Back to the Future II Taxi Cab

Base	Matchbox Citroen DS
Mods	Resin Cast Body, different wheels, modified blister package
Card	3rd Gen card, 2009, JS0015, BTTF-03
Qty Made	31 inc prototype, plus original sculpture

Back when Matchbox first released the black Citroen DS I knew exactly what I was going to do with it. I figured I could just make a little hat for it and some paint and i'd be all set. I knew resin casting was going to be the answer for that but I was pretty new to it. I collected over 20 base cars to start with, then I just stored them for a while and did other projects. Once I decided to do this, I soon realized a fully resin cast body was necessary for this car. Also fortunately for me they re-released the DS in putrid green and I had my friends help me round up over 12 more cars.

The base car was stripped of paint and plastic parts were krazy glued on. All of the white plastic is scratch built. I made 3 bad molds before I got one really good one, and I barely made my goal of 30 cars. I made a decal slug out of my first mold (a slosh cast just for form) so I could measure and scan the decal pattern. Decals were made with cd labels and clear mailing labels, packages got a custom yet like-themed treatment.

I replaced the wheels with more accurate ones from about 35 donor cars and painted each hubcap and tire. Each car had 8 colors of paint and 10 stickers that I cut out by hand... I will NEVER make 30 of anything ever again!

Some notes about the production run..

I did the cars in batches of 5-8. They came out of the mold and each needed about 15 mins of trimming and sanding to start with. The rear deck piece was its own mold and was re-molded 3 times because it was so hard on the mold to remove. I had to make an indentation on the bubble to accommodate the Taxi sign with my x-acto handle, my vise, and an aim'n flame. 2 have different bubbles that fit the car without modification, #28,29. #5 was the first one sold at $105. #17 was raffled away at my AZ-D holiday party just hours before the first one sold. I did these in my spare time while my baby daughter napped and LATE at night. Put down that game controller and do something!