A legend in any scale: Chevy celebrates Hot Wheels’ 50th anniversary at SEMA

Hagerty ^ | 10/30/17

[Impala64ssa]

The demise of Matchbox cars started with the introduction of Hot Wheels. The economic problems that plagued the UK in the 70's eventually bankrupted the original company that made Matchbox cars, Lesney Products & Co. Ltd. and the brand was eventually bought by Mattel. Camaros were immortalized in song by Debbie Harry and the late great Joey Ramone.

[henkster]

The metallic green Silhouette was a bad ass car.

[Snickering Hound]

https://youtu.be/57AKK4mCRv8
1968 commercial

[sparklite2]

[OldMissileer]

The metallic green Silhouette was a bad ass car.

I have one of those.

I have well over 1000 Matchbox and Hotwheels cars, most in those cool vinyl Matchbox cases. I know that as a kid I defaced a few Matchbox by painting them but I have so many that are still used but original. I have been trying to find out how much they are worth as I'd like to get rid of them.

I also have a bunch of the original GI Joes and things like the Fire Truck and others that all still work.

Trying to find out were I go to get a good price and not get ripped off.

[Impala64ssa]

Hot Wheels cars worked well on those tracks, at least on TV. In actuality, not so much :/

[Hatteras]

I think mine is still buried along with a few others in Mom's back yard...

[LoveUSA]

I had a Jaguar XKE.

[Impala64ssa]

There's tons of Matchbox on e-bay, it'll give you a ballpark figure of how much they are worth. Also check out website as well as this one. These sites have tons of info, some stuff I didn't know about and I've been collecting Matchbox for over 50 years.

[Snickering Hound]

https://youtu.be/HgfbVRNbVEw
Then there were Sizzlers that you could never afford.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I’d completely forgotten about Matchbox cars! I thought those were the greatest and I was too old and loyal to switch to the far inferior HotWheels.

I’ll bet Mom and Dad sold my modest Matchbox collection for pennies at a garage sale when they downsized.

Thanks for the business history lesson how atchbox got beat up and bankrupt. I didn’t know that.

[dznutz]

My first Hot Wheels car was the Beatnik Bandit, followed by the one with the surfboards, the Deora, with many more to follow. We had the drag racing track where you’d clamp the starting gate to the back of a chair, press the button between the two cars and off they’d go, through the loop the loop, and on to the finish line where the flag fell to the winners side.

Our friend down the street had the oval track with the power house that would launch the cars around the track. All of our friends had Hot Wheels and we spent hours racing them. I’d say they were the most popular toy at that time.

Mom soon found out the Hot Wheel tracks worked better than the belt when me and my brothers would get into trouble. We learned to hide the tracks then. I bet those cars and tracks are worth a fortune now.

[Yardstick]

Another fun mini car were the Stompers of the early ‘80s. They sort of took the concept the next level by adding a motor powered by a single AA battery. We used to build tracks for them by digging grooves in the dirt.

[Tucker39]

Great! Do you happen to have any of the old original Matchbox models when it was the Lesney Co.? They’d be worth something in the right locale.

[DoodleBob]

“I’d rather have them playing with their toys...”

[Romans Nine]

I remember the Christmas when I got every Stomper that was made.

Had to cut a couple out of my sisters hair.

I had forgotten about those. I think they even made a pulling sled for them at one time.

My mom went to a garage sale one time and bought me hundreds of Matchbox cars for $5 or $10 dollars. I was so excited I probably didn’t sleep for three days.

The joys of being a kid. Thanks mom and dad..........

[henkster]

Well at least they’re not playing with themselves....

[henkster]

We got all our Matchbox and Hot Wheels at Ed Schock’s Toy & Hobby Shop. It was heaven for kids. Ed also had the Estes rockets with the solid propellant. And a great selection of Revell plastic model warships.

All of which met their explosive demise in the drainage ditch after being shot up by BB guns.

[Yardstick]

Yep, simple little things but just tons of fun.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

My parents bought the Pacific raceway sizzler set in 1970 and we had raceday everyday for what seemed like forever.What a blast it was.I had the boss 302 and it was my favorite.Man that brings back the memories.