Hot Wheels

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Hot Wheels Car — Dodge Viper

Hot Wheels is a brand of toy automobile, introduced by U.S. toymaker Mattel in 1968. It was the primary competitor of Johnny Lightning and Matchbox until 1996, when Mattel acquired rights to the Matchbox brand.

Contents

General description

Most Hot Wheels cars measure about 6 cm in length, and are approximately 1:64 scale. A majority of castings are die cast metal; however, some are cast in plastic. Hot Wheels also makes cars in different scales such as 1:52 and 1:18 including replicas of Formula One cars.

Hot Wheels as a collectible

Aside from their popularity as toys, Hot Wheels cars are also popular collectibles. Mattel estimates that 41 million children grew up playing with the toys, the average collector has over 1,550 cars, and children between the ages of 5 and 15 have an average of 41 cars. A 2004 episode of the American version of Antiques Roadshow valued a late 1960s collection of Hot Wheels cars in their original packaging at roughly $100 each, with some of the more rare models worth $200–$900 each.

On the other hand, many adults can be found selling their collections of cars at toy shows for as little as 25 cents to 1 dollar each, and investing in renting or building storage to keep their treasures in mint unopened condition as they realize why their parents gave away their old toys. Most Hot Wheels products marketed as "for collectors" tend to depreciate compared to rare original models that usually met their fate in a neighbours sandbox rather than being saved by collectors cruising department stores for the latest arrivals. a recovering Hot Wheels collector

Related accessories

The cars were designed to run on orange plastic track under the Hot Wheels brand. Unlike Matchbox cars, the cars rolled and which could be placed to make interesting jumps and loops. Motive power was by means of gravity, with the starting end of the course placed higher than the end by means of an included C clamp. A dual set of tracks could be set up and using a starting gate a race could be conducted. Later sets had both a plastic starting gate and finishing flag which would be tripped by the first car. The most famous set was the Mongoose and Snake Drag Race set which retailed for up to $500 during the 1990s, but has been produced in modified replica form, which featured a yellow Barracuda and red Duster funny cars with raising bodies, a box with Don Prudomme and Tom McEwen, loop, jump, and even an apparatus that would deploy drag chutes out of red boxes to the finish line.

Other sets included a Supercharger that had an electric motor and foam covered wheels that propelled the car around a loop of track as the cars passed through. Accessories included a lap counter and a speedometer. Sizzlers had a built in motor and a tiny rechargeable battery. Fat Track was black (in contrast to the regular track's orange color), about four times as wide as regular track, and was intended for Sizzlers to run free. The X-V racers of the 90s would be similar.

History

1968

a custom Volkswagen from 1968, one of the first Hot Wheels cars

Elliot Handler, co-founder of Mattel, decided to produce a line of toy-diecast miniature cars for boys. Although his executives thought it was a bad idea, the cars were a big success. There were sixteen cars (or castings) released in 1968. All of the cars were designed by Harry Bentley Bradley, with the exception of the Custom Volkswagen which was designed by Ira Gilford. Even though Harry Bentley Bradley was from the car industry, he didn't design the full-functioning versions of the real cars. However, the Deora, which was directly based on the Dodge Deora concept car, was his original design. He had previously worked with Chrysler Corporation on designing a concept car which was built by Mike and Larry Alexander. The Custom Fleetside was also his original design, based on his heavily customized '64 El Camino.

Cars released in 1968

Beatnik Bandit (designed by Ed Roth)
Custom Barracuda
Custom Camaro
Custom Corvette
Custom Cougar
Custom Eldorado
Custom Firebird
Custom Fleetside
Custom Mustang
Custom T-Bird
Custom Volkswagen
Deora
Ford J-Car
Hot Heap
Python (designed by Dean Jeffries)
Silhouette
Superfine Turbine

All of the cars featured Spectraflame™ paint, delrin bearings, redline wheels, and working suspension. The Spectraflame™ paint was a transparent, "candy" color paint, that when viewed through polished metal, looked like a dazzling, bright custom paintjob. Because Hot Pink was mainly considered a "girls color", it is the most rare color of cars to find and can mean a big difference in price. A car in lime green for instance may fetch 1/4 of the price of the same car in pink.

In order for the cars to go fast on the plastic track, Mattel picked out a cheap, durable, low-friction plastic called Delrin to be placed in between the axle and wheel. The result was cars that could go up to [scale] 200mph at 1:64 scale.

A symbol among collectors, the Redline wheels are what gave this era of Hot Wheels its name; redlines. Just a simple stamped-on redline around the face of a wheel, the redlines were on Hot Wheels cars until 1977.

