Redartz: Hi folks! For a couple of generations now, kids have been racing, trading and wrecking Mattel's Hot Wheels cars. From their debut in 1968 on up to today, these cars have been flying off store shelves and down tracks, building a huge collector's market. The first cars were the 'redlines', so named because the wheels had a thin red stripe . These were phased out in the later 70's, replaced with black tires, and gold hubs, and still other variations. There were electric "Sizzlers", motorcycles, "Heavyweight" trucks, and countless other types over the years.Their popularity grew, and even generated a Saturday morning cartoon and a DC comic series!
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| Racing in our bedroom, c. 1970 |
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| A few old favorites |
How about you, any other Hot Wheelers out there? Let's hear about your favorite cars, racing stories, trading deals, track layouts, etc, etc, etc...
19 comments:
The very first "Super-Charger Sprint Set"-? With the battery-powered box w/ side-rollers inside? I was ASTONISHED when my folks got me that for Christmas-! And it was supremely cool forrrrrrr about 15 minutes, 'cause that thing ATE the two D-batteries that it took to run it-- ha! Still, the fact of having gotten it at all outweighed nearly all other considerations.
Still have pretty much all of my old Hot Wheels, Johnny Lightning, and Matchbox Superfast cars. In a couple of buckets and an utterly deteriorated Matchbox carry-case. They had a long, LONG life during my childhood, and then about 3 or 4 years of revived, heavy, aggressive use when HBLad was a tyke, and are just about the most destructively-loved old toys you'll ever come across. Even a casual collector or enthusiast would likely weep openly if he/she were to see the condition (or lack-of) of some of these. . . yes. . . cars from the original 1968/69 era. . . heh. . .
HB
It is sad that most kids these days really don't care about cars.
I read that when we were of age, 98% of people 18-24 had a driver's license.
Today?
74%
Cars simply don't have the appeal to youth anymore.
Yoyo
I had quite a few Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars, including the Batman '66 Batmobile. Lots of fun!
But what I am really digging from the photos is that wagon wheel headboard! That... is vintage Bronze Age furniture.
Doug
I'd say I had my meager collection of both Hot Wheels and Matchbox.. Hot Wheels definitely had the stylish reputation and held the standard for racing cars (non-electric), but I liked Matchbox for it's diversity in cargo trucks, police/rescue, taxi's etc.
If you had a HO-scaled railroad set as a kid, you went with Matchbox.
Loved the Hot Wheels black racing tire carrying case.., that was about as bad-@ss as you could get carrying that on the school bus. I did have some tracks and equipment, it wasn't always easy getting 'em to loop-the-loop, but it was nice fun for 1971, as I tried not to miss my 'Captain Action' and MMM toys too much by then. THOSE were my toys.., Hot Wheels I suppose was a nice filler until I got into GI Joe. I will say I remember buying that Red Baron helmet racing car as well.
Most of you should also remember back during those days, when Shell gas stations would give out Hot Wheels cars as gifts for when your parents filled their gas tanks. That was kinda cool.
I'm with Doug. I love that 1970 bedroom! I had a lot of my old Matchbox (and Hot Wheels) cars until recently, when they "disappeared", courtesy of my wife, who doesn't share my appreciation for 40 year old toy cars.
I was in grade school when Hot Wheels came out and still have around a dozen or so Redlines. I had the orange loop-de-loop tracks, but also played with my Hot Wheels on the hardwood floors and indoor-outdoor carpeting.
On a driving trip to CA, I insisted that we eat most meals at Jack-in-the-Box, just so I could earn a mail-in rebate for a Jack Rabbit Special Hot Wheels car. I've still got it, complete with the Jack-in-the-Box decals.
Later, I got some Sizzlers and Chopcycles (the motorcycle Hot Wheels) and enjoyed those, too. Still it's the Redlines that give me the best memory flashbacks. They were just so cool!
I had the Matchbox lunchbox like carry case. Hours were spent laying out mousetrap-ish tracks using several race tracks, boxes, LP covers etc. I can't see kids today doing that, unless it was a video game set-up
Loved Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars! Some great memories already expressed by the BITBA community. I remember having an older friend who was into parallel play (he was an only child). So we would each create our own race course on the floor of his room and run our own individual races for hours, "announcing" back and forth who was winning, who just took the lead and, of course, who crashed. Good times!
Tom
I was a fan, they always tended to be a little bit cooler than Matchbox cars. Did anyone else have any of the old Marvel Hot Wheels cars? I had the Silver Surfer van:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/200557864/hot-wheels-the-heroes-silver-surfer-no
Kind of 'off-topic' and NOT to hijaak, but Luther's post had me thinking of how the toy market changed around 1971/1972..
There was a push in the industry not to show toys (especially action figures like GI Joe....) in cool situations; toy makers like Mattel now had to specifically SHOW kids how to create them, whether it be with a garden hose to create a river adventure, or what have you.
I always wondered whether that was considered pandering..? Was it really necessary..? I kinda thought us kids **knew** how to create situations.
