“Never judge a book by its cover” is kind of a dumb saying. Yes, the cover isn’t all that the book is, but without knowing the contents of the book, often times the cover is what draws your initial attention. The same goes for music. While the music is of course the focal point, like books, often times the album cover is what you see first and be the thing that draws you in. As a teen I used to browse through allmusic.com looking for new bands to check out. At the time, the site would give ideas of similar artists and albums to check out. This is how my love of heavy metal grew as a teen and into my college years. However before college, we only had a 56k modem, so it wasn’t easy for me to hear snippets of songs to see if I liked it or not. So as I’m going through the site, the album cover is what drew me in. And in that random clicking and reading is how I discovered desert/stoner rock/metal, and specifically the band Fu Manchu. Fuzzed guitars, simple groove, and a love for everything cars, skateboarding, surfing and… other things.
Now that it’s May, it’s the perfect time to break out these albums. And I thought, why not pay homage and get a full Hot Wheels Car Culture or Pop Culture case dedicated to Fu Manchu album covers? Hot Wheels are based in California, the band is based in California. It fits. Plus I have to imagine that at least one of the folks on the HW design team likes these guys.
1: Return To Earth: 1991-1993 (Compilation) (YouTube link album playlist)
Let’s start with the upfront and in-your-face Corvette. For my idea, the ’69 COPO might actually be the best bet for the casting to be used. It would be awesome to see it decked out in the swirling colors used here, even if some of the look is meant to be like a reflection at dusk/sunset.
(Check out eBay for these and other Hot Wheels COPO Corvettes!)
2: Daredevil (Youtube link album playlist)
Obvious one here: Myers Manx. Slap some RR slots on that baby and it’d feel right at home. Hot Wheels original version doesn’t have a roof, but that new one revealed at the convention is looking awesome, and that would work perfectly I think. But that’s not in hand yet… So here we are, haha! It’ll look great in light blue with a tan top!
(Check out eBay for these and other releases of the Meyers Manx!)
3: California Crossing (YouTube playlist link)
I can’t quite tell exactly what year this El Camino is, but the existing ’71 El Camino would likely work perfectly. Even though that one is lowered, again, like the liberties taken in the past, it could be forgiven here for sure. They do have the stock-ish ’68 El Camino, too, but a metal base for that version doesn’t quite exist (there was the RLC one, but that tooling is likely LONG gone by now).
(Check out eBay for these and other El Caminos!)
4: King of the Road (YouTube playlist link)
Well… no actual casting exists of this one. We have the Econoline pickup, but no van. But this is a perfect road trip album (it’s basically a concept album about a road trip) so it would fit right in for a line of diecast cars. Plus it’d be the perfect excuse for Hot Wheels to have another Pop Culture casting. Just, you know, this album cover version first. Give it a nice proper ’70s Van culture stance and call it a day. Though you do have a few vans down the like what I think is a Dodge A100. Maybe. I really can’t tell at this angle, haha! But that Econoline being front and center is the key one.
(Check out eBay for the, well, limited selection of Ford Econolines, or for the bit more plentiful Dodge A100s!)
5: In Search Of… (YouTube playlist link)
This is the album cover that caught my attention in the first place. Desert night sky, road in the middle of no where, lady clad in ’70s wears signaling an outlaw drag race? Sign me up. Plus, 2 cars! Another case where one of the castings doesn’t quite exist currently… Chevelle is a ’71. (Side note: the Pinks promo spot from Speed Channel always reminded me of this album cover, though that was a ’70 Chevelle with a ’71 rear bumper, and the Mustang was a ’69/’70 Shelby, but anyway…). The ’69 Mustang tool that has existed for a few years would be close enough to satisfy my mind for this set despite the stance not being right. The ’70 Chevelle SS casting that debuted in the Fast & Furious premium line could also be considered close enough if we could only get one new tool for the Econoline. It’s got the right stance to match the album cover too. Just, you know, ’71 rear bumper on the cover vs a ’70… It is too bad we don’t have the old Collectibles/100% toolings around anymore, because THAT had the perfect toolings to use (though the Mustang was a ’70… but it’s not like the current ’69 Mustang in HW Premium has the right tail panel anyway).
(Check out eBay for the plentiful amount of 1969 Mustangs, 1970 Mustangs, 1970 Chevelles and the, well, few 1971 Chevelles!)
So, yea, I’m just spouting ideas. An album covers idea came up on the HWC/Mattel Creations forums a bit ago, and I suggested that Fu Manchu could be one whole mix in itself, so I’m expanding on my idea here. With the shift of going away from separate Entertainment and Pop Culture lines and them being combined into one series under the Pop Culture name, this is even more unlikely to happen now. But hey, I can dream can’t I?? (It was also an excuse to just take some pictures of random cars, haha)