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1/64 Diecast News & Review Blog

Denny Hamlin 2020 "Fedex 1973" Throwback Camry

4/10/2021

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Anyone who has followed Denny Hamlin's career knows exactly how much of a threat he is at Darlington. Hamlin's prolific career holds many highlights, and some great wins. There aren't many places where Denny has won more often, and there's nowhere that Hamlin has a better average finish (7.5). 

Since 2015 Nascar has created a tradition of making the Southern 500 the annual throwback weekend. Hamlin and the Joe Gibbs Racing #11 Fedex Team has never skipped an opportunity to appreciate a part of Nascar history by always carrying a throwback scheme.

In this review, we're back to Lionel's  Authentics 2020, Wave 8 to review Denny Hamlin's 2020 Fedex Southern 500 throwback. To read more...
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The penultimate wave of 2020, Wave 8, was announced by Lionel on the 7th of January 2021. With the global pandemic interrupting and interfering with most aspects of life both wave 8 and 9 being released well into 2021 is no surprise. I was able to grab this entire wave without issue, however, the randomness of which stores get which waves seems to be a continuing mystery. 

This wave was not my favorite by any means but there's a lot to like. Lionel brings something for almost every fan. There is a race win from Noah Gragson, a few one-off schemes for Denny Hamlin and Alex Bowman, an iRacing fantasy piece for Jeff Gordon fans and even a couple NCWTS machines from Thorsport Racing. For a look at the release, click here. 



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One day when the racing is done, someone could write a book strictly about how good Hamlin is at Darlington. In 17 starts at the track in the Cup series alone, he has completed 99.8% of all laps run. Further, in those 17 races, Hamlin has led laps in (ironically) 11 of those races, and 519 laps total. To put that in perspective the Southern 500 is 367 laps. 

On the weekend of September 6th 2020, JGR crew members packed up their "1973 Fedex" car with high hopes for claiming a Nascar crown jewel. Denny has won the coveted title of Darlington winner twice in the Cup series, once in 2010, and a second time in 2017. While Denny made a good showing in the 2020 Southern 500 leading 19 laps, he would finish 13th. After staring 2nd. The winner would eventually be Kevin Harvick. To commemorate that race and livery, Lionel has made sure to include a copy of this car in 1/64 scale, Wave 8. This version is available to fans and collectors much earlier than the trackside (specially boxed and more detailed) version which is still on pre-order.

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​As always, my scoring is based on success in three categories and a final recommendation point. Up to 3 points are awarded for quality paint and printing on the model. Up to 3 more points are given for quality moulding and assembly quality. Up to 3 more points are given for historical significance and 'cool factor' and a final point is given if the car has earned my recommendation.

Paint and Printing: (0 Points/3)
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In this scale, and in this 'Authentics' line, cars without a lot of detail typically don't turn out great. While that may seem a bit critical, I must set the tone, because to be completely honest, this is a miss for Lionel in the category of paint and printing. Plain schemes with big broad blank spaces really reveal the fact that this is not Lionel's premier line in this scale and that's the end of it. There are many simple schemes that work out well on the race track. Race cars typically get simplified at Darlington and in this case, while the on track version of this car looked outstanding, it just hasn't translated well to 1/64 scale. Lionel could have done themselves some favors though, and a lot of it has to do with paint and printing. To begin with, the first major mistake, is that in this race, Hamlin's spoiler was clearly purple, but Lionel have given us a plain white one. 
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The next issue is the rear decal work. Anyone who collects in this scale knows that Lionel tends to get the decals crooked once in a while. At such a low price point of roughly $5 a piece, it's really not a big deal. But when the bumper or the grill is crooked, it takes away from the car, and in this case it costs our subject a point. (-1)
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To give credit where it is due, there are other things that are really cool. For example, for $4.99, I can get a Hamlin car with the correct amount of win flag stickers. It's just too bad that the copy I grabbed has the flaws that it does.

Another miss for me is the big white paint chip next to the Fedex logo on the drivers side door. Cars with a white base coat also suffer from ugly and chunky looking wheel wells. That, paired with the missing exhaust port takes another point from what should be  a really cool car. (-1)
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There are other flaws too. The headlights decals aren't long enough, there's chipped pain on the front splitter, and I don't get why we can't have the window decals in the line like we used too. (-1) Final score (0/3).

