Die Cast Pro - Toy Shop - August 24, 2001

Chrome, Over and Under As quite often happens in the beginning, when a company attempts to enter a market with product that will compete with a well established competitor, a lot of work is done to produce a product that will distinguish itself in the marketplace. Every attempt is made to design something that will garner attention and divert attention away from other contenders. And so it was in the late `60's when Mattel set out to compete head-to-head with Lesney Matchbox. It's easy to see the differences in the cars made in the first year. Matchbox cars were very well proportioned and nicely detailed but rolled about as well as a piece of cheese, and did not offer much in the way of customized muscle. Mattel Hot Wheels on the other hand, had "suspension" axles, mag wheels, "custom" bodies, and clear metallic paint finishes. This Spectraflame finish first caught my eye during one of my trips to the department store in the winter of 1968. While there are lots of people who adopted a hatred for Hot Wheels and the effect their appearance had on Matchbox cars (the Super Fast Wheels being one example of this "sacrilege"), I recall being quite excited about these new cars that could go fast down a track and look good while doing it. What I didn't know was the work that went into developing and settling on the paint finishes. Once that work was finished, the cars would hit the streets and the rest is history. During that time, some cars were produced for testing the appearance and durability of these new colors. I am sure that lots of attempts were made before it was finally worked out. Which brings us to the cars featured in this column. Once again, Bruce Pascal tantalized me with a selection of cars from his rapidly growing collection. At first, Bruce thought that these cars were made for presentation to a Mattel employee in recognition of some event or another. But upon further research he found out that these cars were produced to test color ranges for appearance and finish. What makes these cars special is that they are chrome plated. Both body and chassis are polished and plated with bright chrome. The bodies are painted with what appears to be regular spectraflame colors. These cars look much nicer than the regular Hot Wheels we all know and love. While it is true that old redlines in great condition look nice in those Spectraflame colors, you haven't lived until you've seem them in chrome. Comparision to regular production cars reveals significant differences. Beyond the extra depth it gives to the body colors, the chrome bases are especially nice, with the side benefit of providing a nice way to get chrome bumpers, grills and so on. Unfortunately, this combination of chrome and paint would not be used for general production, probably owing to the cost and complexity of the process. We shall have to content ourselves with the few chrome cars that would be produced later in the Club and set cars.
	Catalog Number	Name	Description	Value*
6211 Custom Barracuda - 1967 Barracuda				150*
	This legendary car was the dream of many street racers. It was a great package, with a reasonable price and plenty of punch. This car precedes the legendary "Hemi Under Glass"
6208 Custom Camaro - 1967 Chevrolet Camaro				125*
	One of the first Hot Wheels ever made, the Camaro continues to be popular today. This was the first Hot Wheels car that I remember seeing. I was a Pontiac fan and bought the Firebird instead. Bruce brought three versions with him: Yellow Chrome Spectraflame Yellow Spectraflame (regular production) Blue Chrome Spectraflame As can be seen from the photos, the chrome cars really shine.
	The blue car is so well finished the body of the car almost looks like clear plastic!
6205 Custom Cougar - 1967 Cougar				130~200*
	The Mercury Cougar found many fans. With the cool new rear signal lights (they lit up in sequence rather than merely "blinking") and the 351 engine options, this cat was a street fighter from the word go.
	In this side-by-side comparison, note the paint detail between the headlamps - painted on the orange car and left bare metal on the blue car.
6207 Custom T-Bird - 1967 Ford Thunderbird				70*
	While this car diverged significantly from the original, low, small, sports-car image it was born with, it maintained a loyal following with some owners staying true to the present day. I know of one collector in the UK who has a very large collection of 'T-Birds and keeps a daily driver. This car does preserve the spirit of the personal, two-seat luxury that even the original cars offered.
6206 Custom Mustang - 1967 Ford Mustang				150*
	This Mustang sneaks inside my general embargo of things Mustang. Still nearly as conceived by the design studio in response to Lee Iococca's order to build a sports car, the fastback has an appeal that is still compelling today. The hood on this car is of the open-scoop variety, one of the early variations, and harder-to-find versions. Side-by-side comparision of chrome and production versions of this car once again show the great advantage to the chrome finish, especially the bumpers. The chrome car also lacks the black paint treatment on the rear fascia, common to the production version
6209 Silhouette - Bill Cushenberry Custom Car				50*
	This car screams "'60's" with the wild custom design, space-ship motif, and exposed engine. This car was worlds away from anything made by Matchbox and other die cast manufacturers. It would be some time before the competition could even begin to offer anything like this.
	Once again, a side-by-side comparision of a production car and the chrome counterpart illustrate the differences - better paint luster, metal details. While the Silhouette is not my favorite Hot Wheels model, photographs of the purple chrome version shown here are among my favorites.
* Values quoted are for mint, non-chrome, production versions of these cars in the colors shown, without packages. These cars are difficult to place a value on since the owner has not disclosed his purchase price and they are unique. According to Pascal, unsolicited offers of $1000's per car have been made. Some of these cars may be worth as much as $5000 to a collector (watch this space...)

I ran into one of our readers in the store. We got to talking about Hot Wheels. Art, from Michigan, had selected a '55 Chevy from the Final Run series that he found. He observed that they were quite plentiful here but are long gone back home. Conversely I noted that the Recycling Truck is scarce here, to which he commented that they were pretty common back home. As is often the case, it's a combination of things. It's part "one mans trash is another mans treasure" and one part "supply". Sometimes different selections of cars reach different parts of the country at different times. It has happened that some cars never reach some areas at all. I recall several cars, like the Pearl Drivers Series pink VW Bug with the then-new 5-spokes, very hard to find in some locales and practically falling off the pegs in my neighborhood. What cars have you found in your area you've heard are "hard-to-find" elsewhere?

John from Austin, Texas writes: "I am a big collector of Hotwheels and have a few questions! The cars I collect are the Blue Cards (brown back) and Speed Point Cards from 1989 to 1991." "Question, Can you tell me if there is a book or web site that breaks down the cars that came on Blue Cards and the ones that came on Speed Point Cards?" "I know that the Blue Cards are numbered 1 - 274 and the Speed Point Card are numbered 1 - 187. There seems to be cars that come on both cards and ones that are unique to each type of card! I consider myself a knowledgeable collector but sometimes it's nice to know if the car I am looking for exist on a certain type of card!" Paul replies: You have a couple choices for books that cover Hot Wheels from that period. There is the Tomarts Price Guide to Hot Wheels, 4th Edition, by Mike Strauss. And there are Robert Parker's Hot Wheels Price Guide. Both books describe most, if not all, Hot Wheels ever made. Unfortunately subtle things like packaging changes are not thoroughly covered by either author. There are some notable vehicles that were very hard to find in the widely recognized "Collector Number" blister cards (those introduced in 1989-1990) and these are usually noted as being more valuable. Not much mention is made of the Speed Points promotion, but you may find a few helpful references. It sounds like you have a pretty good handle on it though, knowing the collector number ranges. It's difficult because during that period there were not as many dedicated collectors who recorded the kind of information that you are seeking. They tended to open the cars and discard the package! I am sorry I can not help you more, but I hope this is of some use to you! Paul M. Provencher http://whitemetal.com