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| Find the Hot Wheels McLaren F1 GT-R on eBay |
As you can imagine, I get asked a lot to showcase certain models. Some are a little outlandish (I don’t have a Pink Beach Bomb lying around), some a little boring, and others just aren’t going to interest me (Drag Bus anyone?). But there are some that are right down my alley, and I just haven’t gotten to them yet.
The Hot Wheels McLaren F1 GT-R falls nicely into that last category. In fact, off the top of my head, I don’t think any model has been requested more than the F1.
And I really don’t have any good reason as to why I have waited until now to feature it. The only specific reason is that I have assumed that the casting would appear in a line any minute now, and when that happens I would feature all of them together.
Strangely, that moment still has not come. The McLaren F1 GT-R debuted as a Hot Wheels car in the Speed Machines line, in – thankfully – four different liveries, and after that has only appeared one other time, in the Walmart-exclusive Decades series.
We have talked about the Speed Machines line plenty before, but in a nutshell, it was released just a few years too early. The series never took off, was full of pegwarmers, and was eventually canned before the final batch – which included an Aston Martin DBS and Ferrari 458 – could be made.
Since then, collector’s tastes have moved in that direction, and many Speed Machines models are highly sought after. A great selection of modern cars, full deco, and most importantly, those killer co-mold wheels. They look good on almost anything. And that puts the Ferrari 599XX, Bugatti Veyron, and Nissan GT-R at the top of many want-lists these days.
The same goes for the F1. New to that line, done incredibly well, and just plain crisp. Oh yeah, and the wheels.
It seems that the F1 would be a perfect addition to the mainline at some point, but maybe the team is afraid to do anymore after how good the Speed Machines version looked. I don’t blame them if that is the case. There is no way this model can look any better than these four. Even the Decades version is nice-looking, but can’t hold a candle to the first four.
So we will enjoy these five today. It is hard to pick a favorite. I might go with the maroon with yellow-lettering as my fave, especially on the yellow co-mold wheels.
By the way, you might see some on ebay with OH5 wheels. For a wheel variation collector, those are must-haves, for the rest, get them if you want. They are legit, and later-produced models for international markets. I will stay with the co-molds.
Enjoy the pics…
(Find the Hot Wheels McLaren F1 GT-R on eBay)
The bigger question is… what other McLarens, the F1 notwithstanding, will appear in the mainline? The 12C is in the 458's batch in 1:1, and since that first new 1:1 McLaren, they've had cars on every tier of supercar. P1 is excellent (auto-voted for Best Mainline), but boy, HW is missing out.
Also… PR5's don't really complement the car well. Regular, matte-gunmetal 5SP, on the other hand…
It's a shame I never saw the F1 Speed Machines, either release. Would have definitely bought it if I did. Only F1 I have is the Decades release.
Looking back, I definitely regret not getting more of that line.
But I have the Veyron, black Reventon, red Lancer, yellow Lambo 670, green VW Scirocco…
My favorite casting of all time. The McLaren F1 was originally supposed to be a 1995 first edition, but for some reason was replaced by something much less desirable.
http://www.ebay.es/itm/272034358434?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
Beautiful car, beautiful casting!
even though the F1 looks a bit too big next to the P1, i would really enjoy a mainline release of boths in the Then and Now series. It's time they add a few more cars to this collection instead of recycling the same models over and over again.
Maroon car with the Yellow lettering is a replica of the F1 GTR development car, now owned by Pink Floyd drummer, Nick Mason – http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/motoring/mclaren-f1-gtr-driven
Makes it just that little bit cooler 🙂
And the silver/orange livery is how F1 GTR #01R, the very first GTR, was painted during testing and Le Mans pre-qualifying. https://cdn.gwsrv.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/15082014image719-copy.jpg
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Awww yeah! The F1 GTR is a classic for sure, and my personal all-time favorite car model. This hot wheels casting, while not totally spot-on, looks pretty awesome. I personally would have preferred if all the wheels were the same size, but it still looks amazing with the larger rear wheels.
Good selection of liveries to choose from, especially with the actual '96 launch model and #01R Pre-Qualifying liveries and the one with the Gulf GTC inspired colors.
As nice as the co-mold wheels on the Speed Machines look, I actually like the Decades model a bit more overall because the PR5s look a little closer to the original 1:1 OZ 5-spoke rims. As one of the previous posters posted above, 5SP wheels would look even better!
Thanks for putting together this sweet F1 GTR feature!
HW please, please, please release more F1
You can keep you 599XX and whatnot but for me, the best car of the Speed Machines series was this F1 GTR. The casting perfect, the large rear wheels work and the graphics are just plain awesome! My favourite would be the red with yellow lettering and wheels.
I really wish that the P1 and F1 GTR appear as Then & Now models in 2017 or 2018. They are begging for that.
Any thoughts on what a fair price is for the full set of four F1 GTRs on co-molds (all MOC)?