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If you\u2019re into cars, then diecast models are likely to have been a major inspiration in early life. Enthusiasts of a certain vintage will have collected Dinky Toys, and later came Matchbox and Corgi Toys, but in 1968 an American upstart arrived in the shape of Hot Wheels.<\/p>\n
Founded by US toy giant Mattel, Hot Wheels drew inspiration from the late-sixties car scene that pervaded the brand\u2019s home state of California. That meant a range of brightly coloured muscle cars and hot rods that weren\u2019t necessarily accurate replicas, but served Hot Wheels\u2019 mission to make them as fast as possible on the bright-orange track sets that the company also launched.<\/p>\n
Fast forward to 2023, and Hot Wheels is celebrating 55 years of making diecast cars of every description. Compared with the original 1968 line-up, the current range is hugely eclectic, with modern production cars, classics, racers of all classes, novelty models, pop-culture tie-ins and even the occasional reappearance of an original casting. As well as the standard supermarket and toy-shop cars for kids, there are higher-quality scale models, limited editions and rarities offered to tempt adult collectors to relive their childhoods.<\/p>\n
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But what goes into creating a Hot Wheels car? To find out, we spoke to one of the brand\u2019s lead designers, and we went to Somerset to meet the builder of an extraordinary car that has made the journey from the UK\u2019s drag-racing scene to toy aisles across the globe.<\/p>\n
For its 50th anniversary in 2018, Hot Wheels launched the Legends series, a competition where vehicles are entered to become immortalised as a toy car. And in 2021 the contest had its first UK winner, Lee Johnstone and his 1969 Volvo P1800. We say Volvo, but as you can see from the pictures, Lee\u2019s P1800, dubbed \u2018Ain\u2019t No Saint\u2019, isn\u2019t exactly a replica of Simon Templar\u2019s machine from the sixties TV show.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe shell is probably the cheapest part of the car,\u201d Lee told us. \u201cI wanted to build a car for drag racing and was looking for something American, but then this came up for \u00a3800 and I couldn\u2019t say no.\u201d It was initially constructed in 2014 by Lee and co-builder Steve Wright in the style of a \u2018gasser\u2019, a type of dragster that was popular in the sixties.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Back then, tyre grip was in short supply, so builders jacked-up a car\u2019s front end to help transfer weight over the back wheels for traction, which was much needed, considering how much power the big V8s provided. The result is that gassers tend to look cartoonish by default, and Lee\u2019s Volvo was an obvious candidate for a toy car from the outset: \u201cWe had comments that it looked like a Hot Wheels as soon as we finished it,\u201d Lee said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ain\u2019t No Saint has some heavyweight statistics to match its looks. The engine is a 460 cubic-inch (7.5-litre) \u2018big-block\u2019 Chevrolet V8 with a 6-71 GMC supercharger bolted on top that\u2019s fed by the air intake that sits taller than the car\u2019s roof. While the P1800 hasn\u2019t been tested on a dyno, scrap-paper sums put power at around the 650bhp mark. This is sent to the back wheels via a GM three-speed automatic transmission and Ford rear axle that are set up to cope with the stresses involved with a full-power launch at a drag strip.<\/p>\n
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A tiny fuel tank sits on the car\u2019s nose, while the open exhausts head straight out of the front wings behind the wheelarches. The front wheels are at least a foot lower than where they would be on a standard P1800, while the straight- tube axle at the front was taken from a Sherpa van and is connected to leaf springs; this isn\u2019t a car that\u2019s designed to go round corners as quickly as it goes in a straight line.<\/p>\n
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There are 15-inch wheels and tyres front and rear, although the Hoosier slicks at the back are nearly a foot wide for maximum traction. Add in a full roll cage, race seats and safety harnesses, and Ain\u2019t No Saint weighs in at 1,454kg, around 300kg more than a standard P1800, but then it also has more than six times the power.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lee has refined and improved the car over the years, and it has a best quarter-mile time of 9.92 seconds, with a terminal speed of 136mph, all from a standing start. To put that into perspective, a new Porsche 911 Turbo S can cover the same distance in 9.9 seconds from a standstill.<\/p>\n
Fast forward to 2020, and while Lee was enjoying racing the Volvo on the strip, his daughter Eleanor initiated the entry into the Hot Wheels Legends contest. \u201cShe entered it and I thought nothing of it, really,\u201d Lee told us. \u201cBut we won the UK contest, then we cleared the European leg, and before we knew it the car was one of the 10 finalists in the States.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t take the car to California, but we live streamed the competition at home in Somerset instead,\u201d Lee explained. \u201cOne of the judges was Jay Leno, and when he and some of the other members of the panel [including members of the Hot Wheels design team] kept saying nice things about the car, I thought \u2018We might be on to something here…\u2019. Then they announced that we had won, but of course our internet cut out just at the wrong time, so I didn\u2019t actually hear that!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
