When it comes to premium Hot Wheels, the car culture series rarely disappoints. The Modern Classics set is no exception.
In this article we are going to take a look at the Modern Classics, a 2017 set in the Car Culture series. This is an absolutely beautiful set of cars. In general, Mattel has done a great job with the Car Culture sets, and the Modern Classics are no exception. With Real Rider tires, great paint, and metal bodies and chassis, you can see and feel the quality in these cars. The Modern Classics set features the ‘92 BMW M3, the ‘85 Honda CR-X, the Porsche 964, the Renault 5 Turbo, and the Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 EVO II.
Before we start talking about the cars themselves, we have to talk about the card art. The card art on the Car Culture sets is generally very good, but the Modern Classics art takes it to the next level. The card art on these is fantastic. If you didn’t know better, you’d easily think that these are photographs. The detail is phenomenal. Each card has an action shot of the featured car on it, along with the Modern Classics title across it. Of the card art, my favorite is the Mercedes, but all of them are super nice and it definitely makes it a bit tougher to rip into these to get the cars out.
‘92 BMW M3
The BMW M3 debuted in the 2012 Hot Wheels Racing Series. We’ve seen it a few times in the mainline series since then and it was also featured in another Car Culture set, the 2016 Euro Style set. This version is a solid blue with the BMW M stripes across it. It features the Real Rider Aero wheel which looks really sharp on this casting. One thing that this model is lacking is headlights and taillights. Some of the cars in this set have them, some don’t. However, starting in 2018, all the Car Culture cars are supposed to get the full treatment; headlights, taillights, and other front and back detail.
Did you know…
M stripes refer to the three colored stripes used in the M logo on BMW cars. The three colors are red, purple and blue. The Red stripe represents Texaco, the American oil company. They partnered with BMW during the early days of M racing. The Blue stripe represents BMW and the Bavarian region. The Purple stripe which blends together Red and Blue represented the partnership between the companies as they worked together.
‘85 Honda CR-X
The Honda CR-X debuted in the 2012 Hot Ones series. There are actually two versions of this car, a premium version and the mainline version. The premium version is actually three pieces. The car was redesigned for the mainline series and has only two pieces. In the Modern Classics set we get the premium version with a metal base, black plastic middle piece, and orange metal upper piece. The CR-X feature a Real Rider 8-spoke wheel as well as taillights and headlights. The headlights are plastic and part of the windshield piece.
Porsche 964
The Porsche 964 debuted in another Car Culture Series, the Track Day set. While the debut version was quite colorful, this version comes in all black with highlights of red. The Real Rider tires on the flat grey Aero style wheels are perfect for this version. The front detail includes the Porsche logo and headlights. In the rear, the plastic tail lights are part of the window piece.
Renault 5 Turbo
We’ve seen two versions of the Renault 5 Turbo as a Hot Wheels car. The first was seen in 1991. In 2013 we got the Renault 5 Turbo wide body version. It was part of the Hot Wheels Boulevard series. The Modern Classic version is also the wide body version. The colors on this car are really sharp with its blue base and red and white deco. The Real Rider tires with the white 8 spoke wheels are perfect. What would have really finished this car off would have been headlight and taillight detail, but alas, the Renault does not feature that. Overall, though, a great car.
Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 EVO II
The Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 EVO II makes its Hot Wheels debut in the Modern Classics set. Mattel did an awesome job with this car. The detail on this car is fantastic, with both head and tail lights as well as some grill detail on the front. The Aero wheels with Real Rider tires are perfect for this all black casting. It’s exciting to see that this kind of workmanship and detail is where the Car Culture series is headed.
