This model was the inaugural release on the Adios mold - Adios! He was a portrait of the real Adios, champion Standardbred harness racer and legendary sire. He's item #50, produced from 1969 to 1973, and was sculpted by Chris Hess.
This may actually be one of the oldest models in my collection! Most of my models are pretty modern, but there are a few older ones here and there. Adios isn't my favorite mold, but I still have an entire shelf (and more!) full of his models; he seems to be the other exception to my dislike of stock horse molds.
Okay, technically he's an aged Standardbred stallion, but the mold is frequently used to portray stock horses, so my point is valid. Interestingly, this model is a variation that doesn't have the weird black streaks on the hind socks like most of them do. I can't find a photo of the real Adios from this side to verify if he also had the weird streaks (though I don't know why he would). I still need to find a model that does have the streaks for my collection, but it's kind of a low priority at the moment.
Due to the age of the mold, he's been issued in a number of colors over the years - and some of them have been quite nice! I really like Hollywood Gold's color, as I mentioned in a prior blog post on him. I'm also a fan of Brandywine, Frappe, Cocoa Beach and You Oughta Be in Pictures, among others.
Despite the age of the mold, he hasn't been used at Breyerfest all that much - a couple of times as glossy prizes, one raffle model, one celebration model, one tent SR (two if you count the silvers) - and a number of auction models, of course. This year's Breyerfest theme is racing, so will we see Adios pop up somewhere? I'd be okay with that. Could he possibly be the surprise? Maybe, if Breyer (well, Sommer) can come up with four colors and patterns that haven't already been used and wouldn't make people complain that they looked too much like (insert previously existing model here). It could probably be done, though! Let's hope we see Adios somewhere.
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