Cool rides that fit in your palm
Toymaker Mattel used the 2007 SEMA show in Las Vegas to launch its 40th anniversary line of Hot Wheels, one of the best-selling toys ever made for car-crazy American kids.
More than 100 Hot Wheels collectors and nostalgia freaks were double-wrapped in line around Hot Wheels’ exhibit booth to get the autograph of Larry Wood, designer of Hot Wheels cars since 1969. He was signing the box for his latest creation, Bone Shaker.
Hot Wheels has exhibited at SEMA, staged by the Specialty Market Equipment Association, for more than a decade. Hot Wheels became a partner for the show this year, expanding its presence with Hot Wheels logos on show-related materials and events.
The entry to Hot Rod Alley in the Las Vegas Convention Center’s Central Hall was marked by real, life-size Hot Wheels vehicles such as the famous Twin Mill with two engines.
Geoff Walker, Mattel’s vice president of marketing, said this year’s theme, “Fueling the Passion for Hot Wheels,” captures the influence the automotive industry had on the Hot Wheels brand over the years, and Hot Wheels’ influence and inspiration on the industry.
“We’re cool,” he said. “We’ve always stayed on the front end of what kids and adults think about cars. We were launched in 1968 behind the California car culture and we stay relevant today with hot rods, tuners and muscle cars.”
Hot Wheels appeals to kids of all ages, Walker said. Children enjoy the tracks and play sets, while adults are collecting everything from traditional Hot Wheels to 1/64th-scale models. A pink Volkswagen “beach bomb” sold for $72,000. It was one of five made in 1969 using leftover paint from another model.
“A guy who walks into a Hot Wheels collectors’ show with one is a hero,” Walker said. “It’s like, ‘Oh, oh.’ Larry (Wood), he’s like the Mick Jagger of Hot Wheels.”
The 1977 Trans Am from the movie, “Smokey and the Bandit,” is also becoming a popular Hot Wheels collectors’ item, Walker said. Some of the largest Hot Wheels collections are valued at more than $1 million.
With about 30 designers, Mattel has never gone “outside the house” for design, he said. This year, Mattel is reaching out to the auto industry to allow manufacturers to design what they think a Hot Wheels car should be. Dodge, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Lotus and Mitsubishi are participating in the designer’s challenge.
“A lot of guys designing cars today grew up with Hot Wheels and that led to their passion for creating,” Walker said.
Since 1968, more than 3 billion Hot Wheels cars have been produced, including more than 800 models and 11,000 variations. More than 60 million Hot Wheels were sold last year.
Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0491.
