The 10 Most Overrated Hot Wheels Castings of All Time

*Pictures belong to their respective owners.


Consider this my gift of the year. This will never be definitive, because everyone has a different opinion about what castings are the most overrated, but the ones I thought were made it to my list. I didn't want to do a yearly list, because I would just have the same castings that I don't like on every list. So I basically gave you my all-time choices. So without further ado, let's get to it:



#10. '63 Corvette Split Window



To be honest, I have never seen the appeal of this one from a pure aesthetic standpoint. I always thought the fender gaps were way too large, looked too bloated in the back, and the rear split window did not age too gracefully. Granted, it was designed in a much different era where details didn't matter as much, but this is a casting that has far outlived its usefulness, and looks very much like the decrepit fossil it does today. Regardless, it is still a fan favorite, much to my chagrin.



#9. Combat Medic



To Mattel's credit, they have found many uses for this beast, transitioning it from a military ambulance to one for civilian use. Then it turned it into a SWAT truck/mail truck/delivery truck/food truck- you name it, and even had the Little Debbie treatment bestowed upon it. But really, why so much fanfare over a basic ass utility van? I get it, big casting, opening rear doors, blank canvas for customization. But at the same time, I still don't get it.


#8. Bone Shaker




Don't get me wrong, it was a very ingenious design by the great Larry Wood, but when it first came out, I had actually bought one just to see what the fuss was about. But I ended up not feeling it that much, and gave it to my nephews. Turns out, I'm just not a rat rod guy. That's not the reason it's overrated, but everybody else just goes apeshit every time another one comes out. A little overtly so, but whatever floats your boat, I guess.


#7. Datsun 510 Wagon






Just when I thought the 510 Coupe was overrated. When the 510 Wagon made its debut in the Boulevard series over five years ago, it making a splash was an understatement. Most people went certifiably nuts, yet I was the one of the few who were questioning all this pandemonium over a station wagon. In all fairness, it was because of two factors: Jun Imai designed it after his own personal car, and this casting is one of the pioneers that kickstarted the Japanese/JDM renaissance that Hot Wheels is now experiencing to this very day. But even though I think it was executed very well, the fact that most collectors choose a bare-bones Japanese station wagon over sportier, more stylish cars is still lost on me. I don't give a damn if it is Jun Imai's car.


#6. '55 Chevy Bel Air Gasser



Just to get some personal bias out of the way, I'm not a gasser guy either. That being said, I do understand that a lot of people are, and that's cool. But you won't see me with this car in my collection though. At least not willingly. It's just that for me, gassers in general come off as way too redneckish. But I'm from down south, so everybody here snatches them up. Quick story though; when I went to my local Walmart, I found a shit ton of the debut grey '55 Gassers on the pegs, but when I came back about two or three days later, they were all gone. Cleaned out. Yeah, the '55 Gasser hype is real.



#5. Dairy Delivery





This one is popular with customizers. But I just couldn't get into it. Yes, delivery vans make for a blank canvas because the sides allow for a lot of graphics to be laid on it, but to me delivery vans are starting to get played out. Yes I know it's based on a classic van but even this one doesn't look that good. But alas, the Dairy Delivery is still one of Mattel's cash cows.



#4 Bugatti Veyron





I must admit: I have not one, but two. That's only because I collect supercars, but that doesn't mean that it walks away from this list scot free. When the Bugatti license agreement expired, and Mattel chose to not renew it, a lot of collectors that had the Veyron casting threw them on Ebay for huge money grabs, transforming these little cars into near-overnight gravy trains. The values just went bonkers, man, and depending on the version and condition, you don't see one for any less than $15-$20, even for a shitty one. Minty carded though, forget about it. At least around $80-$100, tops.

But the thing is, the casting itself is not all that great anyway. It's totally out of proportion, and the grille is rough around the edges. And to be honest, I'm not even a huge fan of the real car, let alone the toy car. But just because it's a Bugatti Veyron, you just gotta have it. And if you have to ask how much it costs, you probably can't afford it.



#3. Volkswagen Drag Bus/Kool Kombi








I'm going to trigger a lot of V-Dub fans here. I'm not one, but I'm not going to lie, I though the Drag bus was kinda cool because you can open it like a funny car, and had this huge engine inside. But I'm also not gonna lie, I still think that bus is ugly as fuck. That goes for the Kool Kombi too, which is a smaller, cuter, more beach bum-based van. And yes, I think that one is even worse looking. But you can't convince VW fanboys otherwise.



#2. '67 Camaro







As far as overrated castings go, this is the grandaddy of them all. Hey, I like Camaros too, but since this one came out in 1968, I think there are still better versions of the first-generation Camaros to be had. Don't get it twisted, I do understand how much it means to collectors that were old enough to have had this casting when they were kids. I definitely don't wish to disrespect that sentiment.

However, I do think it is severely overrated and vastly outdated. How Mattel was able to crank these out damn near every year for 50 years straight is beyond me. Yes, it's got the opening hood, but it doesn't even have any door lines! Come on, man! Truth be told, I would've had this car at #1, but there was one car I thought deserved those honors...



#1. Deora







Some folks are gonna hate me for this, but this is my list, dammit. Look, I understand, it was based off of the real-life concept car, but even back in the day, this goes down as one of the flat-out ugliest 1/64 scale diecast cars of all time. What in the world is remotely attractive about this car? Sentimental value, perhaps, but damn sure not aesthetically. This casting was handcrafted for tasteless youth, and to think it still has its fans after all these years. And because it was one of the original Redline models, they still hold their value quite handsomely. At least that's the most beautiful part. But as they say, even money can't buy good taste.

