You can file this under the Lamley Series “Gems of the Original Boulevard”, but we have a lot more to talk about.
It is time to bring back one of the most surprising castings Hot Wheels has ever done, the Vector W8 TwinTurbo.
I mean look at this thing! I have covered it before, and I will cover it again, and I will even admit in this case to going into full #lamleyhype mode. I am not trying to make the only release of the Vector, in Boulevard, more expensive (although that is already happening, #lamleyhype or not), I am trying to get my friends at Hot Wheels to make this model reappear. Car Culture? Boulevard again? RLC? Wherever. Skip basic, but bring this late 80’s/early 90’s jetcar back.
It finally happened with the Koenigsegg Agera. New Boulevard Mix 2 is where that is happening, and based on what I have seen the frenzy for it will be as strong as any model in recent memory. And that is because times and tastes change. Some supercar enthusiasts were happy to see the Koenigsegg when it first appeared in HW Entertainment a few years ago, but it didn’t set the world on fire. At all. The ugly wheels it sat on didn’t help, but watching this lack any buzz after Speed Machines died, the consensus became any non-Ferrari or non-Lamborghini supercar was not going to catch on.
That certainly changed. It didn’t take long for the demand for the Agera to grow, and as new, younger collectors jumped into the fray, one of the first models they wanted to fill in their collections was the Koenigsegg. Prices skyrocketed.
At one point I asked the Hot Wheels team about a possible return of the Koenigsegg.
“No plans.”
That thankfully changed. The growing demand for the Agera was hard to ignore, and the decision was made to bring it back. And a good decision it was.
Now it is the Vector’s turn.
I have no idea how the Vector was originally greenlighted. In 2011. I could see it hitting the Hot Wheels world when it was first made, back in the late ‘80’s/early ‘90’s. That would have made sense. But something struck a chord in Hot Wheels Designer Manson Cheung – he of DeLorean fame – 20 years later, and it was made for Boulevard, and made beautifully. It is an incredibly accurate casting, and he did an amazing job replicating the Vector’s quirky design, from its slant nose front to horizontal rear, to even its strangely placed license plate slot.
And the Hot Wheels Vector is following that same path that many recent Hot Wheels Legends have followed. Pegwarmer to start, but a late-bloomer as collector tastes change. Like many Boulevard castings, the Vector was buried in oversized and too-frequent mixes, and collectors weren’t ready to appreciate an obscure 20-year-old American Supercar. Especially one that only had 20 examples made, and is rarely seen now.
But 90’s-era cars are making big waves these days, and the Vector’s time has come. Ultra car-nerd Doug DeMuro even dug unto one (it’s a long video, but nothing that a little fast-forwarding won’t fix) and you can’t help but smile when you see it. And be super happy that somehow someway Hot Wheels made one.
And now I am hearing more and more collectors ask about the Vector. And I in turn have asked the Hot Wheels Team about it.
“No plans.”
Well it is time to make a little noise and try and change that. My first concern, with only 20 made, are there any other colors beside red? Yep. I’ve seen black, silver, white, and even purple! (RLC!)
So yes, Mattel, get that license back, give us a couple more colors, and let’s create a Vector family. This casting, and Manson, the dear Hot Wheels soul that created it, needs more love. I mean we collectors had the audacity to vote his Super DeLorean Worst Super of the Year, so we owe him this.
In fact, I even asked Manson about how the Vector was made. You can pull what you want from our text thread:
Whether Manson’s version of the story or mine, the Vector got done. It made it to the pegs. It is currently a “one-and-done”, and a unique one at that. Truly a model any Boulevard collector really should have. One that Hot Wheels needs to push back to the pegs. Based on what I have seen, collectors will buy it.
Am I right?
This is one of those oddities I’m so glad to have picked up when it was busy warming pegs (with 20/20 hindsight, I should’ve grabbed ’em all). While I agree that this one came out of left field, we shouldn’t forget that Vector has precedent with Hot Wheels….they did the Avtech WX-3 back in the ’90s, which was a two-and-done affair – just purple (with a wheel variation) and black. That was admittedly back when the real car was new, so it wasn’t quite as weird but still. I have the purple one, though with quite a bit of play wear as it’s from when I was a kid 🙂
The first release of the WX-3 was the silver car in 1993 given to Vector employees. There were only 500 made.
There were 2 purple releases in 1993; the common one with Ultra Hots wheels and a really hard to find variant with BW wheels. Then the 5-spoke purple car was released in 1995. The black 5-pack car also has 2 variants, having either open or closed side vents.
I am shocked you would say ¨forget the Koenigsegg.¨
I just want Hot Wheels to do a Car Culture supercars set and use some of the less used models (i.e. no repeats). I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: supercars have been severely underrepresented in the premium range.
It’s not a “less used model” as it’s gotten plenty of mainline releases and 2 Speed Machines versions but I’m still waiting for a proper metal-on-metal premium release of the Porsche Carrera GT myself.
The Vector was alright but the one-and-done Boulevard casting I really wish would get a second release is the Lincoln Futura Concept, originally in white but we need a release in red, as in the color the real Futura was re-painted for the 1959 film It Started with a Kiss several years before George Barris acquired it, modified it, and painted it black to be used as the TV Batmobile.
The first time I saw the Vector was on a poster. There was an F-18 Hornet with the Vector parked in front of it. I think I still have the poster rolled up in my garage. Nice casting.
I’m glad I picked up one of these. The Agera would be an entirely new casting (and an answer to one of my diecast prayers!), as the first Koenigsegg was a CCX. As for a Car Culture supercar set, I’d like to see the Chiron and a re-tool of the Veyron as a companion piece.
I was lucky enough to get one, when Wheels Collectors were having a sale on several boulevard cars and they still shipped items to Bolivia. I support the idea, we need this casting in the mainline, is very detailed and looks amazing.