Finally!
Wheels matter. You know that, I know, but they do. There are times when I am driving through the city and my 10-year-old daughter will point out our same car, in the same color. “Look Dad, it’s your car! It’s exactly the same!” she will say. I will point out that it is close, but not totally, because the wheels are different. She will argue it doesn’t matter, and I will point out that the wheels can make a car look totally different, for better or for worse.
She hasn’t bought my argument yet, but she will. Wheels matter.
The same goes for diecast. Hot Wheels has the Real Riders game figured out. The variety of their premium two-piece wheels is massively improved over what it was a few years ago. Their basic wheels though? There is a bit to be desired.
I don’t dislike the Hot Wheels basic wheels. In the contrary, there are some I really like, like the 10-spoke for sports cars and lace wheels for Euro racers. Even the much maligned PR5’s look good on a fair amount of castings. But when it comes to classic cars, especially Hot Wheels-style classics, there needs to be more than the 5-spokes and MC5 wheels. We may have the solution.
Remember this photo from Jun Imai on his Instagram Account?
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Many of you noticed the wheels on the Datsun looked a little different. That is because they are. The recolor of the Fairlady 2000 will mark the debut of a new Hot Wheels basic wheel, and Mattel was kind enough to share a few closeups for Lamley readers.
Eventually a name will stick for these wheels, but for now we can call them deep dish steelies. There is a lot of detail in there, and from Jun’s pic and a couple of other angles, you can see they sit deep and have the stretched tire look.
These are definitely a new look for basics, and it opens a plethora of possibilities. Just think of these on the Datsun Wagon, or the vintage Skylines, or Celica, or RX-7. Maybe even a BMW 2002, or a Porsche 934, or a Ford Escort. It goes on and on. There is so much variety among the latest Hot Wheels licensed castings, and it is nice to see the wheels catching up.
Two new wheels now with the new sport rim we are seeing on the Speedy Perez and Tesla Model X. Who knows what else Hot Wheels has up its sleeve…
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I say call them DDS rims.
I say call them DDS rims.
The Porsche 962 that will debut in 2017 also appears to be using new wheels. They look similar to the Rothmans 962.
The other new wheel doesn't look good on the Model X, but IIRC, the real-lifesnew NSX had a wheel option that looks like the one on this electric SmugUV.
Super duper awesome. This will look KILLER on a ton of cars. I believe this is the first truly deep-dish mainline wheel. The actual pattern looks like a Mopar rally wheel.
I dub these wheels “Bottle caps”
Wow! They are figuring out that making nice basic wheels is possible. These will look nice on classic muscle cars. I also like the new saw blade wheels, look good on the new Tesla, and probably will look good in some 80s and 90s models too.
That's a MOPAR Ralleye wheel from the late 60's – mid 70's. They were silver, but appears to be same design.
They'd look great on some late-model Saabs, but that seems unlikely to ever happen. I don't even know who holds the rights to the designs anymore.