to find, especially for collectors in the US.  Matchbox stayed true to the lines, making the US line ONLY available in the US, and the ROW lines ONLY available outside of the US.  That meant collectors in both markets needed to make friends with collectors in the opposite market to get the models they wanted.  Packages were flying all over the place from Australia, Europe, South America, and Canada at the time.  It also means tracking down the yellow Xterra now is very difficult to do, especially for the Nissan loving collectors here in the US.

But the green is no slouch, and the red that followed in 2006 as part of the 5-model Off-Road Superfast set was fantastic as well.  Three models, all in realistic colors (and I don't even mind the blingy Superfast wheels, especially in graphite gray on the 2005 models) and full tampo treatments.  Even the roof rack was painted.

We haven't seen the Xterra much since the Superfast models, and seeing it now would be impossible unless Matchbox modifies the casting.  Their "4-part" rule means the opening hatch would have to go, and we do wonder if the way metal is being cost-limited with Matchbox models, the roof rack would be converted to plastic as well.

But whether we see it down the line or not, we will always have these three.  I don't have any other Xterras, because I am more than satisfied to have these three beauties in the collection.  Three highlights of the Matchbox Golden Age...

(These do pop up on eBay occasionally, and there are a couple of red and green right now if you want them.)


Matchbox Nissan Xterra (2005/2005 Superfast):

The Next Great Diecast Collectible: Matchbox "New" Superfast...

It is hard to know why we have been on such a Matchbox kick lately.  Sometimes it just happens.

It may have started with the Matchbox Tesla Model S.  When we first saw photos of it, we were reminded of how great Matchbox was just a few years ago.  The Tesla looks just about as real as a $1 diecast car can look.  Its realism made it a bit of a throwback to the years 2004 to 2010, when realism was a major aspect of the Matchbox line, whether it be a classic car, a construction or emergency vehicle, or a current sports car.  The Tesla would look great next to the Matchbox Audi R8 or Lexus GS430.

That is where it starts.  There is a spark.  Then you wade into the dangerous waters of the eBay sea.  There is that one you always wanted, and that other you never appreciated when you could buy it on the pegs, that other you foolishly traded or sold away.  Before you know, you have a whole new collection coming.

That is what has happened the last few weeks with what Matchbox collectors call the NSF, or New SuperFast.  Superfast is a term that has been associated with Matchbox for decades, so NSF or New Superfast is used to identify the line that that started in 2004 and ended in 2008.  The models were fully tampo'd in realistic designs, they had unique wheels, and came in packaging that included a throwback-style box.

And it was ambitious.  The 2004 and 2005/2006 lines included 75 models each, and the 2005/06 line even had a separate 1-75 line for overseas markets.  That meant completist collectors would have to rely on friends from other countries to get all versions of each model.

The later lines didn't include as many models, and also suffered from erratic distribution, and as a result some models have become hard-to-find and pretty desirable.

There is a sense that a whole new generation of collectors are just discovering the Matchbox models from this era, and it is opening up a new world of collecting.  It seems that Matchbox was producing the line that many collectors want Hot Wheels to produce right now.  Hot Wheels is doing what it always has done.  It is Matchbox that changed the most.

And that is why we have started clamoring for Matchbox to return to its glory days.  There are a TON of folks that would welcome it, embrace it, and hopefully make it successful.  The time is ripe for a realistic $1 diecast line again.

This may be one of the reasons that secondary prices for these models, including NSF, are growing.  Models like the Land Rover Defender 110, Lexus GS430, Audi R8 and RS6, Toyota Land Cruiser, and VW Golf GTI are starting to fetch high prices.  Some Land Rovers and Land Cruisers are famously fetching $100 or more all of a sudden.  Like the Hot Wheels Datsun 510, which was a notorious pegwarmer before demand skyrocketed, these Matchbox models seem to be on a rapid upward swing.

So we are trying to snag those models that have been on the want list for awhile, but we have been too lazy to pick up.  Packages have been streaming in, including this one we are showing today.

We mainly want these to showcase in our "Last Golden Age of Matchbox" Series, but we are also happy to have them as well before we are priced out.  Oh, and they pretty damn fun to have...

Want to walk into that dangerous eBay sea?  Be our guest:

2005 Matchbox Superfast
2006 Matchbox Superfast
2007 Matchbox Superfast
2008 Matchbox Superfast