Model: Hot Wheels ’69 Dodge Coronet Super Bee
Line: 2008 New Models
eBay Link: 2008 New Models Dodge Coronet
Why I am featuring it:
When asked to name your favorite muscle car…wait, scratch that. When asked to describe what an ideal muscle car looks like, which direction do you take?
Is it an LS6 Chevelle, laying smokey burnout after smokey burnout from its compound crushing big block? Perhaps you tend to lean more towards the High Impact lunacy of a Hemi-huffing Plum Crazy Challenger, proving that purple isn’t a shade to grimace at. A Big Bad AMC? Now there’s imagination in a can for all your bench racing exploits.
Ok, enough with the hyperbole. For me, I’d much rather cruise under the proverbial radar in something more subtle. There is just something about a 70s-hued hardtop that really wriggles the dollars free from my wallet (on a smaller scale, of course).
Case in point – Hot Wheels’ 1969 Dodge Coronet Super Bee. Released in 2008 as a New Model, the Phil Riehlman design was originally cast in a rather tame tampo: a Bumble Bee tail stripe. That’s it. As was the norm back then, it was recolored three times beyond the initial metalflake yellow pictured here. You could also have it in enamel red (with either a chrome or black base), pearl white or metalflake silver.
While many scoff at the big in the back, tiny in the front tire combination, I think it really works when paired with the raked stance. And while I mention the premium versions further on, I think it would definitely fair well as a future Boulevard bruiser. The headlights and taillights are begging to be brightened.
Subsequent versions were slathered in contemporary tampo designs, unoffensive yet nothing that would be found in a Mopar accessories catalog. There are very few castings I collect en masse, and this is definitely not one of them. 2011’s Hot Wheels Garage presented a premium two-fer, with what looked like F8 Green and Furious Fuchsia, the latter losing the superfluous side stripes.
After that, it was one of the first ‘secret’ Super Treasure Hunts of 2012, and it’s been on fire, literally, ever since, being a staple of the Heat Fleet Series. I’m sorry, in 2018 it sidestepped to the Stars & Stripes series, but afterwards immediately returning to the fire in 2019’s HW Flames 5-pack.
So then, not being a fan of the flame, I much prefer the OG releases. I have a giant bin labeled “Muscle” in the garage, so there might be other colors in there (I’m eventually going to get to cataloging the collection…right). But for now, I’m going to enjoy this little yellow stump puller on my desk for another day.
I agree complerely. Born and raised in 56 In MI I grew up with this csr everywhere. Ir was cheap to buy and was ouned by many teens in 70s. You have a great channel. I have 10000 plus HWs many on the shelf. I do many carshows retailing.