The working suspension for the cars was simple, but flawed. The axles were bent into a weird "C"-like shape that was connected to the chassis. When the child pushed down onto a car, the axles would bend like a real car. However, the axles were hard to install on the chassis while being assembled and would break off the chassis if very hard pressure was applied. The suspension was redesigned in 1970.

Packaged along with the cars was matching metal buttons, that could be attached onto a belt so a fellow collector wearing the buttons could show off what cars he had.

1969

Twin Mill™ from 1969, one of the most recognizable Hot Wheels designs

As it turned out, the Hot Wheels brand was a staggering success. Unfortunately, Harry Bentley Bradley didn't think that would be the case and had quit Mattel to go back to the car industry. When the company asked him back, he recommended a good friend, Ira Gilford. Gilford, who just had just left Chrysler, quickly accepted the job of designing the next Hot Wheels models. Some of Hot Wheels' greatest cars, like the Twin Mill and Splittin' Image, came from Ira Gilford's drawing board.

Cars released in 1969

Brabham Repco F1
Chaparral 2G
Classic '31 Ford Woody
Classic '32 Ford Vicky
Classic '36 Ford Coupe
Classic '57 Bird
Custom Charger
Custom AMX
Custom Continental
Custom Police Cruiser
Ford MK IV
Indy Eagle
Lola GT70
Lotus Turbine
Maserati Mistral
McLaren M6A
Mercedes-Benz 280SL
Rolls-Royce
Shelby Turbine
Splittin' Image
Torero
Turbofire
Twin Mill
Volkswagen Beach Bomb

The Splittin' Image, Torero, Turbofire, and Twin Mill were part of the "Show & Go" series and are the very first original in-house designs by Hot Wheels.

During the fledgling Hot Wheels era, Mattel wanted every car to perform on the track as well as make sure that each of the cars could be used with each of their playsets and stunt track sets. Unfortunately, the initial tests of the Volkswagen Beach Bomb proved that it was not wide enough to be powered by the Super Charger, and that it was too narrow to roll effectively on Hot Wheels track.

Hot Wheels Designers Howard Rees and Larry Wood modified the casting, extending the side fenders to accommodate the track width, as well as providing a new place on the vehicle to store each of the plastic surfboards. Nicknamed "Side-loader" by collectors, this was the production version of the Beach Bomb.

Since the initial prototypes of the Beach Bomb do not have these fenders, the surfboards stick out of rear window, hence the nickname "rear-loader". The Volkswagen Rear-Loader Beach Bomb (RLBB) is what many Hot Wheels collectors consider the Holy Grail of any Hot Wheels collection. A regular production Beach Bomb may be worth between $150 to $600, depending on condition. Market prices on RLBBs however, have easily reached the five-figure plateau. Within the last decade, one of two existing hot pink RLBBs was sold for over $70,000 to a well-respected and widely-known Hot Wheels collector.

1970s

Hot Wheels Top Eliminator from 1974.

1970 was another great year for Hot Wheels. Howard Rees, who worked with Ira Gilford, was tired of designing cars. He wanted to work on the Major Matt Mason action figure toy line-up. A good friend of Rees' was a man by the name of Larry Wood. They worked together at Ford designing cars. When Wood found out about Hot Wheels at a party Rees was holding, Rees offered Wood the job of designing Hot Wheels. Wood agreed, and by the end of the week, Larry Wood was working at Mattel. His first design would be the Tri-Baby. After 36 years, Larry still works for Hot Wheels.

Another designer, Paul Tam, joined Larry and Ira. Paul's first design for Hot Wheels was the Whip Creamer. Tam continued to work for Mattel until 1973. Among the many futuristic designs Tam thought up for Hot Wheels, some of the collector's favorites include Evil Weevil (a Volkswagen with two engines), Open Fire (an AMC Gremlin with six wheels), Six Shooter (another six wheeled car), and the rare Double Header (co-designed with Larry Wood).

1973 was kind of a "bum" year for Hot Wheels, very few cars were produced, and most Hot Wheels sales were accounted by left over 1972 blisters. The 1973 models are known to be very collectible.

In 1977, the Redline Wheel was phased out, with the redlines being erased from the wheels, mostly to cut costs, this is the same reason why the paint of the cars were changed from Mattel's in house "Spectraflame™" colors to plain looking enamel colors with flashy decals. Despite this, interest in the brand didn't drop.

