Excellent work, Von Sail. I really collect 1:64 in general, but I like the classic Europeans in the Boulevard series particularly....the white BMW M5, the white Mercedes wagon, and the Volvo 164. My frustration with Boulevard is that here in the US, these are available "exclusively" at Walmart, which isn't my favorite "go to" store for anything. I like the experience of finding things "in the wild" rather than buying online, and on those rare occasions where I do catch releases of Boulevards, they are most likely stripped of anything that I would consider worth buying. Part of the problem may be distribution. There was one release a couple of years ago that I looked for at Walmart several times a week early in the morning. I only ever found evidence of ONE example, and probably the only reason why it remained on the pegs was because it had a beaten card. It didn't matter to me because I was going to open it, but sometimes releases of models are abundant. Other times non-existent. Distribution elsewhere in the world must be different regarding Boulevards and "exclusiveness."
Thanks so much for the great comments. Yeah, something for everyone in these waves. When it comes to exclusivity, I inagine in the US, because of how densely populated some of the big retailers are, they need some sort of distinction or exclusivity to avoid monopolies. Here, where we don’t have that, that exclusivity doesn’t exist or isn’t needed, there are so few stores that stock premiums as it is. The upside of course that you have are store exclusives, like special colour versions, Zamacs and Red Editions. We never see those here, unless imported. Good luck hunting down those Boulevards!
Believe it or not, the #113 white AMG 36 wagon is a new casting. Not sure if you noticed the mistake made on #60, the black one, but they corrected the mistake on the white one so its actually a new casting and they named it differently too, #113 is Mercedes-Benz E 36 AMG, #60 is Mercedes-Benz AMG E 36 Estate. The mistake in the casting of the black version is that the front door cut line does not run from the roof to the rocker panel, it stops mid way down the door.
I did see that they fixed it, it was one of those errors that once you saw it, you could see nothing else 😅 I didn’t notice the name change until I did the voiceover, was looking for the word ‘wagon!’ 😄😄 Thanks 👍
In the US, up until recently, I was limited to only being able to get Boulevards at walmart. Its an issue for me because they're always very limited in amount released, the nearest walmart to me is about 30 miles away in a direction I never have any reason to go in, there are no walmarts on my way to work, none on my way home, by the time I actually have time to get to a walmart everything good is gone. I never see boulevards on the pegs. Is the availability in S.A. better? My new option here is, there is a diecast hobby store that gets cases from overseas. He is limited on how many he can get so they have to be pre-ordered and I have to buy a case, not separate cars, but if I pre-order asap I can get boulevards w/o having to pay an arm & leg from a reseller/scalper.
Wow, I’ve seen them limited to Walmart in the US, very strange. Our situation here was terrible, but more retailers have caught on to the premiums, so now we do tend to get most cases, even if it is slow and not all at tge same stores. Been a bit better in that regard. I think with the recent and upcoming releases, it’s becoming more worth it to get a case, you can always trade the extras, since there’ll be collectors in the same situation as yourself. Keep well 💪
I am not a fan of the Boulevards series and I have unboxed many of them so far, but there are some amazing castings, as individuals!
Yes, especially if you start digging into the liveries based on real cars. Many cool car culture stories in there! Many thanks!
Excellent work, Von Sail. I really collect 1:64 in general, but I like the classic Europeans in the Boulevard series particularly....the white BMW M5, the white Mercedes wagon, and the Volvo 164. My frustration with Boulevard is that here in the US, these are available "exclusively" at Walmart, which isn't my favorite "go to" store for anything. I like the experience of finding things "in the wild" rather than buying online, and on those rare occasions where I do catch releases of Boulevards, they are most likely stripped of anything that I would consider worth buying. Part of the problem may be distribution. There was one release a couple of years ago that I looked for at Walmart several times a week early in the morning. I only ever found evidence of ONE example, and probably the only reason why it remained on the pegs was because it had a beaten card. It didn't matter to me because I was going to open it, but sometimes releases of models are abundant. Other times non-existent. Distribution elsewhere in the world must be different regarding Boulevards and "exclusiveness."
Thanks so much for the great comments. Yeah, something for everyone in these waves. When it comes to exclusivity, I inagine in the US, because of how densely populated some of the big retailers are, they need some sort of distinction or exclusivity to avoid monopolies. Here, where we don’t have that, that exclusivity doesn’t exist or isn’t needed, there are so few stores that stock premiums as it is. The upside of course that you have are store exclusives, like special colour versions, Zamacs and Red Editions. We never see those here, unless imported. Good luck hunting down those Boulevards!
Believe it or not, the #113 white AMG 36 wagon is a new casting. Not sure if you noticed the mistake made on #60, the black one, but they corrected the mistake on the white one so its actually a new casting and they named it differently too, #113 is Mercedes-Benz E 36 AMG, #60 is Mercedes-Benz AMG E 36 Estate. The mistake in the casting of the black version is that the front door cut line does not run from the roof to the rocker panel, it stops mid way down the door.
I did see that they fixed it, it was one of those errors that once you saw it, you could see nothing else 😅 I didn’t notice the name change until I did the voiceover, was looking for the word ‘wagon!’ 😄😄 Thanks 👍
In the US, up until recently, I was limited to only being able to get Boulevards at walmart. Its an issue for me because they're always very limited in amount released, the nearest walmart to me is about 30 miles away in a direction I never have any reason to go in, there are no walmarts on my way to work, none on my way home, by the time I actually have time to get to a walmart everything good is gone. I never see boulevards on the pegs. Is the availability in S.A. better? My new option here is, there is a diecast hobby store that gets cases from overseas. He is limited on how many he can get so they have to be pre-ordered and I have to buy a case, not separate cars, but if I pre-order asap I can get boulevards w/o having to pay an arm & leg from a reseller/scalper.
Wow, I’ve seen them limited to Walmart in the US, very strange. Our situation here was terrible, but more retailers have caught on to the premiums, so now we do tend to get most cases, even if it is slow and not all at tge same stores. Been a bit better in that regard. I think with the recent and upcoming releases, it’s becoming more worth it to get a case, you can always trade the extras, since there’ll be collectors in the same situation as yourself. Keep well 💪