Like many Sixties anklebiters I spent hours with mates and on my Jack perfecting my Corgi Rockets tracks. No chair or bookcase in the family home was safe from bright orange tracks being clamped to them to form the high starting line of the Preston Grand Prix! But it was those American 'usurpers', muscling their way in with their exposed engines and sleek lines, that went to the top of the automotive tree. Yes, I'm talking about Mattel's HotWheels. I just loved everything about them - the red lined wheels, the bubble cards and the cool thin metal badge!
One of my all-time fave HotWheels was the Beatnik Bandit [pictured on the badge above]. Straight out of Big Daddy Ed Roth's mental garage, Beatnik had the looks and the speed. Thrills were guaranteed when pitted against the Rockets Todd Sweeney! It also looked like the Spacex Cricket too!
So I was amazed when I saw a plastic version of the Beatnik car by none other than Durham, they of the One-Off Green SWORD Space Glider and neighbours of Tarheel in North Carolina. Bootiful!
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I remember my yellow Matchbox superfast track fitted with the Hot Wheels orange track, though Hot Wheels had the better jumps and hoops. Also had the plastic Hot Wheels carry case shaped like a wheel that split open for you to store your collection, and the battery powered garage that linked into the track and as your car entered it two wheels forced the car shooting out the other side down the track. For some reason I alwsys went for the futuristic looking Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars not the standard ones (Mustang etc). Happy days.
ReplyDeleteI loved the futuristic cars as well Yorkie. Another fave HotWheel was Silhouette. I remember being ill once as a kid and spending hours in bed drawing my the best HotWheels car shapes. Silhouette, with its big dome, was just superb. I think I may have had sizzlers as well but I just can't remember! How did they work?
ReplyDeleteLoved my Hotwheels although the noise from that accelerator gadget thing (a mysterious object to me at the time!) would drive my mum nuts!
ReplyDeleteI had that cloverleaf set with the three loops but used to make other layouts with it too.
The cars were great...I so remember the Todd Sweeney car but my fav was a blue one called the Manta or Mantis, something like that anyway.
OH LORD - Swingin' Wing, Whip Creamer, Beach Bomb, Deora - those were the days! ove redlines!
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