1980s

Hot Wheels Torino Tornado from 1985 with Hot Ones™ Wheels

What happened in the 1980s for Hot Wheels sent them in the path of what they are today, just like what the revolutionary Ford Taurus did for the auto industry. in 1981, 2 new wheels were introduced, Hot ones, which were gold painted wheels, and Ultra Hots, which looked like the wheels found on a Renault Fuego or a Mazda 626. Hot Wheels started offering models based off of 80's economy cars, like the Pontiac Fiero or Dodge Omni 024. In 1984, A new style of wheel called Real Riders were introduced, which had real rubber tires. Despite the fact that they were very popular, the real riders were short lived, because of high production costs. In the late 80s, the Blue Card was introduced, which would become the basis of Hot Wheels cars still used today. These featured realistically detailed cars based off of cars you would see all over the road at the time.

1990s

A 1990s Hot Wheels car still in the package.

The 1990s was the peak for Hot Wheels. The Blue Cards continued offering realistically detailed cars based off of cars you would see on the street, which were very popular among collectors, while it didn't sacrifice sales made by kids. Some strange additions to the Hot Wheels line were adding the Oldsmobile Aurora the Chevrolet Lumina APV, and the Vector WX-3. 1995 brought a major change to the Hot Wheels line, where the cars were split up into series, 1 being the 1995 Model Series, which was the series where new cars would appear, and other series being of 4 cars, all were sold in different packages, but had similar paint schemes, and when all 4 were found, they would make up a series. 5 Series were offered. 1995 also saw the introduction of the Treasure Hunt Series. In 1996, the Model Series was renamed to First Editions, and Treasure Hunt production was boosted to 25,000 units per car. Sales for the series models soared, causing stores across the nation to have shortages. Many new wheels were also introduced.

Treasure Hunts

A 2004 Treasure Hunt still in package with "kar Keeper"

The Treasure Hunt series was introduced in 1995 with cars that were specially detailed and produced in limited numbers. The initial run consisted of 10,000 units. The Treasure Hunt Series was an instant hit, and as a result, production increased to 25,000 units per car in 1996 and 1997. Starting in 1998, Mattel stopped releasing production numbers of Treasure Hunts.

2000s

Stack of Dodge Caravans

Paul Tam's son Alec Tam joined Hot Wheels' design team in 2000 and still works for Mattel today. Alec has also designed the updated version of his dad's first Hot Wheels design, the Whip Creamer II.

2004

In 2004, Hot Wheels unveiled their "Hot 100" line, comprised of 100 new models. These new models included cartoonish vehicles such as the 'Tooned, Blings (square bodies and big wheels), Hardnoze (enlarged fronts), Crooze (stretched out bodies), and Fatbax (super-wide back tires). These vehicles didn't sell as well as other Hot Wheels cars as evident with the sight of them clogging up stores' shelves. *List of 2004 Hot Wheels

2005

A modern Hot Wheels 5 car Gift Pack.

In 2005, Hot Wheels continued with new "extreme" castings for the 2nd year, debuting 40 distorted cars, in addition to 20 "Realistix" models. In addition to the 60 new First Editions, Hot Wheels also had the standard 12 Treasure Hunts, 10 Track Aces, 50 Segment Series Cars, 50 Open Stock Models, and 4 Mail-in Volkswagen Promo Cars, plus the special 13th Treasure Hunt, the VW Drag Bus. In 2005, Hot Wheels also unveiled its new "Faster than Ever" line of cars, which had special nickel-plated axles, along with Open-Hole 5 Spoke wheels. These adjustments reduce friction dramatically, resulting in cars that are "Faster than Ever." These cars were available for a limited time only, from the beginning of October, towards the end of November 2005.

List of 2005 Hot Wheels

2006

A 2006 Sema Edition CivicSi sporting the special Dropstars logo.

2006 is turning out to be one of the most highly anticipated years of collecting. The 2006 releases will consist of 38 First Editions (all realistic), 12 Treasure Hunts, 12 Track Aces, 60 Segment Series, 96 Open Stock Models and 5 Mystery Cars. There were two limited editions: a Honda Civic Si sporting aDropstars logo that was only available at the 2005 SEMA convention and the CUL8R with Faster Than Ever (FTE) wheels which was only available by mail.

List of 2006 Hot Wheels

Hot Wheels collectors

Throughout the years most kids collected Hot Wheels cars but in the last 10 years there has been resurgence in collecting by both kids and adults. Most believe it started with the Treasure Hunts in 1995. Mike Strauss has been widely hailed as the father of Hot Wheels collecting; he has organized two collectors' events each year in some form since 1986. The first event was the Annual Hot Wheels Collectors Convention normally held each year in the fall. The convention used to travel around the country until 2001 when the first Annual Hot Wheels Collectors Nationals was put together. Since then the Conventions are held each year in southern California. The Hot Wheels Collectors Nationals rotate among cities outside of California during the spring. Mike has also published the quarterly Hot Wheels Newsletter since 1986 and was one of the first to unite collectors all over the world. Mike also writes the Tomart's Guide To Hot Wheels, a book listing history, car descriptions and values and is used by almost every collector to learn more about the hobby and their collection.

