It has been cool to see the designers at Hot Wheels sneaking some of their work a little more. These are the folks that need credit for their designs, not a goofball site like mine, and surely not from a leaked image from the factory.
The Hot Wheels Instagram feed is fine, but let’s call it a little…uh…corporate. Great for all the kids out there, which it should be, but it is the designer’s feeds that keep the collectors and car nerds happy. It is where they can show what they love, what they are working on, and drop the occasional easter egg.
A couple more Hot Wheels gems have hit Instagram, by way of the designers. First, this, uh, unique throne was posted by Brendon Vetuskey:
//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js
Brendon’s is a feed you must follow. A supercool dude to be sure, a full-on car junkie with a very cool 1:1 collection, and a fabulous designer. All you have to do is look at that ’55 Gasser in your collection to know. The Gotta Go is a Gotta Get.
The next little sneak comes from Jun Imai. He has been dropping all kinds of treats of late, and this replica of Sung Kang’s Maverick for SEMA is the latest. This is either a one-off or an extremely limited exclusive for some SEMA VIP’s, so don’t expect to see this on the pegs. For now. I would not be surprised to see a slightly less premium version make its way to the stores at some point.
//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js
Sung Kang got in on the action as well. His Project Underdog is a tremendous program, one to follow all the way to SEMA. (And yeah, Mavericks are cool. Pops had one before getting his Honda Accord. Pops was cool.)
Ok I haven't been on in a while so let me get this out. When is Hot Wheels going to get back to putting hot rods back in the brand? Listen I can appreciate JDM models but between Porsches, Datsun and now generic plastic junk MBX is making more realistic models than Blue! Why in the hell can they not be more balanced? It's either this or that. I actually love the cab on Gotta Go but this is as cheesy as it gets! I've seen a few like Aisle Driver, who are these being marketed to? HW is dropping the ball imo. Hot Wheels were a great hot rod creater going back to the 31 Woody and the Poison Pinto that although was a majority made of plastic was an awesome casting. These no more than a bunch of peg warmers. Jmo!
Ok I haven't been on in a while so let me get this out. When is Hot Wheels going to get back to putting hot rods back in the brand? Listen I can appreciate JDM models but between Porsches, Datsun and now generic plastic junk MBX is making more realistic models than Blue! Why in the hell can they not be more balanced? It's either this or that. I actually love the cab on Gotta Go but this is as cheesy as it gets! I've seen a few like Aisle Driver, who are these being marketed to? HW is dropping the ball imo. Hot Wheels were a great hot rod creater going back to the 31 Woody and the Poison Pinto that although was a majority made of plastic was an awesome casting. These no more than a bunch of peg warmers. Jmo!
I think Hot Rods don't appeal to kids or the growing collector pool as much as the JDM and Euro castings, there's still muscle cars and the occasinal “Rat Rod” plus the Gassers (which seem to be always popular) – trends change with time, never know @John Nilsson – Hot Rods may make a comeback someday…
Which Poison Pinto are referring to? I have the original Poison Pinto I bought back in the 70s, and it was all metal, including the chassis. The only plastic was the interior and wheels. It sounds like you're describing one of the post-1990s reissues.
Both the Gotta Go and Crate Racer seem to be influenced by the old Matchbox Rolamatics series. This could be a sign of things to come for Hot Wheels.
Love the Throne car but i hope that wheelbase isn't too wide for the orange track.
Glad to see designers taking inspiration from older Matchbox (Rolamatics)!
John just switch to Auto World, Johnny Lightning, M2 or Greenlight. I use to buy HW back in the 100% series days but now they produce 100 ugly cars for each respectable car. Plastic bases are to maximize profit. I cancelled my RLC membership and now have very little HW product in my collection. Only brand that disrespects their loyal customers. Only brand that has releases where wheels are missing and instead of it being bad quality issue it's now a variation and worth more money??? No thanks.