Hot Wheels World Race Cars

Hot Wheels is a brand of die cast toy car, started by American toymaker Mattel in 1968. Mattel was the primary competitor of Johnny Lightning and Matchbox until 1996, when Mattel acquired rights to the Matchbox brand from Tyco. Originally the cars and trucks were manufactured to roughly 1:64 scale and designed to be used on associated Hot Wheels track sets, but by 1970 a series of 1:43 scale 'Gran Toros' were introduce and in more recent times a range of highly comprehensive adult collector 1:18 scale vehicles, including replicas of world race cars like Formula One and NASCAR. However the brand remains most famous for the small scale free-rolling models of custom hot rods and muscle cars it has produced since the range first appeared.

There were sixteen castings released in 1968, eleven of them designed by Harry Bentley Bradley, with the first one produced being a dark blue Custom Camaro. Some of the cars released in 1968 are Custom Barracuda, Custom Camaro, Custom Corvette, Custom Cougar, Custom Eldorado, Deora, Ford J-Car, Python, Silhouette and many more. All of the cars attributed 'Spectraflame' paintwork, bearings, redlines wheels, and working suspension. For most castings, it is the hardest colour to find, and today can command prices ten times as high as more common colours.

In the year 1969, Twin Mill was introduced by Hot Wheels. It is regarded one of Hot Wheels' greatest race cars, came from Ira Gilford's drawing board. In 1969 a large number of race cars were introduced by Hot Wheels like Brabham Repco F1, Chaparral 2G, Ford MK IV, Indy Eagle, Lola GT70, Lotus Turbine and McLaren M6A. Hot Wheels effectively established itself as the most important brand of small toy car models in the USA. The 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.

In 1999 Hot Wheels Racing signed a licensing deal with five Formula 1 teams to manufacture scale model Formula 1 cars. Hot Wheels celebrated its 35th anniversary with a full-length computer animated Hot Wheels movie called Hot Wheels Highway 35 World Race. This movie tied into the Highway 35 line of cars that featured 35 classic Hot Wheels cars with special graphics and co-moulded wheels. Another celebrated moment in the 35th anniversary was the creation of a full-sized model of the Deora II shown at the Hot Wheels Hall of Fame event at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California. Also, the continuation of the movie Hot Wheels Highway 35 World Race called Hot Wheels Acceleracers was created, taking place two years after Vert Wheeler won the World Race.

In late 2006, a new package design for 2007 was released. In 2007, Mattel is planning to release 36 New Models. Which will be available through UK stockists such as mataro.co.uk