Hot Wheels "Speed Machines" dial up the detail

If you're a casual die-cast car collector, any mundane shopping trip is an opportunity to grow that pile of toy cars you have taking up space in your house that could probably put to better use. (According to your significant other, at least!) If you have kids, there's that to contend with, too – any unopened toy car they come across will soon be an opened toy car. After all, how do you explain to doe-eyed Junior that really, Daddy would prefer you don't open that green Matchbox Porsche 914 that took two months to find at the store?

Now, the standard buck-a-pop Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars are pretty nicely detailed, but those same castings look a lot better when they're re-decoed and packaged as pricier, step-up subsets sold separately from the regular assortments. Case in point, the Hot Wheels "Speed Machines" cars. These 1:64 scale cars (the same size as regular Hot Wheels) have much more accurate paint and detailing, with better wheels, and yours truly has already succumbed to his inner child on one occasion upon seeing them. Chances are, that won't be a single-time occurrence, either.

As demonstrated above, upcoming Speed Machines range additions like the Ferrari 599XX stand ready to separate disposable income from pocket in $2 increments. It and the other cars in the gallery below are part of Speed Machines "Mix E," which should hit stores in mid-May. Keep your eyes peeled. After all, this is the stuff that makes your desk at work look cooler than the next guy's.

[Source: Mattel]