Collectable Hot Wheels Cars

[Elia Khensamphanh]

HotWheels are tricky to collect. The ones you find in Walmart/Target are pretty low quality with paint/sticker mistakes. At around $1 a piece, you get what you pay for. These Collector Series ones are worth the extra money, and you can even order them directly from Mattel.

The BRE 510 is the same hotwheels 510 with a new paint scheme and much better wheels. The Petty 72-ish Roadrunner looks more 'right' than the Superbird. I have already spent way too much on the vintage series and othe hot wheels. Did you know they have a 60s Sting Ray concept. AWESOME!!!!

FYI, Target and some Walmarts don't stock the Vintage Racing Series. I copped two BRE 510s at KMart in the SGV today...Toys R Us and even Ralphs/Krogers also carry the line, though usually they're behind on the releases.

I have inherited about a thousand Hot Wheel cars in their original packages perfect condition about a hundred of them are treasure hunts these Hot Wheels look like they are the dollar ones from Toys R Us and Target

Early Hot Wheels can be distinguished from later models and from other brands by several different innovations. The most immediately evident difference is the Spectraflame paint job. This new way of painting the cars left them shiny by polishing the metal beneath and adding semi-translucent paint on top. These early models can also be identified by the red stripe running along the inside of the wheels (see the first image above the title). These so-called redline cars are now some of the most collectable.

That year also saw the company branch out into promotions. Their first was a partnership with Jack-in-the-Box, though it would be far from their last. The first club kit also released in 1970, containing various small trinkets. The most important item featured in the kit was an exclusive chrome version of three models of car. These chrome cars can go for $50 to $100 today, occasionally more.

1972 and 1973 are great years for collectors. These years saw horribly low sales and most of the castings created in that time were never used again. Good news for collectors, bad news for Hot Wheels. It had seemed like Hot Wheels would ride the high of their new line forever, but sales were dwindling. Although they eventually recovered, these five years or so are very important for the discerning Hot Wheels addict to understand, because it is the period where the company made numerous major changes in an attempt to save their brand.

Some debate the real reason for the loss of Spectraflame paint, but it seems likely it was done to save the company money. Hot Wheels preferred to cut costs rather than raise prices. In 1973 they replaced the Spectraflame paintjobs with matte enamel ones, which is the style still used today. The next year they further improved their bottom line by introducing printed decals and tampos.

Yes, Spectraflame paint (which is actually a metallic finish and not paint at all) was phased out for standard model Hot Wheels in 1972. After that date Spectraflame was reserved solely for Super Treasure Hunt models. In fact, that remains the easiest way to spot these special models. Learn to recognise Spectraflame paint from the standard finish and the Super Treasure Hunt models will stand out like rubies on sand.

Looking for a set of 1/24 scale Appliance Apache wheels 3d printed or cast. Doesn't seem to be anyone doing these super rare wheels. I know that they have been done in 1/25 scale but I need the larger scale.

Here's my take on that One it's not going to be real easy to print if you want it to be accurate those fins are not impossible and I know I can do it I print the clutch fins for a 6BT fan, but the other part is the rare part if they're rare in real life something tells me it's going to be rare and model life to sell It's really not that hard of a design to be honest I mean it's a whole bunch of repeating patterns. But still putting the time and a designing something like that to sell one or two sets maybe make a dollar or two per pair, If I only sell one set of four wheels it's a lot of time spent for a few dollars

Thanx fer replying to my question, yup, the real wheel is extremely rare and apparently just as rare in scale. These wheels were used on the Green Hornets Black Beauty. Jimmy Flintstone gave me a resin Black Beauty kit in 1/24 and I want to replace the wheels with sumthin a little crisper, wuz kinda surprised to find nobody's makin em resin recast or printed.

The wheels are unique and rare so I would think they would probably sell pretty well sized as a 14-15 inch wheel and as a modern 17 thru 22 inch or so wheel just as sumthin different. You could flow color into the finned areas to contrast with or compliment a cars color.

The Appliance wheel was included in several older AMT kits around 1970. I think the first one was the Mach I prototype of about 1968 and some of its reissues. Then it was included in the Monte Carlo annuals of 1970 to 72 (all three years). I think there were some other kits, but I forgot which. I know, these kits are old and somewhat rare, but every now and then they (the wheels) show up for sale.

Thanx fer yer input, Yup, I have the Mach I kit with the Apache wheels and they are very nicely rendered. I wuz also aware that the wheels were in a Monte Carlo kit but I did not know exactly which kit(s) they were in.

I wuz sure that someone had cast these wheels but due to my advanced CRS I couldn't remember who it wuz. I wasn't sure, but I thought maybe Replicas and Miniatures of Maryland had done the Apache wheels but they weren't listed in the catalog. So I took a shot and called Norm, sure enough he had done the wheels and they were available,they just weren't listed in his catalog...and the size scales out to what I need...problem solved.

Updated April 3, 2023 by Jacqueline Zalace: No matter how much time passes, Hot Wheels maintain its immense popularity. We've added even more valuable cars to our list to make your jaw drop. We would also like to remind you that these cars don't have set prices; many of these cars will fluctuate in price, which is natural for collector's items.

Officially known among Hot Wheels heads as the Hot Wheels Collector Number 271 with a blue card, there are only 12 of these in existence. Released in 1995, the Collector Number 271 is likely the rarest model Hot Wheels car from the 90s.

The 1968 Brown Custom Camaro is part of the Store Display Set from the same year, which consists of 16 different cars. If you are looking for the Brown Camaro, you can expect to find it going for around $3,000. If you want even more though, the Store Display set sells for an estimated $50,000.

Hot Wheels cars rarely break the $100,000 mark, but the Diamond Encrusted Car is not an everyday toy vehicle. It is the most expensive toy car that has ever been made. Starting at a price tag of around $140,000, the Diamond Encrusted Car has an 18-karat white gold frame, along with 2,700 various blue, black, and white diamonds. The underside of the Hot Wheels car is painted with spectraflame blue paint and the brake lights are made from cut red rubies.

The diamonds on the car weigh in at a whopping 23 carats and are worth $140,000 by themselves. Of the 2,700 diamonds, there are 40 white ones. Each white diamond represents a year in the legacy of Hot Wheels. The car itself was made to commemorate the production of the 4 billionth Hot Wheels vehicle made, as well as the 40th anniversary of the company.

Based on the 1973 Dodge Charger SE with a triple opera window option, this Hot Wheels Rodger Dodger car was designed by Larry Wood. The earliest versions had a metal base and capped redlines on the rear only. The Rodger Dodger reused the same base from a previous version, named Show-Off. On rare models, you can find the Show-Off name partially bleeding through the deletion plate. There is another rare version from 1974 which has a white interior.

The Olds 442 features a hood that opens and includes a detailed motor underneath. Glass on the Olds 442 varies from clear, to having a slight light blue tint, and it was initially packaged with a decal sheet of white stripes with stars. The Olds 442 also came with either a metal or plastic Collectors Button.

Interestingly, this car isn't valuable due to its look. The original prototype of the car was called Mad Maverick, but this was later changed due to copyright issues. You can still find this car with a base saying Mad Maverick, selling for an estimated $15,000.

Its estimated worth is around $3,000 to $4,000. The original Red Baron featured capped redline wheels, spectraflame red paint, and a pointed spike on the helmet. It was packaged with either a metal or plastic Collectors Button. Certain versions of the 1970 Red Baron have been found with a white interior instead of black, and there is only a handful of these known to exist.

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