Hot Wheels

If you are a person, you probably played with Hot Wheels at some point. Hot Wheels are among the best-selling toys of all time. On the 50th anniversary of their introduction to toy boxes everywhere, Kris Palmer has written Hot Wheels: From 0 to 50 at 1:64 Scale. Hot Wheels fans will enjoy the story of the iconic toys.

Palmer covers the history of Hot Wheels, the development of the production process, the people behind the cars, and the many manifestations of the cars and the related toys. I spend many an hour racing the cars on the orange tracks, with a lever you pull to boost them around another lap. Not every car is covered here--there have been thousands of designs--but you are sure to see some that are familiar.

Hot Wheels is a testament to the enduring love of cars in our culture. Grown-ups get into the action as well, as collectors or even as owners of special Hot Wheels editions of full-size cars. In a way, the book is a real nostalgia trip, but the fact is, Hot Wheels are not in the past. They still sell millions of them every year, and show no signs of slowing.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Very cool history of the company whose product we all grew up with and enjoyed. I still have some in my basement!

From its start as a dream in Mattel’s eye, this is the story of Hot Wheels written by one of the first designers.

Realizing that model cars would be more fun if you could race them, Mattel had a hit with its innovative Hot Wheels cars and tracks. The cars were designed by real gearheads who were basing their models on popular souped-up cars from 1960s car mags. The designers were pulled from Detroit’s car makers by letting them design an entire, though 1/64th scale, car rather than only a small piece of a real car.

I loved Hot Wheels as a kid and snatched this book quickly off of NetGalley. The pictures of vintage Hot Wheels certainly brought back memories of my own cars. While the pictures are awesome, the story of how something completely different was created from the ground up is the star. This is a tale of how business innovation works. Have a great idea. Ignore the naysayers. Hire a great staff. Don’t rest on your laurels but keep reinvigorating your product line.

A great choice for the Hot Wheels fan. It also would be fantastic for that entrepreneur wannabe in your life. 4 stars!

I was really hyped to get to reading this book, I am a giant Hot Wheels fan, though sadly they are hard to find in my country (you can sporadically find a few here and there in toy stores). So I was excited when I saw this book on Netgalley. Of course I had to try it out. But yeah, it didn't work for me, I thought this would be mostly photographs with some text, but instead it is mostly text. And me + reading on a PC/Tablet is just not working to the best of things. Especially with the tiny font and no way to make it bigger on ADE. So I sadly had to stop reading.

However from what I read it was fun, engaging, interesting. How Mattel started, how Elliot and Ruth started their business and relationship, how Hot Wheels was created (or at least a general idea of it). I really couldn't stop reading (even though my headache was increasing). There are also photographs here and there, and they were a nice addition to the story.

If I find this book I would definitely buy it. I need this one in my life.

Any fan of Hot Wheel cars will find this book worth a look just for the stunning photographs. But more than just visually appealing, it's also filled with lots of the toy's history. In fact, I almost felt overwhelmed by the detail that is included. Lots of insight and lots of photos most people likely haven't seen make this a must-have to die-cast car fans.

I picked this up for my nephew who is a 10 year old Hot Wheels ‘expert’. Maybe I should have read the description a little better, as it was more for adults rather than a child. It was a detailed history of Hot Wheels, but as a child he’s more interested in the actual cars so was a little disappointed. I thought it was going to be mainly a picture book, with some facts. I think this would be a great book for him to revisit when he’s older, as the parts we did read together was well written and there were lots of photographs to show how much they have changed.

In depth history of Hot Wheels, the iconic toy car made by Mattel The book is very well illustrated. There is also a lot of background on the company itself, before it started making hot wheels.

