Well...Here's more of the collection - these are the actual die-casts. At least, the ones I wanted to show at the moment.
Starting at the top and working our way Right and forward:
1: "Mad Dog II," one of two Matchbox models I have. This version has the paddle tires from my "Mud Monster" jeep in the front row.
2: The Nitro Machine, early '00s Hot Wheels Monster Jam. The real-life truck was Grave Digger 3 from '91.
3: Hot Stuff Pulling Tractor, Matchbox. Fictional, but part of the same line as the monster trucks. Never had the sled, though...
3: Goldberg, early '00s Monster Jam. Back when I thought Tom Meents was Cool.
4: Grave Digger, again, Early '00s Monster Jam.
5: The OTHER Mad Dog II truck. This one has the original tires. The real-life "Mad Dog" was a Chevy Blazer with a center cockpit and a sprint-car style wing atop the roll cage. It ran in the TNT series in the late '80s, campaigned by John Breen, whose name shows up on this Matchbox model.
6: Fly-N'-Hi. A Matchbox model of an obscure truck from the mid '80s that ran a Toyota body. I've never seen it on a TV program, so...(I also used to confuse this truck for Pablo Huffaker's Jus' Show 'n off.)
7: Sting, again, early '00s Monster Jam.
8: The Mud Monster jeep. Entirely fictional, it once had the paddle tires on the second of my Mad Dog trucks. The tires bound, so it now has Mad Dog's tires, which don't bind up.
9: Bigfoot, Muscle Machines, Early '00s. This was the ProMT truck, after Monster Jam kicked the Bigfoot team out. Very nice, this model has full suspension and four-wheel steer.
10: Awesome Kong II, Matchbox. Damn, was that one a helluva truck in it's day. It's a shame Matchbox never modeled the 3000HP ALLISON V12 that sat in it's bed in this bodystyle. That same truck later ran a blown Chevy V8 with a Chevy body...NARROWED TO 88 INCHES.
11: USA-1, Matchbox. This one's been loved a lot, you can tell. USA-1 was a hot truck in the late '80s, being the first national points champion in '88. The race truck, #2, also had WAY too much power for its leaf spring suspension, and in '89, flipped several times. Everett Jasmer still owns the name, #1 (what this model is based (loosely) on,) and #2, uses them for ministry - preach a little, crush a few cars - but he refuses to join the Monster Jam circus. I don't blame him.
12: Bigfoot, Hot Wheels, Early '90s. This is the die-cast model where the wheels come off, and can be replaced with huge Bigfoot 5-style wheels. unfortunately, i've misplaced two of the white wheels for this truck, so it's sitting on two of Snake Bite's green wheels.