Hot Wheels Quality Control (Or Lack Thereof)

Here's the deal: you go to the store and you're looking forward to finding some cars, especially the ones that you wanted for a while but you don't have in your collection yet. You glance over them for a bit, go to checkout, and leave. By the time you get home and bust your car out the package, you find some flaws. A paint chip (or two) here, a scratched window there, and some tampos that are a bit off-center. You don't wanna admit it, but you are kinda bummed out. If you had some intentions on customizing it, that's different. You're just going to strip it anyway. But if you had intentions on leaving it stock, then you would feel like screaming in disgust.

Now you could say, nobody's perfect; factory flaws are inevitable. That might be true, but in the last ten years or so, Hot Wheels just doesn't give a fuck anymore. At least on their basic mainline items. You could also argue, why care so much about the quality control on little toy cars that are only made to cost one dollar? That's a pretty lame excuse, because when I was a kid, the cars had way better quality control back then, even on the mainlines. Very rarely did you find a car that had some flaws on it. Of course, Hot Wheels didn't make as many cars back then as they do now, but I still think that good standards are still doable. That only leaves one more thing left to explain: the factories.

Mattel has certain factories for different product lines within their vehicle brands. They make the Hot Wheels mainlines in the Malaysia plants, and make the higher-budget Hot Wheels premium cars in the Thailand plants, at least mostly. And as you can imagine, the Thailand cars usually have a higher degree of quality. If they cost around $3-$5 dollars, they better. And although Matchbox doesn't have the output of Hot Wheels, you can tell the fit and finish on the Matchbox cars are way, way crisper. Malaysia, on the other hand, is garbage. Of course, they are the cheap cars so quite naturally, they have the most flaws I have ever had, and it ain't even funny. Seriously. I'm not gonna sit here and say I know everything that goes on in those factories, but it seems like everything there goes out the door unchecked. Even the China plants are trash, because I had more than one car from the Red Line Club that had flea bites on them, and you pay a shit ton of cash for those memberships too. Highway robbery indeed.

And that little "Guaranteed For Life" warranty they put on their cars? It's bullshit. That's just to cover their asses so they can stay cheap and lazy.

In all fairness, I do understand how it is to work on an assembly line; I've been on one myself, so I can imagine how it is to make thousands of little toy cars a day. It truly is boring, monotonous work. So you try to get it over with as fast as you can. However, when you bring home some flawed cars after a long day of hunting, it feels like you trick-or-treated all night long and found some fucked up candy from your bag. So bad, you have no choice but to throw it away. Shows that you really can't win for losing. 

Damn.

Treasure Hunts and Premium Releases: Out of Control

When Hot Wheels first came out with their Treasure Hunts, and as of late, the premium sets such as Entertainment and Car Culture series, it added a new dimension to the hobby. Because they had Real Rider wheels and special paint jobs, they had many collectors searching for every inch of the earth for these cars, particularly when the Treasure Hunts eventually evolved into Super Treasure Hunts. It was innocent enough, until scalpers started selling them. Nothing wrong with making money, but it's also the way they are doing it. Not only are they charging obnoxious prices for them, but it is also the unscrupulous tactics in how they get these cars in the first place. And if you ask me, it has damaged the hobby for a lot of collectors, to the point where some have renounced the hobby altogether.

First off, some of these guys are really rude just by going into the stores and trashing everything that was neatly stocked. Then they disrespect the employees by bothering them about the cars that are in the cases, mostly without permission, and not even approaching the workers with common courtesy. Now those workers are pissed, and you give other collectors a bad name. They will buy every sought-after model that is there so they can sell them online. Nothing you can do about that, but the worst thing is when some of these dudes make deals in the stockroom with some workers they already know, and the product gets sold without even reaching the floor for anybody else. It leaves a bad taste in the mouth of all parties involved, except for the scalpers. I used to work at Walmart, but I wasn't collecting back then. But if I was, I would be snitching so much nobody would like me. I even heard stories about guys bumping kids out of the way so they can get to the good stuff first. And to think, these are grown ass men behaving this way over toy cars.

But I don't see Mattel, or these stores like Walmart or Target doing anything about it. Why would they, since they are making profits?  And you could also argue, why blame the folks that are hoarding and reselling these cars for extra money, like any other collector's items? Sure, you can't just go up to some guy and tell him to not buy out the whole lot of Supers and Fast and Furious Skylines. But just because you can buy as many as you want, don't mean that you really should. Besides, how many do you really need? And I refuse to pay $20-$30 on something that I could have bought at my local store for around $3-$5 bucks. Especially if it was a mass-produced item to begin with. And do not give me that "supply-and-demand,-collectors-don't-want-anything-that's-readily-available" lecture. That's bullshit. If you have to always run around collecting stuff that way, then more power to you. But I'm not a sheep though.

You know, I'm not even that into hunts anyway. I just only buy what I like. But that doesn't mean I have to give in to the rat race to get what I want.

The First Post

I honestly don't know why I decided to create a blog, but I did. Especially since I really don't expect for anybody to read it, or care. I guess I just wanted to vent my frustrations about the diecast industry someway, somehow. It's really more of a personal diary, just one that is made for the world to see.

I am not a guy who is looking for fame; I usually try to stay low key. But, here I am, someway, somehow.