News: Lionel Racing Shifting to Diecast Chassis

In a very surprising announcement and without any real fanfare, Lionel Racing announced on social media this week that new and upcoming 1/64 scale diecast cars that are sold under the 'Gold Line' of products will feature diecast chassis and rubber tires. There are other changes coming as well with decreased numbers required for production there's lot's going on in the 1/64 scale world of Nascar diecast this week. For a quick breakdown of the upcoming changes and what's been announced so far, read on...

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Since Lionel took over as the exclusive manufacturer of Nascar diecast in 2015, nearly every 1/64 they've made has been constructed on a plastic chassis. (Lionel has been manufacturing full diecast race cars exclusively for retailer Circle B Diecast for come time, for more, click here). No mater if you're looking for cars at the race track the race shops, or your local retailer, most current collectors have not seen full metal bodies in years, if ever. Here's what we know so far. 

Above: Lionel Racing now has recently announced 1/64 diecast cars listed in a subcategory indicating the upcoming shift to full metal bodies with rubber tires. (Lionelracing.com)

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Details:
According to Lionel, there has been a long-requested changes to the diecast line the company offers. This is a breakdown of the changes that will be effective immediately. 

-According to Lionel, all 1/64 scale diecast will now have a MOQ (minimum order quantity) of 1,500. This will hopefully decrease the amount of cancelled race cars.

-Starting this week, all future diecast will feature a full-metal chassis and will come equipped with rubber tires. These changes will also apparently come at no additional cost to collectors. (This is evident when comparing the most recent preorder prices with other preorder cars that will not have those features.

-This change will not be extended to the Lionel Nascar Authentics line that can be found at brick and mortar retailers like Walmart and Target. This should make differentiating the Gold Line or ARC cars from Authentics cars more obvious, especially considering the price point differences

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Conclusion:
It will be interesting to see how this plays out for Lionel. Many collectors seem skeptical of these changes. Lionel probably would have been better served to have some examples to share with the diecast collecting world to demonstrate what the upcoming differences will be like. Hopefully the outcome of the overhaul processes positively, but until the new cars hit the market, concerns about quality and accuracy will likely abound. 

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Sources:
-Lionelracing.com
-racing-reference.info