[Wyatt]

2003-2005 Lancer Evolution, casting #050, date 2004.

No known variations.



JLCollector link: http://www.jlcollector.com/050.html

[tiretracts]

Great pic Wyatt

[The Wheelman]

Very nice. Love the white and yellow one. Not crazy about the one with stickers.

Either way it's good to see an import getting some attention.

By the way, GReddy filed for bankruptcy the other day. Quite a loss for the import community. Just thought I'd share to anyone interested.

Great pic.

[STUTZ]

I only have the white EVO.

One is enough for me.

Nice pic Wyatt!

[roadwarrior]

Darn I don't have any of those Nice pic as always Wyatt

[1970 Stage 1 GSX]

Nice pics! Those cars have been warming pegs around here forever!!! I have bought a few just to use the wheels and tires off of them.

[RacerJoe]

Nice picture Wyatt I liked all the Imports and there was some very nice paint schemes on a few, however I wished they were tamed down alittle more toward the true scale model size.

[Fury Us]

If there was a BWF version, I would have one of these puppies in my collection.

Nice to see you mixing it up, Wyatt.

[Jeff Koch]

If there was a BWF version, I would have one of these puppies in my collection.

Know what? There would have been one, if I didn't have my legs cut out from under me.

Recall in the first release there was an Accord that was black with flames; it was a way to try and bridge the gap between the more conventional JL buyer and the new import tools. Recall also that (prior to my arrival) the Wicked Wagons series had a Tri-Five Nomad that was black with flames in each release. It sold well, got good word of mouth. I tried a version of that with the vans: one delivery van in each release with five freaky customs. I thought I'd try the same with the imports: five freaky ones, and one tool that was black with flames.

Now, for the approvals process, the Honda licensing guy decided to check with someone in-house who was familiar with the tuner scene: he was a former editor of Super Street, one of the scene's top mags. He and I knew each other for four years, and he was always a bit of a practical joker. And I had copied most of the paint schemes for that first release out of his magazine, so I figured, no big deal. But he sends down this letter about how clearly we have no idea about what the scene is all about, and these cars are an embarrassment to Honda, and we're out of touch, and all this. Now, my buddy is just trying to bust my chops, but everyone took him at face value. So the licensing guy approves (cause he wants his money) but he flips out on my bosses. And management's confidence is suddenly shaken in this new hire, meaning me. Other subsequent releases were designed in the wake of that first one to be progressively crazier and/or more garish, until the Import Heat title finally imploded in a poof of no one caring. Had the series rolled on, each new tool would have been done in black with flames at some point. The whole mixed-card Street Freaks concept kept the tools alive, and once we got a proper artist in to do the renderings (she did the GReddy one), the cars started looking a little better. But as far as I'm concerned, releases 2 and 3 are tainted.

Luckily the Evo came later; it was always meant to be in Import Heat later on, but the Lightning Strikes New Cars 2004 line (horrible name for my just as horrible concept) gave us a couple of clean examples of this casting.

jk

[roadwarrior]

When will they learn that if it's BWF it will sell regardless,there might be some complaints but it still sells.

[accobra64]

Recall in the first release there was an Accord that was black with flames; it was a way to try and bridge the gap between the more conventional JL buyer and the new import tools. Recall also that (prior to my arrival) the Wicked Wagons series had a Tri-Five Nomad that was black with flames in each release. It sold well, got good word of mouth. I tried a version of that with the vans: one delivery van in each release with five freaky customs. I thought I'd try the same with the imports: five freaky ones, and one tool that was black with flames.

The BWF Honda Accord.


The Acura Integra.

Images courtesy of JLCollector.cm. Thanks Wyatt.

I bought that first release because of the two castings illustrated above.
I thought the idea for the Import Heat was o'kay but unfortunately, most collectors were not enthused about all the tampos on the castings.
And then the Walmart stores got bombarded with dozens of cases of releases 2 and 3 that didn't sell well which left large numbers of the castings hanging on the pegs in the diecast aisle along with quick-strips of the castings all over the place for a very long time (probably at least two years with minimal sales).
I actually saw a couple of them hanging on an end cap along with a bunch of Poker castings in a Walmart store in June this year while on vacation.

Jeff, I always ebjoy reading your comments.
Thanks for the latest ones. Another good read.

Cheers. Cobra