Crowds love Mustangs. It is obvious when you do one of the most dangerous deep YouTube dives you can do: Mustang burnouts and crashes.
You cringe, you laugh, your jaw drops at the sheer number of them. You see the memes. You then realize you have a blog post to write and it is 2 in the morning. Damn time-waster, those Mustang crashes on the internet. But I'm not done. Back in two hours.
Clearly Mustangs are bad for your health. Either you stay up way to long watching videos of them crashing, or you get carpal tunnel creating memes about them crashing, or you just crash in one. Thankfully Matchbox has created a solution.
It's the Mudstanger. A few years ago Matchbox created one of its best-looking Mustang castings ever, the '68 GT California Special. We have seen it in several colors since, and each has been gorgeous, a perfect replica of an American auto icon. Then they took a left turn and rednecked the hell out of it.
And it is fantastic. The 68 Mustang is still there, only now it is sitting on a massive lift kit, with a slight rake, and sporting eloquent mudflaps. It is something you would only see back behind the garage of the local small-town mechanic. Your would get out of your car, stare at it and declare "Why would someone ruin a perfectly good Mustaaaaa...actually I kind of like it." You would then shake Jim Bob's hand, and leave the gas station happy that there still is mud caked on the sides of the car.
Now you can play "Mustang Crashes" with all your friends, but in the comfort of your own home! And no one gets hurt! Just take your favorite models, like them up like they are stopped at a light, and then let your Mudstang spin out of control and drive over the top of all of them. Make sure to have a Matchbox cop car nearby and keep your phone on and record it of course.
Sure, this model is ridiculous. It isn't the most realistic model, although plenty of people have found evidence online of cars like these existing. It's pure fun, and will receive mixed reviews by some, but will be loved by others. I think it is great. Maybe not "every version is in the Lamley collection" great, but a great choice for the lineup. Heck, if Hot Wheels can do a near perfect realistic version of the Aston Martin DB5, Matchbox can return the favor by doing a very Hot Wheels-ish model.
And in case you are wondering, this isn't just the GT/CS casting on a lifted chassis. The Mudstanger is a little smaller, to account for the larger, wider wheels fitting in the blister.
And this debut version is great in matte green. It looks like a lifted Mustang should. I'm in on the Mudstanger.
(Find the Mudstanger and Matchbox Batch F at Wheel Collectors...
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