Before collectors went nuts for Hot Wheels Car Culture, there was Boulevard. Mattel’s first attempt at a Car Culture-like line was full of missteps, but produced a ton of gems. For your Sunday perusal, here is a look at some of the most memorable.
#tranquilcollecting
The mix with the Mustang II, Cuda, and Grand National seemed to be the only case my local (Giant) grocery stores ordered and they ordered a LOT of them. They hung and hung and hung. There was a store near me that still had some Double Demons and Packin’ Pacers until last year.
One time I went to a store outside my usual circle of hunting that had just put their remaining lot out as clearance for $1 each. I bought a bunch figuring I’d use them for wheel swaps. Most of the packages were well worn by then but most are still sitting around waiting.
Incidentally the Grand National wheels look fantastic on the Toyota 2000GT, especially when it’s painted white.
Ahhh….sssshhhhhh!!! Still able to find and buy them at shows route reasonable prices for donors. Don’t get all these people thinking they’re “collectable”!😉
But yes, the best line that released a lot of great auto gems into the HotWheels world. Too bad the pop culture/nostalgia absorbed so many castings that would have looked better as real vehicles. Instead we got a tenth iteration of Snoopy or “insert name here” crappy candy bar on a VW or 34 Dodge Delivery.
My favorite HW Boulevard is the Red Ferriar F40. I found 2 in the wild with slight corner wear,but no plastic and car problems. HW does not make Ferrari’s anymore. They are stored away in a blue bin. That Red pops. It is the color that makes Ferrari desirable.
I would love to collect a few of these especially the Porsches, but they are hard to get over here in the UK but I’m not paying $50 plus postage from sellers on eBay just to add one to my collection.
I did not know there was Chrysler Turbine Car from HW. I don;t think I did. Not any ion the original colors on ebay right now. Probably expensive, but would be nice to have in the 1/64 collection. Recently sold my 1/18 and still have the Johan model. Neat part of car culture.
The Cool Classics series gets a lot of hate piled on it, but I’ve always liked the Chrysler Turbine they did for that series as well. The Boulevard version is the one to have, but they’re both great.
Boulevard had so much great stuff in it…it would have been a series for the ages if it weren’t for the aforementioned fantasy pegwarmers sprinkled throughout. I think Car Culture has proved that Hot Wheels learned quite a bit from that experience. It’s frustrating not being able to find some of the most desirable Car Culture models on the pegs, but it proves they’ve struck the right note with collectors. It’s a double-edged sword…do what’s desirable and they disappear in no time.
It’s a continuing regret for me that I was never able to get my hands on the Datsun wagon or the Porsche (Porsh-UH….come ON, John!!) 993, because now they’re out of my reach money-wise, but I did get a great many of the other models shown here. And I continue to appreciate some of the batshit insane casting choices Hot Wheels makes from time to time…who else would have thought to do a drag-racing Chevy Astro? And as a sidenote, the Vector W8 is indeed a bizarre and cool choice of car to do a model of, but it’s not without precedent, as they did the Vector Avtech WX-3 back in the ’90s. I have one myself…one of the few play-worn cars I have, as it’s from when I was a kid.