🚘 Hot Wheels: The little cars that could

Along with the hopes and dreams of millions of children, Mattel felt the sting of the Toys “R” Us implosion this summer. The firm, which laid off 2,200 of its 10,000 non-manufacturing employees, suffered $240 million in annual losses. But there was one bright spot in toy town: Sales of its iconic Hot Wheels cars [rose 21% year over year]( twice the gain of the company’s mainstay Barbie line. In fact, the tiny cars, which celebrated their 50th birthday earlier this year, are one of the best-selling toys in the world. Originally launched to shore up the company’s boy toys in the wake of Barbie’s success, they’ve become ubiquitous on living room floors around the world, and are even challenging their big sister—$164 million in revenue last quarter compared to Barbie’s $170 million. How did the little cars inspired by California hot rods become the sweetest ride in the toy industry? And are they powerful enough to steer Mattel into the future? [🐦]( this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( [Quartz Obsession] Hot Wheels August 21, 2018 Dream machines --------------------------------------------------------------- Along with the hopes and dreams of millions of children, Mattel felt the sting of the Toys “R” Us implosion this summer. The firm, which laid off 2,200 of its 10,000 non-manufacturing employees, suffered $240 million in annual losses. But there was one bright spot in toy town: Sales of its iconic Hot Wheels cars [rose 21% year over year]( twice the gain of the company’s mainstay Barbie line. In fact, the tiny cars, which celebrated their 50th birthday earlier this year, are one of the best-selling toys in the world. Originally launched to shore up the company’s boy toys in the wake of Barbie’s success, they’ve become ubiquitous on living room floors around the world, and are even challenging their big sister—$164 million in revenue last quarter compared to Barbie’s $170 million. How did the little cars inspired by California hot rods become the sweetest ride in the toy industry? And are they powerful enough to steer Mattel into the future? [🐦]( this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( Giphy Quotable [“Those are some hot wheels!”]( — Mattel co-founder Elliot Handler (reportedly), when he saw the first one roll across the floor By the digits [16 million:]( Hot Wheels sold in 1968 [6 billion:]( Number of Hot Wheels made in 50 years [7.6 billion:]( Number of people on Earth [20,000:]( Number of different Hot Wheels models currently in existence [30,000:]( Attendance at the largest-ever Hot Wheels convention, in Mexico City [$38,790:]( Price of a 2018 Hot Wheels-edition Camaro [$72,000:]( Price of a prototype 1969 Pink Rear-Loading Volkswagen Beach Bomb [$1 million:]( Value of the Hot Wheels collection owned by super-collector Bruce Pascal [7 g:]( Force felt by drivers in a real-life Hot Wheels track loop stunt [40 mph:]( Approximate terminal velocity of a Hot Wheels car AP Photo/Rick Bowmer Brief history California dreaming --------------------------------------------------------------- Hot Wheels has its roots in Southern California car culture—specifically the Los Angeles suburb of Hawthorne. When Mattel co-founder Elliot Handler conceived of Hot Wheels, the king of the die-cast car market was Matchbox (so-named because the inventor’s daughter could not bring a toy to school that would not fit in one). Matchbox’s approach was to make well-researched, realistic replicas of mass-market cars. To distinguish themselves, Hot Wheels’ designers went the other direction. “When [Harry Bradley, the first designer] first started, they had all the Matchbox cars, all the competitors out there and they were trying to figure out what they didn’t do,” legendary designer Larry Wood [told]( Petrolicious. “And that’s where the ‘California Custom’ idea came from. Bright colors, redline wheels, five spokes, big engines, you know?” Hot Wheels became the Beach Boys of the toy industry. If you couldn’t move to California and race a four-speed, dual-quad, Posi-Traction 409, you could at least buy a little piece of one. Part of that culture—and a lure to bring employees like Bradley and Wood from Detroit—was Kustom Kulture, the hot-rod, modified-car aesthetic driven by designers like George Barris ([creator of the Batmobile]( and [Ed “Big Daddy” Roth]( (whose Beatnik Bandit was a [model]( for one of the first Hot Wheels)—the designers immortalized in Tom Wolfe’s The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby. Like the hot rods they were modeled on, Hot Wheels were also designed to be faster than existing die-cast cars, and their detailed engineering—including the torsion-bar suspension—was emphasized in the [first advertisements](. Mattel also offered the now iconic blaze-orange plastic track, which allowed kids to drag-race—another part of California car culture further popularized by the toys. Now Hot Wheels themselves have a custom culture, whether it’s for [looks]( [restoration]( or [speed](. Giphy Fun fact! After Elon Musk included a dash-mounted Hot Wheels Tesla Roadster on the actual Roadster he launched into orbit, prices for the toy car went [as high as $200](. Timeline [1908:]( The Dowst Brothers make the first die-cast toy car, a replica of the Ford Model T. [1953:]( Jack Odell, a die-cast engineer in Britain, makes the first Matchbox car. [1968:]( Mattel makes its first Hot Wheels car, a blue Camaro RS. [1970:]( The company sponsors drag-racing rivals Tom “The