With the prize awarded, so began the process of creating Lee\u2019s car as a scale model, and a race against time for the Hot Wheels design team. The designer in charge was Manson Cheung, who told us that it takes less than 12 months to go from the initial design to the final product. \u201cWe want the Hot Wheels Legends car to be the first car of our annual releases, so with Lee\u2019s car picked in November, I had to get to work to get it ready for the stores the following September or October,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
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While Hot Wheels cars are nominally 1:64 scale, the biggest limiting factor to a car\u2019s look is the fixed sizes of wheel that the designers have at their disposal, so there is some artistic licence in terms of scale. \u201cIf I\u2019m designing a full-size car from scratch, I\u2019ll take lots of photos to make sure we have all the details that we need,\u201d Manson explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we couldn\u2019t do that with Lee\u2019s Volvo being back in England, so I asked him to take lots of detail pictures. Once
\nI have those, I get on the computer and map everything out, with the wheels being my anchor points. Then I\u2019ll adjust the shape and scale it so that it looks roughly 1:64. Obviously we already have cars that are made to 1:64 scale, so we will compare new ones against them to see if they look right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once the basic shape looks correct, then it\u2019s down to the details \u2013 but not too many, otherwise it gets complicated. \u201cSometimes there\u2019s almost too much information, so I\u2019ll have to bring it back, because you\u2019ve got to imagine we\u2019re looking at a car that\u2019s going to be about two and a half to three inches long,\u201d Manson said. \u201cIn the case of Lee\u2019s Volvo, there was a lot of detail on the interior and the engine bay that I wanted to capture, because the Volvo was nice and everybody knows what a P1800 is, but I wanted to capture the magic of it and what Lee has put into it. That\u2019s where photos really come in, because it\u2019s better if I get to see the real car, but so far I\u2019ve only seen one Legends car in real life!\u201d<\/p>\n
The design is done on a computer using software that\u2019s similar to what\u2019s used by car manufacturers. \u201cWith most 3D programs, we\u2019re working with surfaces,\u201d Manson explained. \u201cSo if you build a box, you\u2019re building six sides, and if you cut a hole in that box, there\u2019s empty space behind, like it\u2019s a skin. In the program that I use, it\u2019s solid like clay, so when you when you cut a hole, you cut into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prototypes are built using 3D printers, so not only can the designers have a physical rendering of their model, but they can also work out how the car will go together on Mattel\u2019s production lines in China, Thailand and Malaysia. A typical Hot Wheels car comprises a metal body, clear plastic windows, a plastic interior piece, a plastic base and metal axles with plastic wheels attached. \u201cAfter I\u2019m done with my initial sculpt, we send it to print, because something might look good on screen, but we have to double check the scale and know what I need to do as far as details,\u201d Manson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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And just like real cars, there\u2019s some track testing involved on the famous orange plastic that Hot Wheels has used since 1968. \u201cWe have a track in [Mattel HQ in] El Segundo that\u2019s exactly the same as the one in Asia, and we test cars to see how fast they roll, if they clear a loop. We want to make sure that most of our cars can pass those track sets. Not every car does, of course, but we try to make most of it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
One area where some artistic licence was needed was the Volvo\u2019s final look. The Ain\u2019t No Saint door graphics were too similar to the original logos for The Saint TV series. \u201cWe tried to match Lee\u2019s Volvo as much as possible, so it was painted British Racing Green, but we had to change the graphics a little because we didn\u2019t have the rights for the logo, so we just changed it to a Hot Wheels one,\u201d Manson said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got 250 new models released every year, so there are so many small details like that which need to be considered.\u201d<\/p>\n
Either way, the road for Lee\u2019s Volvo from the dragstrip to the high street has been a fun one.<\/p>\n
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The 2023 Hot Wheels Legends contest is well under way, and the UK has already announced its contender for the competition.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Michael Wallhead\u2019s 1979 MG \u2018B-EAST\u2019 took top honours, with the judges praising its creativity and \u2018garage spirit\u2019. The car is powered by a 3.0-litre Jaguar V6 and features many recycled parts, including the rear axle of a Reliant Scimitar, throttle bodies from a Triumph motorcycle and seats trimmed in old denim jeans.<\/p>\n
Michael\u2019s MGB moves on to the European final, before the winner of that contest heads to the grand finale later this year in the US.\u00a0<\/p>\n