[Wyatt]

1995-1996 Honda Accord, casting #046, date 2003.

Known variations: Ground Effects/Body Kit, Rear Spoiler



JLCollector link: http://www.jlcollector.com/046.html

[Milezone]

They are colorful. hehehe Not into these rides, but as always great shots Wyatt.

Russ

[seveland]

I love the BWF version..... someday I may have to breakdown and buy the whole set of that import heat release to get it.... it's the only way i ever see that car available is as part of the entire set. I also like that orange one from release 2, the yellow from 10, and the red from 8. I'd like to see JL do some imports again, but from what i heard they didnt do so great the first time.

[Brian]

I think the import crowd grew up on video games, not cool little toy cars. Im not surprised if they didnt go over to well.

[Jeff Koch]

What a smashing lack of success this was. Aargh.

jk

[Wyatt]

Personally, I enjoy the variety. I am not much of an import guy, though.

[lummox]

Seems like the Civics from this series had much better continuity. Heck, even I almost bought one or two.
But this series....man, what's up with those weird wire type rims?!
They look like some kinda cheezie plastic hub cap from K-Mart.
The casting itself looks fine but the graffics, etc. aren't to my taste.

[AQUA XK8]

The casting itself looks fine but the graffics, etc. aren't to my taste.

That's why they invented carb cleaner.

[Jeff Koch]

man, what's up with those weird wire type rims?!
They look like some kinda cheezie plastic hub cap from K-Mart.

The wheel master and sketches we sent were supposed to have open spokes. The spokes were apparently too tight (too easy for chrome flashing to get stuck in the open spots) so they molded it solid. It wasn't to our liking, but it wasn't worth delaying the program over. Or maybe it would have been, in retrospect.

The flamed one was an experiment: it's not a traditional import scheme, but this was before there was a Black with Flames series as such, and I wanted to throw a bone to the traditional JL collector, on the notion that maybe they'd buy at least ONE car out of the series.

Sad that neither this one nor the Civic were ever done with soft tires. (I was working on a plain white one for Classic Gold, but after the blue Integra disaster, I figured I'd just knock it off with the Hondas.

jk


The other thing about this series that I can add to is that the rear spoilers were supposed to be interchangeable between castings--the Integra, the Accord and the Skyline were all supposed to be able to wear each others' wings. I don't mean interchangeable in the package, but we could specify Wing A, Wing B or Wing C and make it work. Well, "work" is a relative term ... the old saw about a big boat, an ice berg and some deck chairs comes to mind ...

jk

[lummox]

Exellent. Always great reading insider info!

[accobra64]

The flamed one was an experiment: it's not a traditional import scheme, but this was before there was a Black with Flames series as such, and I wanted to throw a bone to the traditional JL collector, on the notion that maybe they'd buy at least ONE car out of the series.
jk

It worked for me. Very, very well.
That was the first Import Heat casting that I bought.
The experiment worked, in the sense, that it may have heightened the average collector's interest in the Black With Flames castings that were to follow.
Some of the Import Heat castings were very nice, but personally I felt that there were too many releases too quickly together.
And I just wasn't a tuner type of guy.
But I did buy some of the various castings.
And then there was the fact that most JL collectors weren't buying them, so consequently we had the various castings hanging around on the pegs for a very long period of time.
I believe that including them in the Street Freaks releases may have been a mistake.
But that is just my opinion.
Being a traditionalist, I had no problem with all the trucks and SUVs castings that were released back in those days or earlier.
Some of the Import Heat castings were very well done.
So PM should receive some accolades for those.
Others just became dust collectors and peg warmers.
Sometimes a company has to stick its neck out.
Many times the gamble pays off and ocaasionally that gamble may result in failure.
At least Playing Mantis gave it a valiant try.

Jeff, thanks for your comments as I always appreciate them.

Cheers. Cobra

[lummox]

Good point, at least they try variety of different things.

[WoloMan]

I think the import crowd grew up on video games, not cool little toy cars. Im not surprised if they didnt go over to well.

An astute and true observation, IMHO. I remember when I just got outta high school--there were plenty of things to spend my money on...my car (headers/intake/carb), Atari games or girls (OK, just one ). The last thing on my mind was, "Hey, I'd like to spend $5 on a little car that kind of looks like mine."

When these 20-somethings get to be in their 30s and older, they will probably reminisce about their first car and then want these JLs as a fond memory. But, JL doesn't have a 10-year plan, so try they must...

[60sMetal]

These ones didnt do much for me, but they looked like pretty good 1:64's. I did like the Pip version though.

[Jeff Koch]

Sometimes a company has to stick its neck out.
Many times the gamble pays off and ocaasionally that gamble may result in failure.
At least Playing Mantis gave it a valiant try.

Gerry, that about summed it up. Rather than continuing to hit the no-longer-growing musclecar market (not a small chunk, but still not growing), they wanted to branch out into new areas. Me, coming from California, saw lowriders and tuners (which at the point we planned them in late 01 had not yet been done in force, believe it or not) as underserved markets. And the market made its desires known with deafening silence. Live and learn.

jk

[STUTZ]

I'm guilty of having the BWF version.

I'm not crazy about this casting.

[seveland]

If they ever do more imports, i'd like to see a 90s toyota supra, and dodge stealth & mitsubishi 300GT (two cars from one casting!)

[zilleonti]

If they ever do more imports, i'd like to see a 90s toyota supra, and dodge stealth & mitsubishi 300GT (two cars from one casting!)

I like the 90's Toyota Supra as well, but I'd love to see the 80's - early 90's versions


... The same with the Mazda RX-7's, Nizzan SX & ZX series and some early Volkswagen Golf's .

[Jeff Koch]

Something else about Import Heat occured to me during my fitful night surfing across the IntarWebs. Honda's licensing guy at the time was positively bipolar. One day they'd call and tell us everything looked great, the next they were threatening to cancel contracts.

I had occasion to know one Matt Pearson; he was the first editor of Super Street magazine, and later moved on to Honda in some semi-visible media relations position. He knew I was at JL. He is a joker. And more than a couple of the first two releases of cars were based on paint schemes pulled out of his old magazine.

So imagine my shock/surprise/embarrassment when a) Pearson writes a blistering condemnation of the first release, the Honda licensing dude waves it under our noses (figuratively) and lights into us shortly thereafter, and c) my boss' confidence was so shaken (in me, in the program...) that they put the design of the cars into someone else's hands for a couple of releases. (I had little if anything to do with release 3 ... ) Made me look a right fool in management's eyes--just what I needed in my first six months at the new gig.

Not until two years ago, long after I was out of JL and Pearson was out of Honda and working elsewhere in the industry, did he tell me that the whole thing was a prank--he was stunned to hear that anyone had taken him seriously. I could have throttled him on the spot.

jk

[James]

WOW, Jeff, I guess one should look at all the consequences before playing a practical joke. It really backfired and you unfortunately recieved the dirty end of the stick. Not nice at all