Mongoose” McEwen and Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, taking the sport mainstream. [1977:]( Mattel eliminates the red stripe from the wheels because they cost a penny per car; “redline” Hot Wheels are now highly sought after. [1986:]( The first Hot Wheels collector convention is held. [1993:]( Mattel sells the one billionth Hot Wheel. [1997:]( Mattel buys the Matchbox brand. [2008:]( The company celebrates the brand’s 40th anniversary with a $140,000 Hot Wheel that has 2,700 jewels crammed onto the 1:64 frame. Giphy Watch this! It took artist Chris Burden four years to design and build Metropolis II, a kinetic sculpture with 1,100 die-cast cars. Persons of interest The (tiny) car guys --------------------------------------------------------------- Hot Wheels, inspired by the famous hot-rodders and drag racers of the 1960s and 1970s, seduced actual car designers away from the Big Three in Detroit, where they could stop toiling away on door-handle designs and begin making what are essentially tiny concept cars—and compelling pieces of Americana. Elliot Handler studied at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, which includes among its alumni the designers of the new Volkswagen Beetle and the Tesla, and former design heads of BMW and General Motors. Handler’s first hires had similar pedigrees, bringing educations from the nation’s top schools and significant engineering experience to the toys. 🚗[Harry Bradley:]( A graduate of the Pratt Institute with a master’s degree from Stanford, Bradley was hired away from General Motors to be Hot Wheels’ first designer, lured by the opportunity to return to Southern California’s car scene. Bradley designed 11 of the brand’s 16 models in its first year—many of which were modeled on [real SoCal custom cars]( left afterwards for a long career as a consultant and custom-car designer. In 2004, he [redesigned]( the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile. 🚗[Jack Ryan:]( A Yale-educated engineer who designed missiles for Raytheon before Handler hired him, Ryan designed Barbie, led the Hot Wheels engineering team, and would go on to marry Zsa Zsa Gábor. 🚗[Howard F. Newman:]( An engineering grad from Northwestern University, Newman [designed]( a [bent-axle torsion-bar suspension]( out of music wire and low-friction wheel bearings made from Delrin, a plastic created by DuPont in 1952, giving the cars more speed and resilience. 🚗[Larry Wood:]( A veteran of Ford and aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney (and a graduate of the ArtCenter, like Elliot Handler), Wood began in 1969—not long after Bradley left—and stayed for four decades, earning the nickname “Mr. Hot Wheels.” Giphy Pop Quiz Which of these pop-culture vehicles has not been turned into a Hot Wheel? Prince’s little red corvetteThe Beatles’ yellow submarineThe Mars roverThe Simpsons’ car Correct. Incorrect. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. Fast forward The road ahead --------------------------------------------------------------- Hot Wheels left Matchbox in the dust by borrowing from the vanguard of automobiles. What does that mean today? Gaming, YouTube, and autonomous vehicles. After enthusiasts started rigging GoPros to Hot Wheels to record stunts ([it’s mesmerizing]( even [trippy]( the company released a model that’s essentially [a cart for one of the cameras](. There’s an artificial intelligence-assisted model that Engadget calls [“the love child of slot cars and Roomba,”]( which allows you to race a remote-control Hot Wheel against a computer-controlled Hot Wheel, and even drop virtual obstacles against it like in Mario Kart. And it recently translated the video game Rocket League (think soccer, but with cars) into a [tabletop version]( with remote-controlled cars. Of course, there will always be fans coming up with hacks too, like the guy who figured out how to [drift Hot Wheels](. Giphy In the garage Making Hot Wheels, then and now --------------------------------------------------------------- Larry Wood was a Hot Wheels designer from 1969 to 2009, and gave a [talk]( a few years ago describing the early process. Designers began with hand-carved wood models four times larger than the final product. Then those models were “traced” by hand using a cutting tool that translated each movement to one-fourth scale, creating the 1:64 die to make the Hot Wheel. Now they’re [sculpted in a computer with a stylus]( printed in a 3D printer, and marked up with a pen as designers go through draft after draft. Quotable “I grew up watching ‘Ghostbusters’ and ‘Knight Rider’ and Hot Wheels commercials. When I got to college, having never set foot in America, I knew more American pop-culture references than my friends did.” — [Kumail Nanjiani]( Take me down this 🐰 hole! [Live and Let Diecast!]( is a blog and podcast devoted to the toys. AP Images/Diane Bondareff/Mattel Poll Did you play with Hot Wheels as a kid? [Click here to vote]( YesNoWhat do you mean "as a kid?" 💬Let’s talk! In yesterday’s poll about mosquitoes, 52% of you said we should go ahead and wipe them from the face of the planet. (The rest of you urge caution with intentional mass extinctions of any kind.) 📧Emily wrote: “As someone who is currently living in Nepal and sleeps under a mosquito net every night, I loved this one! Just had to give a shout-out to the mosquitos of Nepal, otherwise known here as laamkhute.” 📧Peter called us out for not citing D.H. 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