It seems that this has been a buyers market this year on Lotus items, as new die cast continue to he available in all sorts of guises. Plenty for everyone, so let's get started!
A few years ago. McDonald's offered an Elise S1 in their Happy Meal... In pink, ugh! There was nothing unique about it, as it was just a repaint of the standard Elise that was released by Matchbox around the same time. Jump forward a few years later, and McDonald's is now offering a Lotus again in their Happy Meals!! This time around, though, it is a special model indeed. The Lotus Sport Elise comes in a dark green livery (maybe British racing green?), with additional stickers to hoot. The really neat thing with this model (from Hot Wheels), is that there is a small switch on the bottom that turns on a tiny light inside the car, which lights up the headlights, and the sides of the car. Think Lotus with a little "Bling Bling"!! This car is number one in a series of Hot Wheels/McDonalds releases... it is definitely worth checking out, but you might want to do it quickly, as I am not sure what release number they are up to!
Next up is a 1:43 scale Lotus Elise S1, Type 49. The type 49 was special edition Lotus decorated in the gold leaf F1 livery of the past. Maxi Car is a new die cast manufacturer, part of the golden dragon group out of Macau. The detail on the model is very well done, with tiny details such as the Lotus logo on the wheel center caps included. The item number is #10149, and can be found rather easily on eBay or www.ewacars.com. In addition to the red type 49, this model also comes in black and yellow although I am not sure how they can still call it a type 49 then!
Not to he outdone by the Maxi Car release. Vitesse has reformed under the Sun Star name, and released their own 1:43 Lotus Elise Type 49 as well! Vitesse has always had fairly good quality, and this model is detailed as well. This is a limited edition of 1,632. and is item #27601 from their British Car Series. Hopefully we can expect more Lotus models from Vitesse, as they produced many of the F1 cars in conjunction with Quartzo years ago. I picked this one up off eBay, but there might be other sources as well.
There are plenty more Elise Die Cast in store ... and more variations than I can afford, but not to worry. I will try my best to keep you up to speed in the coming months.... Happy Hunting!!
