What's the deal with Greenlight Collectibles 1/64 scale diecast cars? [Beyond Hot Wheels: Ep. 7]

In this series we're going Beyond Hot Wheels and taking a look at premium and super premium 1/64 scale diecast cars from other brands. Each episode will focus on a single brand with this episode looking at the Greenlight Collectibles brand of 1/64 scale diecast cars. Greenlight is primarily known for 1:64 scale diecast cars of mostly American cars and trucks with lots of detailed parts, opening hoods with detailed engines and a large number of different castings. Beyond Hot Wheels Episode 7 - Greenlight Collectibles vs. Hot Wheels.

Other episodes in the Beyond Hot Wheels series:

This Episode Includes:
Greenlight Ford Bronco
Greenlight Nissan GT-r
Greenlight Datsun 510
Greenlight Chevy Nova
Greenlight Ford Police Interceptor
Greenlight Dodge Diplomat
Greenlight Dodge Challenger
Greenlight Checker Taxi
Greenlight Mercury Cougar
Greenlight Mercury Cougar Eliminator
Greenlight Ford LTD Wagon
Greenlight Ford Crown Victoria Police
Greenlight Ford Bronco Police
Greenlight Chevy Silverado C10

[geoffersongeofferies]

I will say, that for the hundreds of hours i’ve probably spent watching diecast videos on YouTube, this is the first Intro 101 video I’ve every seen! Well done Karl! Good for you for going back to the basics and doing a thorough job on introducing the brand to newbies and refreshing other collectors of all things Greenlight.

[JohnSTF]

Greenlight's strong points: They have a very large catalogue and while they mainly focus on American cars, they have a decent selection of European and Japanese models too. When they're good, they're really good. Their models feel realistic, especially for their price range (there are companies wich offer better overall realism, like Tomica Limited Vintage but they cost 4-5 times the price of a Greenlight model). They produce many different series, so if you miss a brand new model on one set, you can almost find it on another set. Overall casting variety is excellent.

Their weak point: Quality Control. Various stance problems, dirty / oily windows, wonky wheels (and for some reason, many white-wall tires look wrong and misprinted). It's one area wich really brings their overall image down. You never know what defect you may find inside a factory-sealed case (apart from a welcome Green Machine that is).

I'd say it's a brand worth collecting and they have some really nice castings out there, but they need to improve their QC as the 1/64 competition right now it's really fierce ( the hobby grew up tremendously in the last 5 years or so) and they might lose customers because collectors might be afraid to get them because of these issues. In any case, thanks for making these vids, as it gives us a better insight of each major diecast brand and its qualities. May i ask making a video about Para64 next?

[johnmatullo]

Awesome detail on the Greenlight cars! So very realistic looking!

[RedRoomDiecast]

As a big fan of this brand I can clearly say, this is probably the best explanation of what Greenlight is actually about. The good, bad and the ugly side of the brand. Still much better QC than M2, a brand that is as aggravating as they are wonderful. Excellent video Karl. 👍👍👍👍👍

[rwright]

I like Greenlight myself, Autoworld is my favorite!

[OgKrazyNick]

I have a really cool Ertl nova where the trunk and the hood open. I put custom alloy rims, slotted disc brakes and red calipers rubber tires, custom upgrade.

[voodoodiecast]

Nobody explained this better, thanks for putting up this video! From what I understand, the more you make toolings, variations and be specific about those then the more problems it can make. Other brands doesn’t have much issues because their castings are much simplier.

[SteveBrandon]

The only green body Green Machine I ever found was the 1967 Impala from Supernatural, which was a bit lucky for me since I know someone in Vancouver who worked on that show in post-production.

Greenlight has put out some larger fire department vehicles like command centres (essentially just modified motorhome castings) in HD Trucks but even the double-wide blister. packs for that series are a little too small for fire engines at 1/64 scale.

Canadian Walmarts carry Greenlight Hollywood but also Hot Pursuit, Tokyo Torque, the classic magazine ad car series, Running on Empty, Club V-Dub, the new emergency vehicle series, Kings of Crunch, sometimes Hitch and Tow, and that new delivery series. They used to carry GL Muscle and Black Bandit but I haven't seen either at a Walmart in a while (but we can still buy those at Toys R' Us Canada stores as well as HD Trucks, Barrett Jackson auctions, Dually Drivers, the commemorative series, La Carrera Panamericana, the Hobby Shop series, the Garbage Pail Kids series, the one with trailers, and some of the others that Walmart also stocks).

Sometimes in HD Trucks, Greenlight will do their own equivalent of Hot Wheels Team Transport. I bought myself a Chevy C-10 transporter and 1968 Camaro in Shell Oil livery for my birthday last October.

