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was Hot Wheels 40th anniversary and to celebrate a number of promotions and products came to be. To start it off, SEMA 2007 (Nov.) Design Director, Alec Tam debuted the Designers Challenge vehicles featuring designs from real automotive studios like Mitsubishi, Ford, Chevrolet, Lotus and Honda. 3 current or former HW designers had models represented. Steve Gilmore (Ford) and Gary Ragle (Mitsubishi) had formerly interned with the Hot Wheels Design Team and their submissions made the cut. Jun Imai's HW40 was kept under warps until the show.
In 1999 Hot Wheels Racing signed a licensing deal with five Formula 1 teams to manufacture scale model Formula 1 cars. [1] 2000 [ ] See also: List of 2000 Hot Wheels Elliot Handler, co-founder of Mattel, decided to produce a line of die-cast toy cars for boys. His idea was to capture a portion of the huge market for small car models dominated at that time by the British company Lesney Products with their Matchbox cars. Although his executives thought it was a bad idea, the cars were a big success. There were sixteen castings released in 1968, eleven of them designed by Harry Bentley Bradley, with the first one produced being a dark blue Custom Camaro. Although Bradley was from the car industry, he had not designed the full-functioning versions of the real cars, except the Dodge Deora concept car, which had been built by Mike and Larry Alexander. Another of his notable designs was the Custom Fleetside, which was based on his own heavily-customized '64 El Camino. and 1973 marked a slump for Hot Wheels; few new castings were produced, and in 1973 most cars changed from Mattel's in house " Spectraflame™" colors to less-shiny solid enamel colors, which mainline Hot Wheels cars still use today. Due to low sales, and the fact that many of the castings were not re-used in later years, the 1972-3 models are known to be very collectible. As part of the Hot Wheels Fearless at the 500 event, Rallycross driver Tanner Foust (shown right) successfully lands a ramp-to-ramp distance jump of 332 feet. Foust smashes the previous world record by an impressive 31 feet at the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500. Specialty: With a bubble canopy, enclosed turbo fan, and turbine engine, this helicopter was made for fast flight day or night!In 1974, Hot Wheels began using the slogan " Flying Colors", and added flashy decals and tampo-printed paint designs, which helped revitalize sales. As with the low-friction wheels in 1968, this innovation was revolutionary in the industry, and — although far less effective in terms of sales impact than in 1968 — was copied by the competition, who did not want to be outmaneuvered again by Mattel product strategists. In 1975, Hot Wheels introduced its first motorcycles. New Models were announced and it is expected that 12 Treasure Hunts will again be slated for launch. A number of mainline repaints and Team Cars will join them. The success of the 1968 line was solidified and consolidated with the 1969 releases, with which Hot Wheels effectively established itself as the most important brand of small toy car models in the USA. Specialty: On the cutting-edge of technology, the Sky Fi™ zooms over the modern metropolis: propelled by its futuristic side jets and silent rear tail rotor. No one ever hears it coming, but the impact this copter makes will leave everyone waiting for a sequel!
The Island Hopper is a generic helicopter used as the basis for the helicopter used in Magnum P.I..
In 1990, Hot Wheels first introduced helicopters. Later in the decade, in 1995, a major change was brought to the Hot Wheels line, where the cars were split up into series. One was the 1995 Model Series, which included all of that year's new castings, 12 Models in the Model Series. 4-car series were introduced also. In 1996, the Model Series was renamed to First Editions. 1995 also saw the introduction of the Treasure Hunt series. The rest of the series included four cars with paint schemes that followed a theme. For example, the Pearl Driver cars all had pearlescent paint. Sales for the series models soared, causing stores across the nation to have shortages. Several new wheel designs were also introduced. 1995, 1996 and 1997 featured 12 new releases each year, while 1998 released 40 and 1999 relaesed 26. Also saw the end of an era. Chief Designer Larry Wood retired after 40 years, effective January 2nd. It was largely ceremonial to have him reach the number 40 but Larry continues to be involved in the hobby and consult with the Designers. 40 years seemed fitting coinciding with the brand celebrating the same milestone the year previous. Hot Wheels introduces its first line of Character Cars with the launch of Toy Story Character Cars that year. Since the launch, Hot Wheels has created tons iconic entertainment characters.
Hot Wheels celebrated its 35th anniversary with a full-length computer animated Hot Wheels movie called Hot Wheels Highway 35 World Race. A collector program was also developed. was another great year for Hot Wheels. This was also the year that Sizzlers appeared. Howard Rees, who worked with Ira Gilford, had grown tired of designing cars in late 1969. He wanted to work on the Major Matt Mason action figure toy line-up. Rees had a good friend by the name of Larry Wood. They had 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. Also in 2008, Hot Wheels featured a cross country tour with Larry Wood as the prime face of the event. Other HW pesonalities joined Larry at stops in Bonneville, Watkins Glen, Detroit, Indianapolis and Speed, Kansas. In 2008, Hot Wheels released 40 New Models. 12 Treasure Hunts, with Super Hunt variants and an assortment of Team Cars and other mainline releases. In 1977, the Redline Wheel was phased out, with the red lines being erased from the wheels. This cut costs, but also reflected that the red lines popularized during the era of muscle cars and Polyglas tires were no longer current.Some limited editions produced in 2006 include a Honda Civic Si sporting a Dropstars 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. 2006 is also the year that Sizzlers were re-released as Target Exclusives. What happened in the 1980s for Hot Wheels sent them in the path of what they are today. In 1981, Hot Ones wheels were introduced, which had gold-painted hubs and thinner axles for speed. In 1983 McDonald's first released Hot Wheels in their Happy Meals and the same year the Hot Wheels production plant was moved to Malaysia. In 1983, 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 line was short-lived, because of high production costs. Mexico and France begin production of Hot Wheels. Ultra Hots wheels, which looked like the wheels found on a Renault Fuego or a Mazda 626, were introduced in 1984 and had other speed improvements. Hot Wheels started offering models based off of 80's economy cars, like the Pontiac Fiero or Dodge Omni 024. In 1985, Hot Wheels first appeared in Kellogg's cereal boxes. In the late 80s, the Blue Card was introduced, which would become the basis of Hot Wheels cars still used today. Also, the first Hot wheels collector's convention was held in Toledo, Ohio.
Another celebrating moment was the creation on the Hot Wheels Hall of Fame at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California. Debuting at this event was the full size running, one of a kind, Deora II. It was built by Chip Foose and Mothers Polishes and Waxes to celebrate Hot Wheels and was also show at SEMA that year. The making of this car was featured on the TLC show RIDES.Mattel also released 2004 First Editions cars with unpainted Zamac bodies. These "chase" pieces were sold exclusively through Toys 'R' Us and were made in limited numbers. The casting has undergone a number of changes and retools over its lifespan. When the casting initially came out, it featured folding blades similar to Propper Chopper. It lost this feature in 2007 when it returned to the mainline, being replaced with a larger one-piece unit; the casting also gained some amount of metal on the base. When the casting returned to the mainline again in 2016, the casting was renamed Skyfire (likely to make it sound "tamer") and gained even more metal on the base, with the landing gear and the engines now being made part of the base as opposed to being separate pieces. All sixteen of the cars featured 'Spectraflame' paintwork, bearings, redline wheels, and working suspension. Because 'Hot Pink' was considered a "girls color", it was not used very much on Hot Wheels cars. For most castings, it is the hardest color to find, and today can command prices ten times as high as more common colors. 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).
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