Art & Inspiration Hot Wheels Commercials for 1968

Those of us of that age will always remember Hot Wheels. Got my first in 68-69, a sporty car with a name I’d never heard of, a Toreo or something like that. Seems like the show cars were easier to get, it was the stock body stuff that was hard to find for me. I had a first issue Camaro, Barracuda and Cougar, but never could find the Mustang fastback. Had a few of the bubble tops, too, but didn’t really care for them too much.
By the time I got the Snake-Mongoose funnycar set, I had probably 50 Hot Wheels plus some Johnny Lighting and other knock offs. I remember the Johnny Lighting cars were a tad wider than the Hot Wheels and didn’t fit the track well. I also remember a solid chrome Camaro I had to send off for, it was the fastest of everything I had.

When I moved out, I gave all that stuff to my cousin, no idea what he did with it. He got into Lionel electric trains, I bet he has $50,000 or more of them now.

We bought HotWheels for our boys, and I’ve bought a few for my only grandson. I’ve got a few I collected myself, not worth anything but were of a car I had at the time. I still run across one now and then that got lost under furniture or in a closet.

 

The Jackrabbit Special was one of my favorites; When Pontiac released the Fiero, it looked like they copied its styling. Remember the Saturday morning Hot Wheel cartoon? I'm the same age as you, and can't hear any songs from the Beatles' Abbey Road album without thinking of sitting on the living room floor with my Hot Wheels cars lined up.

 

Recently, my son asked if I had any old Hot Wheels. Here's my old ones, the only red lines surviving.

 

You're so right on the Fiero. My parents were Beatles fans so I grew up listening to them (still love them). Yes, watched the Banana Splits and the Hot wheels cartoons! The theme song is just like I remember it! Can't believe it was 55 years ago!

 

My stuff. Almost all the cars are original to my childhood. Bronze Barracuda came in a set with 4 matching cars, 2 superchargers, and a bunch of track that I got for Christmas. Still have the track and superchargers, that Barracuda is the sole survivor of the cars. The green thing with the green canopy was my favorite, heavy and long it was fast and tended to stay on the track. The green car with the wing on top is a Sizzler, you charged the onboard motor with a gas pump looking thing and let er go.

 

My father still has all of mine back east in a display case with all his other cars. Unfortunately they were all played with so not to mint anymore.

 

Johnny99,

I have a friendly warning for you .... do NOT store that Sizzler with your regular redline Hot Wheels. The battery will outgas and corrode the other cars. Your cars are in nice shape. You have some valuable ones in the mix. In general, the muscle car and hot rod versions are worth more than the fantasy cars. Like coin collecting, condition drives value along with the rarity of a particular color.

I have a really nice Cord redline that I ran across in a group of cars I bought, that must suffered that fate ... perfect green paint on the side I display and the other side is destroyed. It was probably in a case next to a Sizzler. This is a particularly rare car to begin with from around 1972 and if both sides were good, it would be worth at least $500, and that is a common color for these. Even in rough shape, restorers were paying $100 each for good restoration candidates. 20 years ago. Values in general have slumped a bit from then.

 

Wow, Just found one of the surfboards off the Deora car. A creation of Mike
and Larry Alexander

 

I was born in 59 so yeah I had a ton of these Hot Wheel cars like so many others here. We asked for Hot Wheels stuff for bdays and Xmas. But collecting these as a kid and keeping them pristine wasn't even a thing for me or anyone I knew my age. We used and abused them till they rolled no more.

One thing I wish I still had though was a letter I received from Mattel. I wrote them in probably 69 about some ideas I had for cars and tracks. I even drew pictures (I'm no artist lol) to explain what I was talking about. The letter was super nice and very encouraging. Pretty neat thing for a kid to have.

 

I’d totally forgot about the ones that plugged in and charged. I know I had at least one, maybe a pair, don’t recall.
Thanks for the memory!

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

I always thought Hot Wheels cars were very unrealistic and therefore, kinda stupid.

Plus, they are at least three years newer than the usual cutoff date for this forum, so why are you even discussing them?

 

Not all hot wheels are newer than the HAMB cut off date, there were several 30s roadsters and coupes and my favorites was the Nomad, and Hot Wheels got many kids interested in cars and hot rods in particular - which is a positive.
Dan

 

Saw the billboard outside the Peterson museum "Collection of cars from the Worlds Largest Car Manufacturer on display"
It was a room full of Hot Wheels even the original large scale models and pantagraph used to produce the molds to make the final size cars....that was why they had such good detail and before the day of all the aided design and production stuff of present

 

Hot wheels was a gateway drug for me.

 

Bingo

 

"Forum creep". I'm not here for off-topic toys.

