Hot Wheels Legends Tour searches for new Hot Wheels diecast in Nashville

Hot Wheels iconic diecast cars have been around since 1968. That means that most grownup car enthusiasts probably played with them as a kid. It makes sense that a Hot Wheels-sponsored car show would be a big success, and that’s just what happened when the Hot Wheels Legends Tour made a stop in Nashville. The tour is hitting 15 cities, bringing life-sized versions of some of their most famous toys. Local show cars make up the rest of the field. The folks at Hot Wheels then choose one car from each city to come be on display at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas. Then they’ll pick one of those cars and make a new Hot Wheels diecast, which will eventually be sold in stores.

Hot Wheels redlines. Kid approved.

My 13-year-old son hated trudging through flea markets and antique malls. Unfortunately for him, his mother and I enjoy going to places like that. A couple years back, someone gave the kid a Custom Barracuda Hot Wheels car at a garage sale. The Barracuda was one of the original 16 redline castings introduced in 1968. He did a little research, and found out how collectible a Hot Wheels redline can be. Now, our junking excursions are a little more tolerable for him. If we run across an interesting car that doesn’t cost a fortune (usually 12-bucks or less), we’ll grab it for him. You can be sure that he pays a lot more attention to what he’s looking at. The residual effect is that he’s amassed a nice little collection of Hot Wheels redline beaters. Last weekend, he helped me stage some photos of the cars in his collection so I could put a story together. These things are always more fun with an assistant.

Monster truck history and Hot Wheels Monster Jam diecasts

When I was growing up in the ‘80s, one thing I always looked forward to was the annual visit from the traveling monster truck tour.  Of course, it wasn’t like it is now.  Back then, monster trucks crushed cars.  And that’s really all they did.  They really were monsters, weighing in at some 18,000-lbs.  They didn’t jump things.  They didn’t race.  They didn’t do “freestyle” competitions.  They just lumbered over a line of old cars, crept up over them, and buckled the tops and popped the windows out.

A little history on little cars. Matchbox diecasts - a great way for a kid to burn through a buck

If you were a 10-year-old, and you managed to scrape a dollar together, what would you buy? Candy? Baseball cards? Maybe you’d try and save up for something bigger.

Well, when I was a kid in the 1970s/’80s, there was a K-Mart within bike riding distance from my house. And if I was able to lay my hands on a buck, there was a good chance I was going to buy a Matchbox car with it.

Vintage car toy ads. What to buy for the kids in your life. Or maybe your kids at heart

Why do you like old cars?  Maybe it's because you were influenced by someone; parents or grandparents.  Maybe it was a natural instinct--your heart told you you cars were good, and you believed it. 

But for some folks, automotive passion came from playing with toy cars as a kid.  And why not?  It's pretty hard to resist the lure of a cool little diecast, painted in an irredescent color, ready to follow your every command.  There are no traffic laws on your bedroom carpet.  It's just pedal to the metal, as fast as your little arm will take it.

I know I used to love playing cars.  I had various sizes, so I could play with a different set of cars depending on how the mood struck me.  Big cars were 1/25th-scale, so I could usually fit in a model or the rare large diecast in those chases.  Medium cars were somewhere around 1/43rd-scale.  There weren't as many of those, but they were still cool as something different.  And of course, the 1/64th-scale Hot Wheels/Matchbox-sized cars were the favorites.  That's mainly because they were the easiest to come by, and you could have lots more cars in a much smaller space.

Battle Force 5 - from the Requests and Dedication line!



The Director

 “Dad—I have an idea you can do for an article.”

I have to admit, I love it that BHo, my first grade son, even cares enough to come up with story ideas. He gets drug to car shows and races and things all summer. He waits around a lot while I wash the car. I couldn’t ask for a better kid when I’m doing what I want to do, so I can’t very well take his requests lightly.

“Yeah, what is it?”

“Battle Force 5”

“Oh. OK. Well, um, what do you want me to write about?”