Another sneak to whet the appetite for 2021.
Hot Wheels Designer Mark Jones, who does most of the castings in Car Culture and other premium lines, sent over these fantastic pics of the upcoming Ford Racing set for Team Transport:
Wowzers, right? Team Transport got hitched in 2021. Vintage Rally Racing is clearly the theme here with the classic Ford RS200 sitting on two new Hot Wheels castings.
Where to start? Let’s start with that fantastic van. Mark wanted to a 60’s/70’s era van he could see towing rally cars around Europe, and the result is the “Rally Van”, an unlicensed homage to the golden age of vans. Look close and you can see a little of everything, maybe the back of a Chevy van mixed with a stretched Ford. Of course with that Ford deco you can’t help but think of one of my favorite Mark Jones castings, the Ford Transit Supervan:
The Ford cues are there for sure, but by going unlicensed with this van, what is towing a Ford today could be towing a Lancia or Dodge tomorrow. Meaning we will see it again, many times over.
Now for that trailer. This is obviously a new direction for Team Transport. We have seen plenty of open trailers from other brands – Matchbox being the Hitch N Haul king for decades – but now it is Hot Wheels turn.
It is a logical next step. The trailer is diecast, and fits MOST Hot Wheels castings, which opens up a ton of possibilities. The list of what you can put on the trailer is obviously endless, but what about what can be hitched to the trailer? It’s the Rally Van today, but does this mean we could see more premium vehicles with hitches in the future? Start thinking about it and you might come up with a few super cool ideas. All I will say is the Hot Wheels Team is a few steps ahead.
New castings aside, a Ford Rally theme designed by Steve Vandervate is a fantastic addition to the Team Transport lineup. We already have a couple of more muscle-themed Ford Racing sets in TT, and this Rally sets fits perfectly. And it isn’t the last Ford Rally themed product we will see this year.
Look for this a little later this year. And thanks Mark for the pics.
More to come.
I know they’re going for universality and versatility by using an unlicensed tow vehicle, but I can’t help but feel like this was a missed opportunity to do a non-Super Van version of a ’70s or ’80s Transit. Aside from that, this looks like a fantastic set. I’m happy to have an open trailer available for Team Transport. As nice as all the enclosed car haulers are, they’re tricky in terms of how to display them. This definitely solves that problem, and it’ll be fun rotating what car gets displayed on the trailer. Bring on the trailer hitch-equipped premium models!
oh my. Best Team Transport to date? I think so.
Love the concept, trailer and the RS200 but the generic van kinda ruins it for me. That’s part of the reason I’ve skipped some of the TT recently. Too many non licensed trucks.
Check out Ford’s Supervan 2. The truck is a mk2 Transit with Supervan 2 livery; with the RS200, it’s period correct and absolutely awesome.
The clunky roof rack is disappointing. Greenlight does it with tubing and openings for the same price.
Great idea, love the trailer rather than transporter, not keen on the unlicensed generic van though, especially with actual ‘Ford’ branding…
I agree with all the comments regarding unlicensed van. I’m tired of Hot Wheels looking for ways to cut corners. Do they think as consumers we are impressed with their cleverness to be cheap. Many other brands pony up for authenticity … time for Hot Wheels to get in bed with Mijo.
I agree. I’ve skipped several Team Transport releases as well. I just can’t justify $18 (CAD) for one premium car I like sitting on yet another Retro Rig.
I quite like the Ford C800, and the VW Transporter is decent too, albeit a bit small. If Hot Wheels were to produce a bunch of licensed trucks I’d be all in on these.
I’m down for anything Ford RS200, so this set is for sure a go for me. I’ve never been much of a fan of vans, but I like the deco here and the casting looks period correct and appropriate to the theme. I wasn’t sure about substituting in an open trailer in place of an enclosed box truck, but it was grow on me.
The only way this van will work is towing a Lancia, Audi, Fiat, or similar, because it’s a bit of a lump and doesn’t look anything like a UK or USA van (we haven’t been shown the front) so the good way out is to pretend it’s an Iveco, VW LT, or Fiat etc – a more boxy mid-european type van. The other thing which would help is to take away the v.poor solid roofrack and replace it with a full-length high-top; then you’d have a passable rally support van with full side tampo. If you have to go cheap with a non-licenced casting you need to boost it some other way or lose sales!
Very very cool add it to my other transports