Hot Wheels Toy Vehicles Identification Tool with Pictures

As Mattel’s production team got to work finalizing the Hot Wheels toy line, car manufacturers were falling in love with the budding line. One of the first licenses that Mattel struck was an agreement with GMC to include a customized Camaro within the first set of 16 cars, known as the Sweet Sixteen. The man who designed eleven of the sixteen cars, Harry Bentley Bradley, honed his skills as he created the 1:64 scale Camaro.

The Original Sixteen Hot Wheels vehicles began to appear on store shelves and pegs in 1968. In addition to the Custom Camaro, there were many more licensed vehicles in this line-up. Accompanying this car were a custom Barracuda, Corvette, Cougar, Eldorado, Firebird, Fleetbird, Mustang, T-Bird, and Volkswagon. There was also Beatnik Bandit, Deora, Ford J-Car, Hot Heap, Python, and Silhouette. To help make their wheels stand out, Mattel included a red stripe on the side of each wheel.

The redline aesthetic remained the standard for a full decade after Mattel introduced the Hot Wheels toy line.  Even though this style was the standard during the time, there were a few exceptions like a Rail Dragster toy car from 1971. When collectors refer to the Redline Hot Wheels, they are specifically referring to the cars that were produced in this time frame. Mattel only produced these cars from their factories in either the US or Hong Kong.

After 1977, Mattel abandoned the Redline Hot Wheels and replaced them with black wall wheels, otherwise known as the basic wheel. However, the redline would not remain buried in the past. For a while in 1993, Mattel released a vintage line of Hot Wheels that once again sported the redline. There have been multiple other instances where the wheel style has returned. However, collectors only consider the cars from the first decade of production as true Redline cars.

Aside from the Redline tires, Hot Wheels stood out with their selection of “Spectraflame” colors. Every car that they released received this unique color coating. To achieve it, they first polished down each vehicle to a mirror shine. They then spray-painted on the transparent color that would allow the metallic sheen to shine through.

As the years advanced, Hot Wheels continued to grow and include new cars in the toy line. Many of these changes popped up as Hot Wheels reached its 30^th anniversary in the 1990s. For instance, Mattel introduced the Treasure Hunt Series of cars from 1995 until 1999.  This era also saw the introduction of the Bonus Car Program, which rewarded a free car when fans sent in the packaging of 4 other vehicles from the promotion.

Moreover, Mattel bought Tyco Toys, which was the home to Hot Wheels’ most prevalent rival, Matchbox, in 1997. Some of Tyco’s other vehicle-centric toy lines were also allotted to the Hot Wheels toy line. For instance, the Incredible Crash Dummies found a home with Hot Wheels in 2003.

As the company moved into the 2000s, it evolved once more to introduce more extravagant, “extreme” designs. Aside from adding action figures and crashing cars, Hot Wheels decided to create a new transforming vehicle, the Modfighters. The toy line also found its way to television screens during this decade.

In 2003, the toy line received its first animated series, Hot Wheels – Highway 35: World Race. This CG-animated series only lasted for five episodes, but it led to a 110-minute movie, Hot Wheels: World Race. While this foray into cartoons had limited success, Mattel’s toy cars returned to television screens by the end of the decade.

Nelvana and WildBrain developed the Hot Wheels Battle Force 5 cartoon for the Canadian market. It debuted in 2009 and quickly found its way to America on Cartoon Network in 2010. Unlike its predecessor, Battle Force 5 lasted for 2 seasons with a total of 52 episodes. It also led to the creation of a video game created by Sidhe Interactive at Activision.

The 2009 Battle Force 5 was not the first time that Hot Wheels had appeared in video games. In fact, the toy line first appeared in a video game that Epyx produced for the Commodore 64 in 1984. Later, Semi Logic Entertainments created a game Hot Wheels Stunt Track Drivers for Windows in 1998 which was ported for the Game Cube Color in 2000. The latest video game featuring the toy line was Milestone’s Hot Wheels Unleashed which came out on multiple systems in 2021.

Meanwhile, Hot Wheels entered the world of reality tv competition in 2023. NBC produced Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge which tasked teams with converting full-sized cars into vehicles inspired by Mattel’s designs.