AW’s twin 6-pack releases offer 5 new castings …

I love detail in my die-cast, so have tended toward the larger scales as an adult collector, but man, Auto World is starting to tug me big time back toward the 1:64 scale I loved as a kid.

Auto World’s True 1:64 releases are premium quality die-casts that are so well detailed that you can save a lot of cash and display space by going with these instead of larger models. The True 1:64 are budget friendly, yet so much fun to look at, hold, and display. Plus Auto World is rolling out a lot of new tooling for 2021.

For instance, the latest releases focus on Muscle, much like Auto World’s 1:18 scale American Muscle, but includes five new toolings.

Here’s the deal.

The first 2021 release as usual comes in A and B Series 6-packs. Each features the same six vehicles, but decked out in different color schemes. The newest premium True 1:64 release features a 1965 Chevy Suburban, 1981 Chevy Silverado 10 Fleetside, 2018 Chevy Camaro ZL1, 2019 Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack, and 1993 Toyota Supra, all brand new castings, plus a sharp 1992 Dodge Stealth R/T Twin Turbo that was new not that long ago.

Wow, these are all beautiful, and other than the Camaro and Challenger, none are well represented in my larger scale collection and I’m betting not in yours either. I mean a 1965 Suburban?

The Models

I’ll admit up front that I’m not a huge truck or SUV fan, but this new white over light green Chevy Suburban is retro, so appeals to car and truck folks who prefer 1960s styling. Count me in!

Auto World went whole hog to make this one sharp. The crease down the side is beautifully cast as are the front and rear lights, with perfect painting to highlight them and the silver door handles too.

Windows are outlined in black, including small vent windows and the dual windows on the back doors, no hatch, back in the day, just panel doors. Naturally the hood opens to reveal the body-colored V8 inside, plus there are real rubber white-sidewall tires. Another cool feature, the correct dog-dish wheels with a red cap in the middle.

Inside, the interior is white with a well-formed dash and steering wheel with horn rim, while underneath is a metal base that is well-detailed for 1:64 scale. Most of the time there’s little detailing under a vehicle in this scale, just manufacturer logos, and the base if now often now cheap plastic.

Muscle Truck two is a Silverado Fleetside with red upper body, white lower trim and a white roof.

This is Auto World’s first release of this ’81 Chevy with its squarer fenders, different bumpers and slightly sloping hood. It’s a delight.

The grille is amazing with all the little vertical rectangles beautifully outlined in silver with black grille facing. This is something that could easily turn sloppy in this scale, but this is as precise as tuning on a Swiss watch.

This hood pops open easily too, revealing a nicely detailed engine featuring an orange block.  Some  of  the  car  hoods  are  tougher  to  pry open.

Beyond that there’s the silver trim over each wheel well, a delicate black trimmed silver stripe between the red and white lower trim, Silverado badging on the front fenders and Chevrolet badging on the tailgate. Again windows, including a vent, are trimmed in black and the undercarriage is nicely detailed.

Cars 3 and 4 in this collection are major muscle, the 2018 Camaro ZL1 and 2019 Challenger R/T Scat Pack are new castings.

The Camaro is a beautiful Hyper Blue and this particular model is based on the real deal owned by Tony Maez, a Camaro enthusiast who allowed Auto World to use his car to perfect its molds. The Camaro includes a meticulous black grille, black hood insert with ZL1 emblems on either edge and there’s a black interior. Of course the hood opens to show off the engine, which makes 650 horsepower in the 1:1 version and will do 0-60 mph in 3.5 seconds.

Little bits matter, like the nice black and chrome-edged bowtie on the tail, just below the body-color spoiler and black mild ground effects along the rocker panels. Two other big pluses, in my book, quad silver metal exhaust pipes at the rear and spectacular silver latticework wheels to make this Camaro look fast, even sitting still.

Black makes the R/T Scat Pack look ferocious and racy, but the Widebody adds more muscle to the wheel wells to enhance the look. New here is the Hellcat-style hood with its raised sort of modified stinger-look hood with indentations on each side. This is a distinctly different look from last year’s Challenger Hellcat Redeye release.

Again there’s an R/T emblem on the thin black grille and a Scat Pack logo on each front fender, while Dodge is imprinted on the rear between the taillights. I like that the wide metal twin exhausts exit the back and are part of the detailed underbody. Plus, up front there’s a fine yellow trim line on the chin spoiler. Classy!

Interior? Black of course, and the dash is well shaped to reflect the original car’s and the four headrests are prominent to drive home the sportiness of the interior. Snazzy split five-spoke wheels complete the look. Pretty spiffy for a car that runs $46,000 in the 1:1 car world.

Like sporty, but prefer more finesse to your sports coupe?

The white 1992 Dodge Stealth R/T Twin Turbo is a snazzy looker. This is the second go-round for the Stealth casting, but the Twin Turbo is a solid choice with fancy motion-inducing white wheels, the car’s unique reverse spoiler just behind the rear window and flat headlight lenses that perfectly blend into the low hood.

Yes, that hood opens to show off the twin-turbo, and there’s black twin turbo labeling on the doors. Headlight and taillight lenses look particularly sharp here too.

The Stealth’s roof is black and the interior red with a black dash and wheel.

The final new casting in this release is car #6, an Alpine Silver 1993 Toyota Supra, and you’ll be seeing several other versions of this in future releases. AW tells us it already has tooled two different hoods, a couple front-end variations and an optional rear spoiler. This allows them to make Supras covering model years 1993 (this one) up to 1998. Cool!

Front lights have clear lenses with twin beam lights beneath and painted rear lights that look good, plus a rear hatch wiper, a nice touch. Just one tailpipe here but a healthy one with well-formed muffler tucked under the tail. Windows are trimmed in black and the interior is black.

Release 1B, as mentioned, contains the same vehicles, but in new color schemes. The Chevy Suburban is orange with a white roof while the Fleetside pickup is black with silver poly sides.

The muscle cars are amped up a bit in version B with the Camaro ZL1 coming in Red Hot, which would likely make a fire engine blush. While the Challenger looks particularly striking in B5 Blue, a medium metallic blue and with a rear spoiler in black, along with the gas cap. This is sharp.

I really like the Emerald Green version of the Stealth in the B release, it is dark but with enough metallic in the base that it really makes the Dodge look special. Lastly, while I’m no fan of white paint schemes in general, I have to admit the Supra looks even sleeker in Super White than it does in the silver paint scheme found in Release 1A.

If you love the variety that Auto World offers, as I do, with two releases, it’s hard to choose just one. So buy both if your budget allows. These True 1:64s are great for augmenting a larger scale collection.

And as I’ve said before, AW’s cool and colorful hang cards create stirring visuals, plus offer some historical info and color ID for each model, making them fun to display. Can’t wait for the next release!

Vital Stats: Premium Release 1 A&B, muscle trucks and cars, 6-packsMaker: Auto World
Scale: 1/64
Stock No.: AW64302/06 A & B
MSRP: $47.99 per 6-pack

Link: Autoworldstore.com