The Hot Wheels Story

Introduction to Hot Wheels

This section provides an introduction to the history of Hot Wheels, including its conception and initial release.

History of Hot Wheels

• Hot Wheels were introduced in 1968 as a brand under the American Mattel toy company.

• The cars were designed to be more like "hot rod" cars compared to Matchbox cars, which were generally small-scale models of production cars.

• The original track consisted of brightly colored orange road sections with one or two "super chargers," which would use spinning wheels to propel the cars along the tracks.

• Hot Wheels completely disrupted the whole industry for small die-cast car models from 1968 onwards, forcing competition at Matchbox and elsewhere to rethink their concepts and scramble to try to recover lost ground.

Designing Hot Wheels Cars

This section discusses some of the key designers behind Hot Wheels and how they contributed to its success.

Key Designers

• Harry Bradley designed 11 out of the first 16 castings released in May 1968. He had previously worked in the car industry and had designed the body of the Dodge Deora concept car and Custom Fleetside.

• Ira Gilford quickly accepted a job offer from Mattel after leaving Chrysler. Some of Hot Wheel's greatest cars, such as Twin Mill and Splittin' Image, came from his drawing board.

• Larry Wood joined Ira Gilford in designing new cars. His first design was Tri-Baby.

Beach Bomb Prototype

This section discusses one of Hot Wheel's most iconic prototypes, the Beach Bomb.

Beach Bomb Prototype

• The initial prototypes of the Beach Bomb were faithful to the shape of a real VW Type 2 "bus" and had two surfboards sticking out the back window.

• On the success of Hot Wheels, Mattel introduced the Sizzlers range in 1970, which included a small motor and tiny rechargeable NiCad battery that gave up to 5 minutes of use.

Slow Years for Hot Wheels

This section discusses some of the slow years for Hot Wheels and how they responded to it.

Slow Years

• 1972 and 1973 were slow years for Hot Wheels. Only seven new models were made in 1972, and of the 24 models appearing for 1973, only three were new models.

Hot Wheels Innovations

This section covers the innovations that Hot Wheels introduced in the 1970s and 1980s.

Flying Colors Line

• Introduced in 1974, this line added flashy decals and "tampo-printed" paint designs.

• Helped revitalize sales after a slump.

• Was revolutionary in the industry, but was less effective than previous innovations.

• Copied by competitors to keep up with Mattel's product strategists.

Redline Wheel Phase-Out

• In 1977, the 'Redline Wheel' was phased out due to cost-cutting measures.

• The red lines were no longer printed on the wheels.

• Reflected a trend away from wild hot rods and fantastic cars towards more realistic cars and trucks.

Sizzlers and Scorchers Series

• Sizzlers II were launched in 1976, followed by “Night Ridin’ Sizzlers” in 1977 that allowed headlights to be turned on or off.

• Sizzlers were then phased out completely, being replaced by the pull-back “Scorchers” series.

Hot Ones Wheels and Ultra Hot Wheels

• In 1981, Hot Ones wheels were introduced with gold-painted hubs for greater speed and additional suspension compliance.

• Ultra Hot Wheels were introduced in 1984 with further speed improvements.

Real Riders

• In 1983, Real Riders wheels were introduced featuring real rubber tires.

• Despite their popularity, they were short-lived due to high production costs.

Blue Card Blister Pack Color Scheme

• Introduced in the late 1980s, this color scheme became the basis of Hot Wheels colors still used today.

Thermal Color Change Paint and Crack-Ups

• Two other innovations briefly introduced in the 1980s included Thermal Color Change paint and “Crack-Ups” vehicles with a panel that rotated to reveal a heavily dented reverse side.

Hot Wheels Expansion

This section covers the expansion of Hot Wheels into new markets and product lines.

Sports and Economy Cars

• In addition to their typical 'hot rod' and muscle car style offerings, Hot Wheels started offering models based on 1980s era sports and economy cars like the Pontiac Fiero or Dodge Omni 024.