An iconic toy. Who hasn't played with Hot Wheels when they were a kid (or maybe even later)? For me, many an afternoon was spent sending these crazy looking little metal cars down plastic orange racetracks. Which car was fastest? What one could jump the farthest? And how many unusual configurations could you make the tracks into (jumps, loop-the-loops, tight turns)? And how many crazy designs for cars could you come up with and draw on your own?
This book covers it all. From the beginning to today (the 50th anniversary). From the first 16 cars offered in 1968 to the hundreds offered today.
"Hot Wheels" cars took over the market. They just plain looked fast! Crazy designs, like the Beatnik Bandit and the Cheetah.
The book also describes the design process, the construction process, the various tracks offered, and the marketing (no one my age will ever forget the Mongoose vs the Snake rivalry! It covers the ideas being put into production today. The trend of building life-size Hot Wheels and tracks. The fans and the collectors.
It was really fun to reminisce over the photos in the book. And I learned quite a bit about the history of Hot Wheels. It was a real walk down memory lane. Next time I make it back to the family home, I'm going up in the attic and digging out my old cars and tracks and spending an afternoon playing with them!

Great little book. Read it to my son and he just adored it. Can’t wait for me to purchase it so we can read for real

I'm not the biggest hot wheels fan in our house; my son is. And at 9, they are something that gets almost daily use. He carries them in his pocket. i requested this book as he is not one to get excited about reading. The two of us sat down and went through this book for over an hour. He found it so interesting to see the progression of the cars over the decades. I saw cars we had at my grandparents house, cars my brother had, and even some we have at home now. The pictures were bright and grabbed your attention. This book would be a good gift for a Hot Wheels fan.
Thanks to Netgalley and Kris Palmer

I recognized many of the Hot Wheel in this book. Flipping through the pages brought back memories. You’ll see some of the fun playsets too from stunt cars to loops even some running up walls and beyond. Enjoy the diagrams along with information about the products featuring Hot Wheels too such as lunch boxes and watches.
Along with the interesting information and photos the timeline throughout is great as well as helpful putting all the information in place. Another wonderful element is it comes in a replica Hot Wheels car-carrying case. One of the most interesting bits of information inside is the full size cars either made to look like Hot Wheels or vice versa. But, the really neat thing is seeing them in action through photos. Some of these cars are in shows defying gravity using the same kind of playsets we enjoy with Hot Wheels when we play, such as the loops.

Yes I will admit that I still have the first year and some of the second year Hot Wheels, also kept other special ones like the motor cycles, The Snake, and The Mongoose, drag racers. So you can see that this book would be right for me. Hot Wheels is celebrating 50 years and I am glad they came when they did. I was allowed to but matchbox cars with my grandfather and still have those but Hot Wheels changed everything. The book starts with a history of Elliot Handler and his wife Ruth. Working at making toys in 1944 they met Matt Matson and by 1945 they founded Mattel. By the late fifties early sixties Barbie was the number one selling toy and wanting to come up with a toy for boys the idea started with cars. Different though then Matchbox, or Corgi which were the two leading toy car sellers at the time. Designers were hired but not any designers, actually car designers from Detroit and so began the idea and story. The same time as the cars also ideas were being thought up for tracks that would be easy to set up be that the cars would be able to stay in place and yet fly down them. The bright orange tracks were designed with an easy way to connect the pieces together. At a 1968 toy fair Handler demonstrated the car with the tracks and showed the speed of the cars, and even had a loop with the car not falling off and orders were being placed on the spot. Now he needed to make sure they could come up with a plant that could do it, and his goal was to be able to make 1 million cars a week. It took a little while but a plant in Hawthorne California would be able to do it. From their Hot Wheels would go on with carrying cases, lunch pals, movies, books and you know the rest. One section I did really like was who the author showed the different designs and how he went out to the Southern California drug racing scene and got The Snake and The Mongoose to do their cars along with other dragsters. Growing up in Southern California this is all you would read about and see on the news was the race between the two of them or any of the other races going on. The book will show designs from start to finish, has plenty of pictures, and also has the Dora that Chip Foss made some years back which was good to see again. For me this was a very good book and would be if you are still into Hot Wheels or just want to see the history behind them. There are pictures of the first year when they came out and I am amazed I still have them used but still I had a good time.