Hot Wheels

2006. The Hummel was a German self-propelled artillery vehicle used in World War II. Diane Strauss - "The Hot Wheels Newsletter" - Feb. The hummel is a musical instrument. Hot Wheels, A collectors guide - Bob Parker, 2001. Howe and Hummel, New York law firm. Hot Wheels® has it's fair share of odd models, and these models have become very collectible, selling for high prices on eBay. Hummel Boy Scouts of America Scouting notable, awardee of the Bronze Wolf in 1983.

In 2006, Series 2 will consist of 30 models including the '67 Convertible Camaro and Mustang Mach 1. Peter W. There was also a 2005 Toy Fair Classics Olds 442 with Spectraflame™ Blue paint. Maria Innocentia Hummel, German Franciscan nun, painter and designer of the Hummel figurines. The Classics version of the Purple Passion was released with Real Rider tires at the San Diego Comic Con. Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Austrian composer and pianist. There were also 1:18 scale Hot Wheels® Classics and Track Sets for the 1:64 scale Classics.

Each of the 25 cars were released with 7 or 8 different colors. Series 1 from 2005, consisted of 25 models, with all metal bodies and chassis, decked out with Spectraflame™ Paint. The Hot Wheels® Classics line was an immediate hit with enthusiasts everywhere. For the most part it is a relatively inexpensive hobby (when compared with coin collecting, stamp collecting or Barbie collecting.) The price for a Hot Wheels® car really hasn’t changed in almost 40 years, still hanging around $1(USD) for a basic line car.

Most collectors have a love for cars and since none of us can afford all the old cars or even if we could we wouldn’t have much space to store them, so Hot Wheels fill that void. People are collecting everything from only new stuff to only the older Redlines and everything in between. There are hundreds, probably thousands of web pages dedicated to Hot Wheels® collecting. Each year they offer membership into the Redline Club which gives you first chances at getting the limited edition cars as well as information like pictures of new cars or exclusive Redline Club cars, regular members aren’t privy to.

In 2001 Mattel saw how much collecting was affecting their sales and put together www.hotwheelscollectors.com as an online way to unite collectors by offering limited edition cars, information about upcoming releases and events, as well as chat and trade boards. Mike also writes the Tomart's Guide To Hot Wheels®, a book listing history, car descriptions and values and is used by almost every collector to learn more about the hobby and their collection. Mike has also published the quarterly Hot Wheels® Newsletter since 1986 and was one of the first to unite collectors all over the world. The Hot Wheels® Collectors Nationals rotate among cities outside of California during the spring.

Since then the Conventions are held each year in southern California. The convention used to travel around the country until 2001 when the first Annual Hot Wheels® Collectors Nationals was put together. The first event was the Annual Hot Wheels® Collectors Convention normally held each year in the fall. Mike Strauss has been widely hailed as the father of Hot Wheels® collecting, he has organized two collectors events each year in some form since 1986.

Most believe it started with the Treasure Hunts in 1995. Through out the years most kids collected Hot Wheels® cars but in the last 10 years there has been resurgence in collecting by both kids and adults. List of 2006 Treasure Hunts:. There were two limited editions: a Honda Civic Si that was only available at the 2005 SEMA convention and the CUL8R with Faster Than Ever (FTE) wheels which was only available by mail.

The 2006 mainline will consist of 38 First Editions (all realistic), 12 Treasure Hunts, 12 Track Aces, 60 Segment Series, 96 Open Stock Models and 5 Mystery Cars. 2006 is turning out to be one of the most highly anticipated years of collecting. List of 2005 Hot Wheels. These adjustments reduce friction dramatically, resulting in cars that are "Faster than Ever." These cars were available for a limited time only, from the beginning of October, towards the end of November 2005.

In 2005, Hot Wheels also unveiled its new "Faster than Ever" line of cars, which had special nickel-plated axles, along with Open-Hole 5 Spoke wheels. In addition to the 60 new First Editions, Hot Wheels also had the standard 12 Treasure Hunts, 10 Track Aces, 50 Segment Series Cars, 50 Open Stock Models, and 4 Mail-in Volkswagen Promo Cars, plus the special 13th Treasure Hunt, the VW Drag Bus. In 2005, Hot Wheels® continued with new "extreme" castings for the 2nd year, debuting 40 distorted cars, in addition to 20 "Realistix" models. These vehicles didn't sell as well as other Hot Wheels® cars, and many collectors spat on the new vehicles.

These new models included cartoonish vehicles such as the 'Tooned, Blings (square bodies and big wheels), Hardnoze (enlarged fronts), Crooze (stretched out bodies), and Fatbax (Super-wide back tires). In 2004, Hot Wheels® unveiled their "Hot 100" line, comprised of 100 new models. Alec has also designed the updated version of his dad's first Hot Wheels® design, the Whip Creamer II. Paul Tam's son Alec Tam joined Hot Wheels'® design team in 2000 and still works for Mattel today.

