Hot Wheels

Hot Wheels fans will soon have a new television series to enjoy. Mattel Television and NBCUniversal have announced Hot Wheels Ultimate Challenge. In this car makeover show, gearheads go head-to-head to transform ordinary vehicles into unique life-size Hot Wheels cars, with the opportunity to have their design turned into a production Hot Wheels car.

Hot Wheels are some of the most popular toys made by Mattel, and the small-scale cars have been available for decades. They are collected by young and old alike, and some are wild futuristic cars while others are cars you could buy off the showroom floor right now.

“Sam, you need to grow up,” said numerous friends and every family members who are still alive. My response is always an ardent, “No.” Look, I don’t want to grown up, I’m a Toys R’ Us kid and while Toys R’ Us is out of business, Hot Wheels is not.

Back in the day I used to spend lots of time setting up slot car and Hot Wheels tracks. The thing I remember most was how different Hot Wheels cars would perform differently on certain tracks.

Growing up I had hoards of Hot Wheels cars, particularly these cars that had spring-loaded doors that would flip around and make it look as if you got into a wreck. I always stood there in the store looking at those cars and wishing they were real.

Growing up, I had a plethora of Hot Wheels cars, the coolest of them you could crash together and the doors would flip around as if they were dented. That said, I never liked the weird cars like the Darth Vader ride you see here.

To celebrate its upcoming line of Star Wars-themed Hot Wheels cars, Mattel commissioned the construction of a full-size version of the forthcoming Darth Vader car. The all black car looks like a flattened version of Vader’s iconic helmet, and features what could be the greatest grille of all time.

Bruce Weiner built one of the world’s greatest collection of microcars anywhere in the world, including a custom BMW Isetta like no other you’ve seen before. The BMW Isetta is a typically a tiny, 13 horsepower, one-cylinder car built for efficiency and easy driving around town.