#lamleydaily – February 25th, 2018
Model: Hot Wheels Vector W8 TwinTurbo
Line: Boulevard
Where to get it: ebay is the best bet now
Why it’s in the collection: I have talked about this one a few times the last few weeks. I gave it some heavy coverage in my Boulevard Showcase on YouTube a couple of weeks back, and have shown it on IG as well:
This post is really here only because I wanted to give this model some proper photos. Like has been the case many times, I didn’t even know what the Vector W8 was until Hot Wheels did one. I am glad they did. It is an odd-looking car, and that is what makes it a great Hot Wheels. And while I am perplexed that we haven’t seen it since Boulevard, I am glad the one version we do have looks like this one.
It’s a gem, and has a permanent spot in the collection. Especially when it looks this good in photos.
I like this one too. As much as people like to gripe that Hot Wheels does “too much muscle” or is “all JDM now”, Hot Wheels has quite the habit of peppering their various lineups with truly left-field surprises. I’m thinking drag Chevy Astro, Alfa B.A.T. 9, Dodge Tomahawk, Chrysler Turbine car, and so many others. This one definitely falls into that category, and I wish they’d use it more. I’m sure they could do an “Oddballs” batch of Car Culture 😉
I vividly remember the Vector as a BedRoom Wall decoration. That started in 1980. It was gone by 97. They never sold well. Too radical.
My gripe about the Hot Wheels version is that it did the Muscle thing with massive rear wheel arches. I held the BLVD in my hands. It just looked wrong. (same with the LP400S Countach, but that is another story)
My opinion is hyper cars should not recieve the Hot Wheels makeover because they are designed to be bedroom wall art and Sarthe Straightaway Screamers from the git. Pontiac and Chevy can benifit from the big little aspect…but Hyper cars are already ultimately cool.
I bought one on clearance, used it as a wheel donor, swapped new wheels on it and gave it away to a coworker. I don’t really ever miss it.
This is one of those models where just this one version is so perfect that you dont need or care if there are other versions of it. But despite that, I still think Hot Wheels should do an entire batch or maybe even two of Car Culture for supercars and hypercars especially from the 90s, and this should be in it. We’ve seen too much American muscle and JDM and I’m honestly bored of it. It’s time we see some proper supercars now.
I like the last comment. As i’ve stated in the last posting for the new Lexus line, there should be more of a variety of cars never done before.
Yes, JDM is hot and we’ve seen tons of American Muscle over and over again.. but we need new castings popular from the 1990’s and even the 1980’s which pioneered car culture in ways we’ll never see again and helped establish the future of new and exciting vehicles.
We have seen some awesome new models appear in the last couple of years like the Car Culture Subaru Impreza WRX, or the BMW M1, the 90’s Mazda RX7 and the Honda Odyssey van. Matchbox had the Mercedes G63 AMG 6×6, the Datsun 510 Rally and the ’71 Nissan Skyline to name a few.
There were many more and it seems they’re on a roll so let’s keep it going with cool & different offerings, for example.. a Mitsubishi Starion (Chrysler Conquest), the Calloway Sledgehammer Corvette, and even a Saleen Mustang. Maybe throw in some quirky 80’s cars like the Cavalier Z24, Ford Escort GT, a Toyota Celica and even an Omni Shelby GLHS!
Oh yeah.. the Boulevard Vector.. had to pick it up. One of the last visits made to a local Kmart, which closed a few months later. It was sitting with another Boulevard I should have picked up too, the teal Olds 442, but didn’t. The Vector is different and pretty cool to be honest.
Despite the big rear wheels ala hotwheels, this is another sad one-n-done casting that will be sorely missed. But, glad this is hard to top with the color and clean looks with no decos. Bring on more generics, hot wheels!! *sarcasm mode on
I agree with Lucky889 above, this is a great casting but spoiled by the unfathomable ( to me anyway ) HW penchant for giving cars larger back wheels for no reason whatsoever, as a collector of realistic looking cars I’ve given this one a miss along with all the others that have a disproportional rear wheel.