Starting in 1998, Mattel did not release production numbers of Treasure Hunts. The Treasure Hunt Series was an instant hit, and as a result, production increased to 25,000 units per car in 1996 and 1997. The initial run consisted of 10,000 units. The Treasure Hunt series was introduced in 1995 with cars that were specially detailed and produced in limited numbers.

Many new wheels were also introduced. Sales for the series models soared, causing stores across the nation to have shortages. In 1996, the Model Series was renamed to First Editions, and Treasure Hunt production was boosted to 25,000 units per car. 1995 also saw the introduction of the Treasure Hunt Series.

5 Series were offered. 1995 brought a major change to the Hot Wheels® line, where the cars were split up into series, 1 being the 1995 Model Series, which was the series where new cars would appear, and other series being of 4 cars, all were sold in diffrent packages, but had similar paint schemes, and when all 4 were found, they would make up a series. Some strange additions to the Hot Wheels® line were adding the Oldsmobile Aurora the Chevrolet Lumina APV, and the Vector WX-3. The Blue Cards continued offering realisticly detailed cars based off of cars you would see on the street, which were very popular among collectors, while it didn't sacrifice sales made by kids.

The 1990s was the peak for Hot Wheels®. These featured realisticly detailed cars based off of cars you would see all over the road at the time. In the late 80s, the Blue Card was introduced, which would become the basis of Hot Wheels cars still used today. Despite the fact that they were very popular, the real riders were short lived, because of high production costs.

In 1984, A new style of wheel called Real Riders were introduced, which had real rubber tires. Hot Wheels® started offering models based off of 80's economy cars, like the Pontiac Fiero or Dodge Omni 024. in 1981, 2 new wheels were introduced, Hot ones, which were gold painted wheels, and Ultra Hots, which looked like the wheels found on a Renault Fuego or a Mazda 626. What happened in the 1980s for Hot Wheels® sent them in the path of what they are today, just like what the revolutionary Ford Taurus did for the auto industry.

Despite this, intrest in the brand didn't drop. In 1975, The Redline Wheel was phased out, with the redlines being erased from the wheels, mostly to cut costs, this is the same reason why the paint of the cars were changed from Mattel's in house "Spectraflame™" colors to plain looking enamal colors with flashy decals. The 1973 models are known to be very collectible. 1973 was kind of a "bum" year for Hot Wheels®, very few cars were produced, and most Hot Wheels® sales were accounted by left over 1972 blisters.

Among the many futuristic designs Tam thought up for Hot Wheels®, some of the collector's favorites include Evil Weevil (a Volkswagen with two engines), Open Fire (an AMC Gremlin with six wheels), Six Shooter (another six wheeled car), and the rare Double Header (co-designed with Larry Wood). Tam continued to work for Mattel until 1973. Paul's first design for Hot Wheels® was the Whip Creamer. Another designer, Paul Tam, joined Larry and Ira.

After 36 years, Larry still works for Hot Wheels®. His first design would be the Tri-Baby. Wood agreed, and by the end of the week, Larry Wood was working at Mattel. When Wood found out about Hot Wheels® at a party Rees was holding, Rees offered Wood the job of designing Hot Wheels®.

They worked together at Ford designing cars. A good friend of Rees' was a man by the name of Larry Wood. He wanted to work on the Major Matt Mason action figure toy lineup. Howard Rees, who worked with Ira Gilford, was tired of designing cars.

1970 was another great year for Hot Wheels®. A couple of years ago, a Hot Pink rear-loader Beach Bomb went for auction and was reportedly sold for over $70,000 to legendary Hot Wheels collector Bruce Pascal. A Rear-loader, in any condition, can go over $15,000. A regular side-loader Beach Bomb, in mint condition, could be worth between $150 to $600 dollars.

That final prototype became the production version of the Volkswagen Beach Bomb, now nicknamed the "side-loader" Beach Bomb by collectors. Ira Gilford's assistant Howard Rees and his good friend Larry Wood came up with "sidepods" to widen the bus to work with the Super-Charger. Unfortunately, when the bus went through the Super-Charger, the car would spin-out and crash. During this Hot Wheels® era, Mattel wanted every car to work with the track and make sure that the cars will do every stunt.

The first prototypes do not have these "pods" and have surfboards sticking out of rear window, hence the name "rear-loader". The regular version of this modified VW Bus has "pods" on the sides of it. The Volkswagen Rear-Loader Beach Bomb is what some consider, the Holy Grail of Hot Wheels®. Splittin' Image, Torero, Turbofire, and Twin Mill were part of the "Show & Go" series and are the very first original in-house designs by Hot Wheels.

Some of Hot Wheels' greatest cars, like the Twin Mill and Splittin' Image, came from Ira Gilford's drawing board. Gilford, who just had just left Chrysler, quickly accepted the job of designing the next Hot Wheels® models. When the company asked him back, he recommended a good friend, Ira Gilford. As it turned out, the Hot Wheels® brand was a staggering success! Unfortunately, Harry Bentley Bradley didn't think that would be the case and had quit Mattel to go back to the car industry.