Perhaps it somehow enhanced product line interest..? Dunno.
David_b, I agree with you. I was capable of understanding that the mountain did not come with the GI Joe or the real volcano did not come with the Hot Wheels. There was a general "truth in advertising" push that really took away some of the fun through its straightforward approach.
I always chuckle when they have to explain something is not included. Around the same time food packaging had to start saying "serving suggestion" if they showed an application. For example if you sell spaghetti sauce but actually show spaghetti you should say "serving suggestion". I would hope most people know that the actual noodles are not in the jar. Off topic I know ... but definitely a change in the Bronze Age.
Regarding today's post - I too enjoyed Hot Wheels and loved racing them. We didn't have much track but cobbled together some from garage sales. Always had trouble getting the cars to make it through the loop but tried for hours on end.
And I agree the bedroom shot caught my attention. It looked so familiar for our age. All it needed was a fort made out of blankets and pillows and I would have had to do a double take.
Cheers.
Hi
1) I hope this subject sees many more discussions over the years!
2) My first Hot Wheels were Beatnik Bandit and Stilleto and Splittin Image. I could never get a Red Baron b/c demand far outstripped supply. My good friend's dad worked in Marketing for Mattel. He had all the Hot Wheels. I was jealous.
3) I often played Hot Wheels w/ my brother. I wonder if smaller families (how many boys have brothers now?) has contributed to the decline in interest?
4) Really dug Johnny Lightnings and Match Box too!
5) I had the fastest car around in 1970: It was by Corgi! Any of you have Corgis back in the day? They were suddenly quite popular around 15 years ago with all the Batman cars they released. I talked with their Marketing Director around 2000... said the market sucked. Made in England I believe.
6) My brother, in a fit of anger, took my "Custom Barracuda" and pulled the wheel out straight. I was very mad.
&) Not to hijack... but did any of you have Friends who were allowed into your house, allowed to play with your stuff, allowed to go with you to the ice cream store but you were NOT allowed in their house, they never took you any where, and their parents would never let you play with their toys???
Cheers!
HB- I forgot how those things ate batteries! Maybe that's why we usually let gravity provide the momentum. And cool that you still have those old cars, flaws and all! Like finding one of your 'spaghetti comics'...
Yoyo- Seems I read that figure you mentioned about modern driving. Changing world, apparently. For what it's worth, though, my grandsons love their toy cars!
Doug, dbutler and Marti- one of the advantages of being an early age photo bug- I took photos of school, home, play, etc. No big deal at the time, but priceless now. Gives me an idea for a future post. By the way, if you look at the leg of the bed in the foreground, you'll see the remnants of a "Wacky Packages" sticker. Our Mom wasn't so happy about that...
David_b- thanks for the Shell gas station memory! Never got a free Hot Wheel, but do recall they ran a "Hot Wheels Coin Game" where you collected coins with each fillup.
J.A.- never fortunate enough to have the Marvel cars (although my son's did). Did pick up a Simpsons Van Hot Wheel, though. You look through the window and see Bart and Homer!
Tom- great story. There was no fun like racing with a pal...
I had tons of toy cars ... Matchbox, Hot Wheels, Corgi; I still have a few, but not nearly as many as when I was a kid. I really miss some of them: A cool blue Porsche 944, a 67 Camaro with a hood that opened, and a Matchbox Beach Hopper where the driver bounced up and down as the car moved.
Probably the most consistently fun activity a couple of my buddies and me (and maybe my sisters a couple of times) engaged in with the cars-- once we'd acquired enough track-- was to set up a straight, long, down-hill drag-race with the attachable starting block and flag-dropping finish line. This really only worked when you had an 8' to 10' board (or similar) to lay the track on all the way down-- but it worked well. And then it would be just a huge, long elimination tournament of about a zillion races using every single car, until a victor emerged. And then you'd do it all again for second place. And then third place. . .
I remember laughing ourselves hoarse just about every time we spent an afternoon on this-- but for the life of me can't recall what was always so darned funny--!
HB
HB- yes, those downhill drags were simple but made the best competitions! We had innumerable races of that sort. I also had the 'loop the loop', which worked well with lighter cars. Heavy cars tended to fall unceremoniously from the apex. Of course, the heavier cars tended to be faster...
We had a wide flat bannister onour stairs in our house - perfect for racing. Dad didn't like that too much. Beside scratching the bannister the cars would go careening off into the door and walls. Fun times in that old bungalow.
My mom got rid of mine at some point...dang it. I miss my little fire truck.
I seem to remember that Hotwheels seemed slicker and fancier than Matchbox cars, but rusted more often.
Who knows, maybe I was playing with them in the wet mud or something. I was a weird little kid.
M.P.
I'm gonna put out there that Johnny Lightning- at least early on- went in for the much wilder, avant-garde, eye-catching weird designs-- total fantasy vehicles, very often not based even remotely on a real vehicle. They were kind of my favorite for awhile due to that. . .
HB
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