The new Maisto Retrobird finally released
Waited well over a year for this 1/64 scale model to be released and it finally showed up on the market at Walmart this week. It’s color is 02 Thunderbird blue and is in a 5-pak.
This model was originally designed back in 1999 but didn’t get approval from Ford at the time. Maisto went to Ford again in the fall of 2008 and asked for approval again and this time Ford gave them a positive nod. This is the FIRST diecast of the retrobird that will make it into the hands of children (as long as the collectors leave some behind on the shelves) to actually play with. There have been others in this size range but not on the mass market here in the states so those have mostly found their way into the hands of collectors. We could say that Maisto has scored a coupe over Matchbox and Hot Wheels and JL, though Matchbox did have a collector’s edition of the car but not in this price range of $1. Matchbox did not pursue coming out with a less expensive version though they did have one designed.
Update January 22, 2010 – Steve Legel reported that the Maisto model is now being found in single packs. Those haven’t shown up yet in my local search area.
