The upcoming Hot Wheels Car Culture Air Cooled VW SP2 is a shoutout to Brazil…

I’m gonna stay with the Car Culture theme today.

Last week RLC members were given a little treat when Steve Vandervate dropped a pic of the upcoming Car Culture Air Cooled Assortment.  The theme speaks for itself, and the VW/Porsche/Fiat salad in the pic was tasty to say the least.  (In keeping with RLC guidelines we won’t show the pic here.)

Air Cooled will debut the new classic Fiat 500 casting, which will be flanked by a Porsche 356A and three Volkswagens – the Racing Beetle, Squareback, and SP2.  All are great, and I will definitely feature the lot here when I can, but it was the SP2 that caught my attention.

I am such a fan of the SP2.  The VW is unique in and of itself, being a Brazilian-made sports car, known for its tremendous good looks and equally tremendous lack of power.

photo credit: Jalopnik

And that makes it cooler than cool that Hot Wheels did the SP2.  These left-field choices are always highlights of collecting, no matter what brand they come from.  When I feature the SP2 next I will try and get the story behind how and why it hit the Hot Wheels mainline, but whoever was behind it, mass kudos.

I don’t know if the SP2 had a racing history, but based on what I have read, and the fact that it produced 75 hp, I highly doubt it.  But that didn’t stop HW Designer from giving the Car Culture SP2 a full Brazilian-themed green-and-yellow racing livery.

Having lived in Brazil for a couple of years, and knowing so many Brazilian collectors, it is the model that stands out for me.  So I asked if I could see and share more pics, and the good folks at Mattel obliged.

So, for you VW and Brazilian collectors, here is an early-early sneak peek of the up coming Air Cooled SP2.  Nossa…

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