[jonp]

I totally agree with you, fantastic castings too often ruined by crap quality control.

[johnathanhardman]

Love these types of videos! Tons of diecast! Fun little history on GreenLight and just cool way to show off some castings they've done. Also nice Green Machines and the Raw! Super radical, man!

[comingnhot]

spot on . my whole collection has been acquired to get me to stop buying real cars which consisted of mostly monte carlos . after seeing JL atrocious early release of the casting. i found better later in the year. i had no clue a lot of these cars existed or they would have been the only cars i bought and i'd probably have a collection of 6 cars. since finding the green light. it really hits it home for me compared to any other casting that either does to much or not enough. green light puts my car in the palm of my hand and that was what i set out to do most other cars acquired being in lue of or a whammie from refusing to leave empty handed.

[Hankynopanky]

When you said the most amazing and the most infuriating 😂 boy I felt that one

[StingerDiecast]

If you enjoyed this video please checkout the other episodes in the series.

[juanlin]

I’ve been thinking of cutting out Greenlight in my collecting as I’m running out of space for things, but it’s like you say, sometimes a brilliant casting/deco comes along such as the California Highway Patrol Ford Bronco and it makes me reconsider. There’s always at least one fantastic car in each set. Again, the large variety means there’s something for everyone. I’ve gotten a couple of cars where wheels won’t roll or hood won’t stay closed that I bought 2-3 more times only to find out all copies suffer from the same defect, and that the problem was in the design stage. Greenlight the brand I love and hate.

[romk.m.]

Awesome review of Greenlight, thanks. The main reason why I collect GL is that they are "stick to scale", and I can't see any other comments mentioned it. I see this is where GL finds the niche from the very beginning.
1:64 is fine with me, and I presume most collectors agree with it judging by it popularity. I also has a hugh collection of 1:43 diecast long before I started GL. One of my favorites is the Corgi's America Finest State Police Interceptor Series of the 60s and 70s.
All other older or established brands before GL in the market are "boxed scale", from US, Europe and Japan, they are all the same. No mention of the scale in the package.
I don't know why they don't care about scale, but I hate boxed scale. Boxed scale is for children, not collectors. Do all these other companies understand the difference? What are their sales target? Children or collectors? Who can afford to pay more and buy more?
I think the answers are simple but they are just ignorant of these facts sadly. Yes other brands sometimes released diecast in 1:64, but this is extremely rare.
Another issue raised by a comment, "locked down kit" is a great idea that GL has yet to try. I got a few Racing Champions' Body Shop kits decades ago and I enjoyed building them with a screwdriver. I do hope more to come from whoever companies.

[alexsantiago]

My biggest frustration with GreenLight is they frequently dont roll 😒

[TheKingRacer]

Greenlight QC is going downhill since the beginning of the 2010s. I remember buying my first Greenlight models at a local diecast store in 2008. I was stunned by the quality : accurate and realistic details, opening hood, all metal, rubber tires. They were the same quality as Autoworld today. They WERE realy nice. But unfortunately they are no longer. Every time I go to my walmart and see the pegs of greenlight product I see the same QC problems on every single series. Doesn't matter if it an hot pursuit, hollywood, running on empty, hitch and tow or even SD trucks! If I buy a GL now, I inspect the vehicule realy carefully and make sure they have very few problems or not at all (wich is very rare, it's almost as hard as to find a green machine!!). But most of the time, cars have issues. Here's a few ones : Finger print on the paint/ inside the windows, badly put together parts, broken axle or wheel, oil residue on the paint, misshaped tires, bent or broken parts (lightbar, roof rack, pushbar, tow hitch, etc.), bent chassis, missaligned whitewall tires, paint chip, fog inside the windows, glue residue on the paint / accessories and more rarely paint that peel off or tempos still wet in package. And all of these QC problems are very common on the models these days. The company doesn't seem to care at all about the issues and they even block people on their social medias account when they get called on it. It very sad, they used to be my favorite brand of collecting realistic diecast models. But now on, I just feel that their golden age is now a thing of the past and other manufacturers are just selling better quality product for the same price. It so frustating because they have such a large variety of castings available...

[JoseSuarez-bkqg]

Young man your assessment on Greenlight collectibles is spot on. Especially their lack of quality control. The only way to overcome that is for Greenlight to sell their models as a kit and let the consumers assemble the products. Of course that would mean Greenlight will need to replace the rivets with screws which is something most collectors wouldn’t mind.

[theshep]

Forgot to mention I live in Indiana, so I can also go right up north to their HQ where they have a Diecast Pub shop where you can buy all kinds of castings. I don't collect GL much though.

[cgmejvd]

Cool video. I love how detailed and informative the video is. Thank you so much