![]() Most people credit Handler with coining the name. In his 2003 book Hot Wheels: 35 Years of Speed, Power, Performance, and Attitude, Randy Leffingwell summarizes the two most popular explanations. THERE ARE A FEW CONFLICTING STORIES ABOUT WHERE THE NAME CAME FROM. More importantly, the wheels made Matchbox cars difficult to get moving.Ĭonvinced that he could break into the die-cast game, Handler joined forces with a team of designers to create a series of aesthetically-pleasing, lightning-fast cars. Surely, Handler felt, kids would rather play with designer hot rods. ![]() For one thing, these little cars were all based on existing automobiles. The dominant force in that market was the English Matchbox brand, whose scaled-down vehicles left a lot to be desired (at least in Handler’s opinion). In the 1960s, tiny die-cast car toys were all the rage. Elliot had his doubts, telling his wife that “no mother is ever going to buy her daughter a doll with breasts.” But he was wrong: Barbie debuted in 1959, and within 12 months, Mattel had sold 351,000 of the dolls.īut soon, Elliot would have his own multimillion-dollar idea. Then, in the late 1950s, Ruth hit on what would prove to be a brilliant idea: The Handlers' young daughter, Barbara, loved to play with paper dolls inspired, Ruth decided to create a three-dimensional replacement for the primitive toys. In its early years, the company’s biggest hits were novelty items like cap guns and ukuleles. By 1946, toy manufacturing had become Mattel’s specialty. Handler started using spare parts to make dollhouse furniture, which was sold on the side. HOT WHEELS WERE THE BRAINCHILD OF ELLIOT HANDLER, WHOSE WIFE CREATED BARBIE.Įlliot and Ruth Handler, along with their friend Harold Matson, founded a picture frame company named Mattel in 1945. Here are 11 other things you might not know about those iconic racing toys called Hot Wheels. And they're about to get a big-screen adaptation courtesy of Fast & Furious director Justin Lin. They can zip along orange trackways at speeds of almost 600 scale miles per hour. They vary in price from $1 to more than $100,000. You can see a fan’s clip of the jump here.An estimated 41 million people have played with them. Would you like to drive a car covered in diamonds?ĥ) Leading up to the 2011 Indy 500, a real-life Hot Wheel car was driven by Tanner Foust down a ramp attached to a giant 10-story “door” and executed a world record jump of 332 feet. Now who’s laughing?Ĥ) For the Hot Wheels 40th anniversary, a diamond-encrusted racer was commissioned to honor the occasion. One wealthy fan paid that price at auction for a Beach Bomb model that is extremely rare because the model wasn’t a big hit at the time of production. ![]() If they made one Hot Wheels car per minute, it would take more than 175 years to get to a billion cars, so they must be manufacturing them very quickly indeed!ģ) The most anyone has ever paid for a Hot Wheels car was more than $70,000. Watch Bumblebee transform at The Children’s Museum.Ģ) Mattel has sold more than 1 billion Hot Wheels cars since then. You may recognize the Camaro name from Transformers movies Bumblebee transforms into the muscle car while saving the day. ![]() But did you know these extraordinary facts about America’s favorite cars?ġ) The first Hot Wheels car that was produced was a dark blue custom Camaro in 1968. You’ll learn a lot about the history of Hot Wheels®, as well as get to see some amazing cars on your visit to The Children’s Museum.
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