Mould and Assembly: (3 Points/3)
The biggest accomplishment of this model is the mould. In 2017, Toyota introduced what was then the 2019 Camry. The car looked lightyears ahead of it's time and has certainly held it's own. In fact, the car has been so good that Toyota hasn't bothered to update the body of the car since 2017 and the car is still wining races in 2021 leading up to the new Gen 7 car.
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The car is most sophisticated in the front section and grill area. The same world-class engineering that went into the design of the Camry is quite nicely portrayed in this 1/64 scale clone. The bodywork is properly formed through the doors and side panels. The body skirts are well shaped and the windows, while appropriately sized, do lack sharpness. The windscreen on all Lionel 1/64 Camrys are also missing the reinforcement bars. Not accurate, but not worth deducting a point.
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One of the areas that I always look at when judging the casting is the spoiler. Lionel adjusted the spoiler for the 2020 rules package appropriately. (Nascar went back to a shorter spoiler in 2020 for 9 of the 24 layouts).* Unfortunately, Darlington wasn't one of those tracks. So this car isn't really as close to accurate as Lionel could have made it, but who could fault them for not wanting to mass produce Camry's in 1/64 scale on multiple castings for cars that ran once? Of course it would be a nice touch to respect the track's rule package for this specific car, but its forgivable.
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A few other notes on the model; The space in the skirt for the jack post is a bit rough. The window nets are gray, which is annoying, but understandable. One other positive is the unique Goodyear tires used on this car. Nascar typically uses these white label tires for the throw back events and Lionel has included them, dodgy as they are. Overall the bast part of this car is the mould. Final score (3/3).

Historical Significance and Cool Factor: (2 Points/3)
Nascar has created a whole new buzz with the annual 'wait-and-see' for the Southern 500 schemes to be announced. Many fans will either love or hate the selections. Fans of Denny Hamlin have always had a scheme to look forward too as the 11 car has always participated not like some other JGR teams. The 2020 offering got mixed reviews. In my opinion other throw backs, like the 2016, Darrell Waltrip "80's" livery or the 2017, Ray Hendrick 'Flying 11' were far stronger schemes. But those who are also a fan of the Fedex brand will strongly identify with the 1973 Fedex look. 
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​As a side note, if you follow my 1/400 aircraft blog, Aeroclassics made a 737-200 in this livery in 2020. This livery was used throughout the Fedex network from 1973-1994. It is plain to see the similarities between the livery used on the race car and the one Fedex used on its airplanes. 
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While any Darlington scheme gets points for originality and historical significance, the longer the tradition of throwback liveries goes on, the less of an effect the one-off schemes have. As a result, on track performance and historical richness are of paramount importance.
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Denny is a superstar when it comes to Darlington, but his 2020 effort really wasn't remarkable at all. He led early but would fade back out of the top ten for a thirteenth place finish after struggling without clean air. Therefore, while one-and-done schemes are significant, this one in my opinion tends to be forgettable. It also lacks a certain pizzaz and doesn't touch upon much in racing history. 
It is in some way supposed to resemble a Cale Yarborough, Monte Carlo, but I like many, don't see much similarity besides the number font. To others though, this car with its simplicity is a big winner. For me, it just isn't that significant  when compared to other throwbacks. It may be attractive to some, but it is a miss in my book and barely gets two points in this category. 
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JGR could have at least tried to get the #11 on the nose.
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Stock Car magazine, November 1973 issue.

Conclusion and Recommendation: (0 Point/1)
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The best I can say here is that I'm glad this livery is available in 1/64 scale for the casual collector. But if you're serious at all about throw backs, Darlington schemes, or Denny Hamlin, then it is more than worth waiting for Lionel to roll out their 'trackside' version of this car which will come with better detailing, the window banners, and the solid black chassis and roll cage. I'm a fan of Hamlin, but this isn't one of his better cars from one of his better races, or a good overall effort from Lionel. This lack of a recommendation point relegates this car to a barely worthy 'Backup car' ranking.
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Final Score 5/10

​Written by Eric John & Edited by Kevin John 4/19/21.

Sources:
*Nascar.com
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