2005 HOT WHEELS CLASSICS, SERIES 1
(List of model names and numbers #1 through #25 of 25)

#1 1957 CHEVY BEL AIR
#2 1967 PONTIAC GTO (RL)
#3 1970 DODGE DART
#4 1956 FORD F-100 (RL)
#5 1967 DODGE CHARGER
#6 1932 FORD
#7 1968 COUGAR (RL)
#8 1970 CHEVELLE
#9 1970 ROADRUNNER (RL)
#10 1971 PLYMOUTH GTX (RL)
#11 1940′S WOODIE
#12 1963 CORVETTE
#13 1963 T-BIRD
#14 1967 CAMARO (RL)
#15 BAJA BREAKER
#16 CHEVY NOMAD
#17 CORVETTE STINGRAY
#18 FIREBIRD FUNNY CAR
#19 1968 MUSTANG
#20 PURPLE PASSION (RL)
#21 PIT CRUISER (MC)
#22 GO KART (RL)
#23 SCORCHIN’ SCOOTER (MC)
#24 T-BUCKET
#25 VW BUG (RL)

Since the release of Series 1, Mattel has release several of spectraflame / redline models under the “Classics” label.

HotWheels 1968 Custom Camaro HK Antifreeze Redline

I was 8 years old when Mattel Hotwheels turned the world of die-cast “toy cars” on it’s head. Where I had once been happy to push my Matchbox cars around in the sand-box, or fill the pipe or log carrier trucks and pretend I was doing construction work — now there was a new twist to playing with those little cars — speed! Not only had Mattel designed the fastest little cars on the block, they also had style…. the paint jobs and custom features made all the other 1:64 scale die-cast cars look like your father’s station wagon.

1968 Hotwheels Redline Custom Camaro, Hong Kong version, Antifreeze Spectraflame with Black painted roof.

The Matchbox “BP” tow-truck was relegated to sitting in pit row while the California Custom hot rods raced down that slick orange track. My favorite was always the anti-freeze green Custom Camaro.

1968 Hotwheels Custom Camaro, on the track!

The Custom Camaro was one of the original 16 Hotwheels. First released in 1968, the car was a “better than original” miniature version of the real thing. You’d have to customize a real ’68 Camaro to add the “power bulges” (as Mattel called the raised vents on the hood), and the four small exhaust pipes that ran out behind the front wheels were as close to running open headers as you could get.

Coming at ya!.. the 1968 Hothweels custom Camaro!

The anti-freeze Spectraflame paint let you know even from 10 feet away that it was a Hotwheels. Sure, Matchbox tried to put out a few colors that were similar, but Mattel’s process of applying the translucent paint over polished “zamac”, (and in rare cases over polished chrome), was a look you couldn’t get even wih a $10,000 paint job on a “real car”.

1968 Custom Camaro, (chassis view)

1968 Hotwheels Custom Camaro, (rear view)

Over the years I’ve tried to collected as many of the ’68 Camaro variations and castings that have been released. When the HotWheels Classics (Series 1) came out and the anti-freeze Custom Camaro with redlines was again in production, it was a blast from the past — like just about everything these day, the new ones weren’t made as good as the originals, (the Classics have thick axles and no nylon bushings or spring wire suspension so they don’t roll as fast or sit as nice as the true redline era cars — but the look is there. Yeah, it’s 40 years later, but I couldn’t wait to get one home and run it down the orange track — for old times sake.

So… what’s your favorite Redline?

To make it easier, I installed WordPress blogging software on the server, then spent a few hours customizing it to match the look and feel of the rest of the website.

So, here it is… a clean fresh blog, ready to post stories, photos and even videos about our favorite collectible — REDLINES!, (and of, course just about anything else related to HotWheels die-cast toy vehicles).

You don’t have to be a dealer, or even a collector to participate. Maybe you dug an old hotwheels car out of the floorboards in the attic, or picked up a few cars at a yard sale or flea market. Maybe just seeing a few of those spectra-flame redlines sitting on a shelf in an shop brought back a childhood memory… if it has ANYTHING to do with HotWheels, Redlines, Farbs, Revvers, The Spoilers, Heavyweights, feel free to post!

I’ll be digging through my photos, and posting as often as I can, so be sure to stop by often.

As soon as there’s some content, I’ll burn a feed at www.FeedBurner.com — look for the “Redline Dealer Blog Feed” in your favorite RSS reader!