It all started in 1963, when Mattel had the idea of creating a specialized vehicle line of toys when Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie, asked Jack Ryan, head of development at Mattel, to think about how to bring those cars to life.
But really Hot Wheels was located in the market until 1968 when the first line of cars appeared with 16 models, thanks to the fact that Elliot Handler hired former General Motors designer Harry Bradley. The chosen scale was 1:64 and they were presented at the New York Toy Fair with a scale model of the Chevrolet Camaro, in addition to the classic orange tracks that remain today. These tracks were initially sold alongside the original vehicles, and were designed by Mattel engineer Marjorie Ann M. Smith in 1967.
It´s worth mentioning that Hot Wheels were designed to roll easily and at high speeds, which was a great innovation at the time, in addition, Hot Wheels' first association with an automobile manufacturer was with the Chevrolet brand of General Motors.
With success, Mattel has even brought historical models of its editions to life and for example General Motors has released Hot Wheels versions of its production vehicles.
Similarly, they have converted some scale cars into real cars.
Also, in recent years it has launched a tour around the world to convert modified cars into scale cars, called hot wheels legends, rewarding each winner from some countries and states so that finally only one becomes the winner.
In Mexico, the YouTuber JUCA (Juan Carlos Viana Prieto), was the first Mexican and the only one to become a legend at the 11th Hot Wheels Show in 2018 in México, thanks to the realization of the Kool Kombi commissioned to him as a challenge by Mattel, and was made as a commemorative limited edition scale toy at the 12th Hot Wheels salon in 2019 with a total of 7,000 pieces.
In 2019, the winner of Hot Wheels legends Mexico to participate worldwide was Effi Muniz with her "Kin Kon" truck, but it wasn´t the winner in the last stage.
In addition, Hot Wheels has had a presence in series, films and video games.
And as a curious fact, the 2 most expensive Hot Wheels in the world are the Rear-Loading VW Beach Bomb Pink from 1969 with a value of 150 thousand dollars, approximately 3 million 200 thousand pesos, since this was a prototype and its owner is Bruce Pascal, who bought it a few years ago from Chris Marshall, the latter originally bought it.
The 2nd most expensive Hot Wheels is the Diamond Encrusted Car with a cost of 140 thousand dollars, approximately 3 million pesos. As its name says, it is encrusted with diamonds and was made in collaboration with Jason of Beverly Hills to commemorate the production of 4 billion Hot Wheels and its 40th anniversary in February 2008.
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