Hot Wheels Toy Car

One of the most respected names in the history of toy cars, Hot Wheels is a popular brand of scaled-down cars introduced to the United States in1968, by toy company Mattel. The company was the main competitor of Johnny Lightning and Matchbox toy cars until 1996, when Mattel finally acquired rights to the Matchbox brand.

The history of Hot Wheels

In the late-60s, Elliot Handler (co-founder of Mattel), had the bright idea to produce a line of diecast miniature car toys for boys. Initially, Mattel executives thought it was a bad idea, but the cars soon proved to be a great success.

There were sixteen cars released in first run, all of which were designed by Harry Bentley Bradley (with the exception of the Custom Volkswagen, designed by Ira Gilford).

All the Hot Wheels in this first run featured a special finish made of unique Spectraflame paint, delrin bearings, redline wheels, and working suspension. The Spectraflame paint is a transparent, "candy" paint, that looked like a vibrant paintjob when viewed through polished metal.

On the racetrack

The secret to the cars being able to fly quickly down the racetrack was a cheap, durable, low-friction plastic called Delrin that Mattel placed between the axle and wheel. This special plastic allowed cars to go up to 200 miles per hour, at a 1:64 scale.

The Redline wheels (now a symbol coveted by collectors) are what gave this era of Hot Wheels its name; red lines. This simple, stamped-on red line around the face of a wheel appeared on Hot Wheels cars until 1977.

Modern Hot Wheels

Today, Hot Wheels brand toy cars are still made and loved by people of all ages. Older Hot Wheels cars continue to be bought and sold on the secondary market, some rare cars selling for hundreds of dollars.

Hot Wheels cars have been modeled after many different real-life cars, by a variety of different manufacturers. Hot Wheels also produces a large variety of fictional cars, some with special themes, like monsters and animals.

When it comes to toy cars, not many other toy companies have made such an impression on American culture as the Mattel Hot Wheels.

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