Computer Games

• To test the waters of the new computer games market, Mattel released a computer game edition of Hot Wheels for various 8-bit platforms starting in 1984.

• They’ve since introduced many different games on home computers, then consoles and smartphones, with Hot Wheels: Race Off for Android and iOS in 2017 being the latest.

Series Lineup Split

• In 1995, the lineup was split into two series: Model Series (later renamed First Editions) which included all of the year's new castings; Treasure Hunt Series which consisted initially of 12 cars every year with one or two released per month.

• The original production run was 10,000 of each car worldwide; that number has since risen due to increasing demand as a collector's item.

• The rest of the series included four cars with paint schemes that followed a theme.

Bonus Car Program

• Sales for the series models soared with another program also introduced in 1995 called the Bonus Car program causing stores across the nation to have shortages.

• Purchasing four car sets and sending in packaging backs plus a handling fee gave collectors an opportunity to collect bonus cars released quarterly starting in 1996 through at least 2000.

Acquisition of Matchbox

• Mattel bought Tyco Toys in 1997 along with old competitor Matchbox.

• Arguably the two most dominant companies in matchbox-sized cars were now under one roof.

30th Anniversary Celebration

• In 1998, Mattel celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Hot Wheels brand by replicating various models.

Hot Wheels History

This section covers the history of Hot Wheels, including its popularity among children and adults, the start of collecting craze, conventions, and a potential movie centred around the brand.

Popularity Among Children and Adults

• Hot Wheels were traditionally only bought by children.

• In the late 1990s, those 1960s and 1970s kids had grown up and continued to collect the cars as adults.

• Mattel estimates that 41 million children grew up playing with the toys.

• Children between the ages of 5 and 15 have an average of 41 cars.

Start of Collecting Craze

• Most believe the collecting craze started with the Treasure Hunt series in 1995.

• Mattel has produced cars that appeal to collectors such as the Hot Wheels Classics line.

• Hot Wheels conventions are regularly held around the United States.

Potential Movie Centred Around Brand

• Mattel announced there would be a major motion picture centred around the Hot Wheels brand but went into development hell.

• With renewed interest in movies like Transformers (2007) and Fast and Furious franchise, there was renewed interest in making a movie in 2011.

• However, in 2017 it was still in development. The movie is still being talked about but whether it ever happens is unknown.

New Models

This section covers new models released by Hot Wheels from 2004 onwards.

"Hot 100" Line

• In 2004, Hot Wheels unveiled its "Hot 100" line comprising of new models including cartoonish vehicles such as 'Tooned', 'Blings', 'Hardnoze', 'Cruze' and 'Fatbax'.

• Fatbax models include the Toyota Supra and a Corvette C6.

• These vehicles didn’t sell as well as Mattel expected, and many could still be found in stores throughout 2005.

"Extreme" Castings

• In 2005, Hot Wheels continued with new "extreme" castings for the second year, debuting 40 distorted cars in addition to 20 "Realistix" models.

• Hot Wheels also unveiled its new "Faster than Ever" line of cars which had special nickel-plated axles along with bronze-colored Open-Hole 5 Spoke wheels.

• These adjustments supposedly reduce friction dramatically.

Hot Wheels Models

This section covers different types of Hot Wheels models released by Mattel.

Gran Toros Line

• The Gran Toros line of 1/43 scale models was released as early as 1970.

• Many more have been produced in recent years.

Elite Hot Wheels

• Elite Hot Wheels are highly detailed and come in three scales: 1:18, 1:43 and 1:50.

• The majority of them are based on Ferraris.

Car Culture Line

• In 2016, Hot Wheels started a new line of Collector's models called Car Culture.

• Car Culture is Hot Wheels' line of Premium 1:64 models with metal bodies and bases, two-piece wheels with rubber tires, and more detailed decorations.

Conclusion

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