 

Don't read this thread then....

 

Don't worry, I won't.

I am concerned about "Forum Creep" though. I'll have been on the board for 17 years next month and am seeing it happen. I have seen threads about MII suspensions EFI, LT engines persist for days and even weeks. That wouldn't have happened back in the day.

I realize that this is Ryan's forum and he makes the rules, but I think I have a pretty good idea of what they are. I wouldn't want to second guess him, but I have an investment in this forum too, and would hate to see it go the way that local swap meets are going.

 

Tubman I respect your time in HAMB and also the fact that you got involved with cars in the mid 50s. With that being said - you were messing with cars before I was born and by the time I got my first hot wheels car I think you might have been driving a Vette. I’ve always loved traditional hot rods but didn’t grasp exactly what that meant! Pre HAMB I thought a 69 SS Chevelle was a hot rod also. Hot Wheels brought a whole generation (mine I’m 63) into the car culture. Are Hot Wheels serious No Are Hot Wheels cool Depends Are Hot Wheels HAMB friendly Yes not all but some.
The big question is Should we be discussing Hot Wheels on a HAMB thread My opinion is yes because of the influence they had on a few generations. I don’t think a Hot Wheel discussion is going to water down the HAMB !
Dan

 

Hot wheels were so damn cool with red line tires, mag wheels and blown engines! Matchbox cars were more realistic. But boring, nobody wanted to race them. So many boys got into cars
via Hot wheels first that it would be missing something not to mention them.
A moderator started this thread, another has participated in it. That's good enough for me!

 

Hey, I'm very unrealistic and kind of stupid and they let me hang out here.

 

Hello,

We had little cars, but they were the Kress Variety Store metal cars with solid wheels. They got plenty of use in dirt filled back yard race courses and campout scenarios with grass and shrubs. But, the Matchbox variety did not come until later. When they did, we played with them in our other backyard in the latest dirt tracks and winding roads in our mom’s garden. By the time our new/old house took precedence, we had moved on to bicycles and go carts. So, the Matchbox cars and little metal cars took a long vacation in a random box in the garage.

That is a great treasure trove of cool stuff. That era came into play during our son’s toddler days and we tried our best to get him involved in toy car “play.” We had tons of floor space, but Spanish tile floor was not always good for smooth drag races or rolling the cars from point A to point B.

So, we purchased a custom made, large solid oak table with extensions for the largest dining table possible and not look like those old Cherry/Walnut wood tables of our great grandparents. The designer/builder also made long matching benches with backs and were sturdy enough not to tip over at any time.

Our son now, had a wide open table top and wide bench surfaces to set up his little car collections and play all day. It was a pretty good collection of Hot Wheels, Corgi, Matchbox and assorted cars. When we used to go to the antique stores, we always looked for models we did not have, but were cool to play with during our time of hot rods and surf wagons.

The large table top was a wonderful flat surface and then one day, he discovered the 1000 foot + scale cliff at the end of the table… ha! No sand dunes or chain link fence at the end of his drag races, they just disappeared…

Jnaki

Some of our friends liked his collection. It was one thing that he liked to do when we all went shopping in those old stores. We found some good ones along the way, too. We had an old surf van with a custom surfboard as part of the package. He played with that out in the sandbox as if it was on a surf spot travel journey. Using the surfboard on a fairly wet sand wave looked almost authentic. All of his toys were for play and we had no idea of their value to others. They were just toys.

(custom mods to a red station wagon to fit the current playtime needs back then...)

I/we enjoyed the toys as he outgrew them and they all fit in a couple of nice containers. We “loaned” them to my wife’s sister for her grandson’s visits and one day, perhaps, we will see those cool cars again. The other blue container was twice as large and full of all sorts of little old hot wheels.

Some of them were new ones that our son got as gifts and others were the prizes we both enjoyed as our father/son searches in those old stores and walkable swap meets. These days, I am the recipient of different old hot rod hot wheels as they are nice appendages to various gift wrappings and bows. It never gets old.

The latest creation I made for my wife. It was to commemorate the cross country road trips from the OKC to the West coast and back several times from 4th grade to 6th grade era. (with three kids in the back seat.)

My unfinished project that gets a little work here and there until it is finished for a surprise gift for our granddaughter. She loved ice cream trucks and the rewards that usually came out of the refrigerated section in the rear. It was here first custom truck she was able to sit in and pretend to drive it down the street.
The original concept in real life... pearl white with raspberry-purple flames and pinstriping...

Perhaps, one day I will finish this custom version from three different old Hot Wheels models to make the original custom ice cream truck. Maybe by the time our granddaughter graduates from college... ha!