Packaged along with the cars was matching metal buttons, that could be attached onto a belt so a fellow collector wearing the buttons could show off what cars he had. The suspension was redesigned in 1970. However, the axles were hard to install on the chassis while being assembled and would break off the chassis if very hard pressure was applied. When the child pushed down onto a car, the axles would bend like a real car.

The axles were bent into a weird "C"-like shape that was connected to the chassis. The working suspension for the cars was simple, but flawed. Just a simple stamped-on redline around the face of a wheel, the redlines were on Hot Wheels® cars until 1977. A symbol among collectors, the Redline wheels are what gave this era of Hot Wheels® its name; redlines.

The result was cars that could go up to [scale] 200mph at 1:64 scale. In order for the cars to go fast on the plastic track, Mattel picked out a cheap, durable, low-friction plastic called Delrin to be placed in between the axle and wheel. A car in lime green for instance may fetch 1/4 of the price of the same car in pink. Because Hot Pink was mainly considered a "girls color", it is the most rare color of cars to find and can mean a big difference in price.

The Spectraflame™ paint was a transparent, "candy" color paint, that when viewed through polished metal, looked like a dazzling, bright custom paintjob. All of the cars featured Spectraflame™ paint, delrin bearings, redline wheels, and working suspension. The Custom Fleetside was also his original design, based on his heavily customized '64 El Camino. He had previously worked with Chrysler Corporation on designing a concept car which was built by Mike and Larry Alexander.

However, the Deora, which was directly based on the Dodge Deora concept car, was his original design. Even though Harry Bentley Bradley was from the car industry, he didn't design the full-fuctioning versions of the real cars. All of the cars were designed by Harry Bentley Bradley, with the exception of the Custom Volkswagen which was designed by Ira Gilford. There were sixteen cars (or castings) released in 1968.

Although his executives thought it was a bad idea, the cars were a big success. Elliot Handler, co-founder of Mattel, decided to produce a line of toy-diecast miniature cars for boys. . Fat Track was black (in contrast to the regular track's orange color), about four times as wide as regular track, and was intended for Sizzlers.

Sizzlers had a built in motor and a tiny rechargeable battery. Accessories included a lap counter and a speedometer. Other sets included a Supercharger that had an electric motor and foam covered wheels that propelled the car around a loop of track as the cars passed through. Later sets had both a plastic starting gate and finishing flag which would be tripped by the first car although a visual ascertainment was usually sufficient.

A dual set of tracks could be set up and using a starting gate a race could be conducted. Motive power was by means of gravity, with the starting end of the course placed higher than the end by means of an included C clamp. Mattel also sold plastic track under the Hot Wheels® brand on which the cars rolled and which could be placed to make interesting jumps and loops. Since 1998, Hallsguide has been an accurate source of pricing and information for Hot Wheels® online.

A 2004 episode of Antiques Roadshow valued a late 1960s collection of Hot Wheels® cars in their original packaging at roughly $100 each, with some of the more rare models worth $200-$300 each. Mattel estimates that 41 million children, grew up playing with the toys, the average collector has over 1,550 cars, and children between the ages of 5 and 15 have an average of 41 cars. Aside from their popularity as toys, Hot Wheels® cars are also popular collectibles. A majority of castings are diecast metal, however some are cast in plastic.

Most Hot Wheels® cars measure about 2½ inches (6 cm) in length, and are approximately 1:64 scale. It was the primary competitor of Johnny Lightning and Matchbox until 1996, when Mattel acquired rights to the Matchbox brand. toymaker Mattel in 1968. Hot Wheels® is a popular brand of toy automobile, introduced by U.S.

Dairy Delivery. 12. Pit Cruiser. 11.

C6 Corvette. 10. CUL8R. 9.

Hummer H3T. 8. 69 Dodge Charger. 7.

67 Mustang. 6. VW Beetle Cup. 5.

Custom 59 Cadillac. 4. So Fast. 3.

40 Ford Coupe. 2. Asphalt Assault. 1.

List of 2004 Hot Wheels. Volkswagen Beach Bomb. Twin Mill. Turbofire.

Torero. Splittin' Image. Shelby Turbine. Rolls-Royce.

Mercedes-Benz 280SL. McLaren M6A. Maserati Mistral. Lotus Turbine.

Lola GT70. Indy Eagle. Ford MK IV. Custom Police Cruiser.

Custom Continental. Custom AMX. Custom Charger. Classic '57 Bird.

Classic '36 Ford Coupe. Classic '32 Ford Vicky. Classic '31 Ford Woody. Chaparral 2G.

Brabham Repco F1. Classic '32 Ford Vicky. Silhouette. Python (designed by Dean Jeffries).

Hot Heap. Ford J-Car. Deora. Custom Volkswagen.

Custom T-Bird. Custom Mustang. Custom Fleetside. Custom Firebird.

Custom Eldorado. Custom Cougar. Custom Corvette. Custom Camaro.

Custom Barracuda. Beatnik Bandit (designed by Ed Roth).