From the Desk of Willy Washington.
Willy is a longtime Hot Wheels collector and historian. Today he shares some history and details on the little-known early 1980s Steering Rigs series from Hot Wheels.
When I was a kid, I remember my sister buying me the first six Hot Wheels Steering Rigs before she went into the Army. She told me if I couldn’t take care of them she wouldn’t buy me any more, lol. This was back in 1982. The first Steering Rigs came out in 1981 and there were a total of 12 different truck and trailer sets (not counting variations).
These truck models are called “Steering Rigs” because they are 18-wheelers with a miniature steering wheel on the back of each trailer which can be turned to steer the truck with your fingers. The cabs and trailers had a set of channeled wheels with rubber in the channels to help steer the rigs as you turned them with the steering wheel.
How The Steering Works
Steering Rigs Trucks
There were 12 cabs in total—six different castings, each released in two colors:
- Mack cabs in blue and orange
- Kenworth cabs in blue and white
- Peterbilt cabs in red and orange
- Ford LTL cabs in yellow and light blue
- GMC cabs in yellow and silver
- White Motor Company cabs in white and red
The cabs were paired up with matching trailers, of which there six different types, each also released in two colors:
- Van (box trailer) – Hot Wheels Race Team (white) or Eagle Trucking (silver)
- Moving Van – Mayflower (yellow) and Allied (orange)
- Tanker – Shell (white) and Arco (silver)
- Grain Trailer – American (silver) and Sunset (blue)
- Hauler (sand and gravel trailer) – Bob’s Sand & Gravel (orange) and United Feed & Grain (yellow)
- Cattle Trailer – Arrow (silver) and Western (white)
The first run of Steering Rigs came in blue boxes and the second run came in red boxes. The cabs also came on red blister cards by themselves around the time of the second run. There were also different boxes for different regions. I’ve found USA, Canadian, and French boxes so far.
A lot of the cabs were later used in other lines such as Truck Co, Micro Color Racers Big Rigger, Auto Palace monster trucks hauler, and Big Foot monster truck hauler. Some collectors classify them with Steering Rigs but most don’t.
Steering Rigs Play Sets
There were two Steering Rigs “Truck Stops” play sets, one called Sand & Gravel and the other called Oil Refinery.
The Sand & Gravel set came with the Bob’s Sand & Gravel Steering Rig. It had plastic buildings and vinyl roads that looked like concrete and dirt, plus plastic telephone poles, signs, gas pumps, and sawhorses. The Oil Refinery set came with the Arco Oil Tanker Steering Rig and also had plastic buildings, vinyl road, plastic telephone poles, signs, sawhorses, and gas pumps like the Sand & Gravel set.
I was getting out of college when these came out so I had no interest at the time. But they are an interesting addition to the Hot Wheels collecting theme nonetheless. Great to learn about that which I knew absolutely nothing!
Thanks Anita for posting this for me. I’m truly honored.
I finally collected a full set, And think they are great, Wish they made new ones like the old ones for the kids today, Thanks for your information And care