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Hot Wheels
Hot Wheels is an American media franchise and brand of scale model cars invented by Elliot Handler and introduced by his company Mattel on May 18, 1968. It was the primary competitor of Matchbox until Mattel bought Matchbox owner Tyco Toys in 1997.
Many automobile manufacturers have since licensed Hot Wheels to make scale models of their cars, allowing the use of original design blueprints and detailing. Although Hot Wheels were originally intended to be children's toys, they have become popular with adult collectors, for whom limited edition models are now made available.
In the late 1960s, Elliot Handler, co-founder of Mattel, developed the concept for Hot Wheels as a toy line that would appeal to boys in the same way their Barbie had to girls. Handler was inspired to create a new line of toy cars after seeing his son Kenneth play with Matchbox cars. Unlike Matchbox, which focused on small-scale models of real production vehicles, Handler envisioned Hot Wheels as a line of exaggerated, customized "hot rod" cars, featuring big rear tires, superchargers, flame paint jobs, hood blowers, and outlandish proportions.[citation needed] He began producing the cars with assistance from fellow engineer Jack Ryan. The flame logo was designed by artist Rick Irons, who worked at Mattel at the time. Mattel first unveiled 16 Hot Wheels cars in the 1968 New York Toy Fair.
The first line of Hot Wheels cars, known as The Original Sweet 16 were manufactured in 1967. These were the first of the Red Line Series, named for the tires which had a red pin stripe on their sides.[failed verification]
There were sixteen castings released, eleven of them designed by Harry Bentley Bradley with assistance from Handler and Ryan.[dead link] The first one produced was a dark blue "Custom Camaro". Bradley was from the car industry and had designed the body for the (full-sized) Dodge Deora concept car and the Custom Fleet side, (based on his own customized 1966 El Camino).
The lineup consisted of the following:
In addition to the cars themselves, Mattel produced a racing track set which was sold separately. Though it would be updated throughout the years, the original track set consists of a series of bright orange road sections (pieced together to form an oblong, circular race track), with one (or sometimes two) "superchargers"[citation needed] (faux service stations through which cars passed on the tracks, featuring battery-powered spinning wheels, which would propel the cars along the tracks). Hot Wheels' use of wide, hard-plastic tires created much less friction and tracked more smoothly than the narrow metal or plastic wheels used on contemporary Matchbox cars. Hot Wheels cars were designed to roll easily and at high speeds, which was a great innovation at the time.[failed verification]
The Hot Wheels brand was successful, disrupting the industry for small die-cast car models from 1968 onward. They forced Matchbox and other competitors to rethink their concepts. Harry Bentley Bradley did not think that would be the case and had quit Mattel to go back to the car industry. When the company asked him to come back, he recommended a good friend, Ira Gilford. Gilford, who had just left Chrysler, quickly accepted the job of designing the next Hot Wheels models. Some of Hot Wheels' greatest cars, such as the Twin Mill and Splittin' Image, came from Ira Gilford's drawing board. The Twin Mill was introduced in 1969 and was used to create the company's first full-scale replica car in 2001.
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Hot Wheels
Hot Wheels is an American media franchise and brand of scale model cars invented by Elliot Handler and introduced by his company Mattel on May 18, 1968. It was the primary competitor of Matchbox until Mattel bought Matchbox owner Tyco Toys in 1997.
Many automobile manufacturers have since licensed Hot Wheels to make scale models of their cars, allowing the use of original design blueprints and detailing. Although Hot Wheels were originally intended to be children's toys, they have become popular with adult collectors, for whom limited edition models are now made available.
In the late 1960s, Elliot Handler, co-founder of Mattel, developed the concept for Hot Wheels as a toy line that would appeal to boys in the same way their Barbie had to girls. Handler was inspired to create a new line of toy cars after seeing his son Kenneth play with Matchbox cars. Unlike Matchbox, which focused on small-scale models of real production vehicles, Handler envisioned Hot Wheels as a line of exaggerated, customized "hot rod" cars, featuring big rear tires, superchargers, flame paint jobs, hood blowers, and outlandish proportions.[citation needed] He began producing the cars with assistance from fellow engineer Jack Ryan. The flame logo was designed by artist Rick Irons, who worked at Mattel at the time. Mattel first unveiled 16 Hot Wheels cars in the 1968 New York Toy Fair.
The first line of Hot Wheels cars, known as The Original Sweet 16 were manufactured in 1967. These were the first of the Red Line Series, named for the tires which had a red pin stripe on their sides.[failed verification]
There were sixteen castings released, eleven of them designed by Harry Bentley Bradley with assistance from Handler and Ryan.[dead link] The first one produced was a dark blue "Custom Camaro". Bradley was from the car industry and had designed the body for the (full-sized) Dodge Deora concept car and the Custom Fleet side, (based on his own customized 1966 El Camino).
The lineup consisted of the following:
In addition to the cars themselves, Mattel produced a racing track set which was sold separately. Though it would be updated throughout the years, the original track set consists of a series of bright orange road sections (pieced together to form an oblong, circular race track), with one (or sometimes two) "superchargers"[citation needed] (faux service stations through which cars passed on the tracks, featuring battery-powered spinning wheels, which would propel the cars along the tracks). Hot Wheels' use of wide, hard-plastic tires created much less friction and tracked more smoothly than the narrow metal or plastic wheels used on contemporary Matchbox cars. Hot Wheels cars were designed to roll easily and at high speeds, which was a great innovation at the time.[failed verification]
The Hot Wheels brand was successful, disrupting the industry for small die-cast car models from 1968 onward. They forced Matchbox and other competitors to rethink their concepts. Harry Bentley Bradley did not think that would be the case and had quit Mattel to go back to the car industry. When the company asked him to come back, he recommended a good friend, Ira Gilford. Gilford, who had just left Chrysler, quickly accepted the job of designing the next Hot Wheels models. Some of Hot Wheels' greatest cars, such as the Twin Mill and Splittin' Image, came from Ira Gilford's drawing board. The Twin Mill was introduced in 1969 and was used to create the company's first full-scale replica car in 2001.