In 2001 Mattel saw how much collecting was affecting their sales and put together [www.hotwheelscollectors.com] as an online way to unite collectors by offering limited edition cars, information about upcoming releases and events, as well as chat and trade boards. Each year they offer membership into the Redline Club which gives you first chances at getting the limited edition cars as well as information like pictures of new cars or exclusive Redline Club cars, regular members aren’t privy to.

There are hundreds, probably thousands of web pages dedicated to Hot Wheels collecting. People are collecting everything from only new stuff to only the older Redlines and everything in between. Most collectors have a love for cars and since none of us can afford all the old cars or even if we could we wouldn’t have much space to store them, so Hot Wheels fill that void. For the most part it is a relatively inexpensive hobby (when compared with coin collecting, stamp collecting or Barbie collecting.) The price for a Hot Wheels car really hasn’t changed in almost 40 years, still hanging around $1(USD) for a basic line car.

Hot Wheels Classics

2005 Hot Wheels Series 1 Classics car still in package

The Hot Wheels Classics line was an immediate hit with enthusiasts everywhere. Series 1 from 2005, consisted of 25 models, with all metal bodies and chassis, decked out with Spectraflame™ Paint. Each of the 25 cars were released with 7 or 8 different colors. There were also 1:18 scale Hot Wheels Classics and Track Sets for the 1:64 scale Classics. The Classics version of the Purple Passion was released with Real Rider tires at the San Diego Comic Con. There was also a 2005 Toy Fair Classics Olds 442 with Spectraflame™ Blue paint. In 2006, Series 2 will consist of 30 models including the '67 Convertible Camaro and Mustang Mach 1.

Notable models

A Miata with Lime Hub wheels.

Hot Wheels has it's fair share of odd models, and these models have become very collectible, selling for high prices on eBay.

VW Drag Bus: The VW Drag Bus was first offered as a 1996 First Edition, and is the heaviest Hot Wheels model made to date. It has a flip up body, big engine, and is extremely popular with collectors. These were not made in such high quantities as the rest of the First Editon line. Because of its popularity and expensive production cost, Mattel pulled this car from the mainline, and moved it to an exclusive limited edition line.

Excavator: The Excavator was a Hot Wheels car based off of a real Excavator, sold only as a 1997 First Edition. This car was made at around the same time that Mattel bought Matchbox. Mattel decided to have the Hot Wheels lineup focus on Speed, Power, and Performance. Thus the Excavator model was moved over to the Matchbox line.

2 Hot Wheels cars with the Screecher wheels

Screecher Wheels: The Screecher Wheels were wheels with little treads on them so they would screech as they rolled down the track. They were only offered on 3 models sold with the starter set, and sold in very small numbers, making collectors snatch these up for high prices.

Lime Hub Wheels: The Lime Hub were wheels were offered with black plastic tires and a lime wheel. There were only a couple of models, and were sold in small numbers, making them very collectible.

Real Rider Wheels: These were plastic wheels with real rubber tires. While sales were strong, they only lasted 3 years during the mid 1980s. Hot Wheels cut the line because they were too expensive to make, although they have appeared on limited edition cars and special series since then.

Vector WX-3: The Hot Wheels Vector WX-3 was based on a car with the same name, but because of copyright issues between Gerald Wiegert and Mattel, it only was produced from 1993 to 1997. The moulds used to make the car were recently sold on eBay to a Vector enthusiast.

Rear loading Beach Bomb: The rear loading Beach Bomb had 2 surfboards sticking out of the back window, but when proven to be too thin to work on Hot Wheels track in the 1960s, the model was redesigned and the surf boards were moved to the side, an unknown number of the rare rear loading Beach Bomb's were made as test subjects and given to Mattel employees, today there are only about 25 known to exist. The rear loading Beach Bomb's are considered to be the Holy Grail of Hot Wheels collecting. The Hot Wheels Collectors Club released a new, updated version of the rear loading Beach Bomb in 2002 as a limited edition.

Sources

Hot Wheels, A collectors guide — Bob Parker, 2001
Mike and Diane Strauss — "The Hot Wheels Newsletter" — Feb. 2006

External links

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