In 2011 a collector made an amazing discovery, thousands of unused buttons from the one time Mattel Rosebud factory in the UK. Here are the words he used to describe the find: “Here is the history. We all know that Mattel had a factory in UK. Rosebud. I do not know what the date […]
1969: Custom GTO Casting Variations: The Custom GTO body has two main variations: Opening Door Sealed Door Paint Colors: The Custom GTO came in a wide variety of colors, some featuring a flat black roof and black grille: Color Chart in development – TBA Interior: The interior is a plastic piece. White […]
Original article Petrolicious Productions 2017 Photography by Coby McLaughlin, Lynn Moore, and Marc Levitz // Historical images courtesy of Larry Wood and Mattel Story by Marc Levitz If you’re a Hot Wheels collector, Larry Wood needs no introduction. And if the name isn’t familiar, there’s really no way to summarize his extraordinary life that does it […]
Hot Wheels is putting out 42 VW models this year, but none of them is ever going to be worth $150,000. This one is. If you’ve spent more time than normal looking at the things in your house this year, imagine what it’d be like if you had the rarest Hot Wheels model of […]
Over 23 years, The Toy Peddler has always been the BEST alternative to eBay. With inexpensive upfront fees, no taxes for buyers, and a ton of exposure for your items all over the internet, TTP will always be here for the Diecast community. As with any website, over the years, the underlying tech […]
___________________________________________ Hot Wheels came out in 1968 when Bruce was just 7 years old. He was hooked then as a child, and the love affair with Hot Wheels started over again in 1999 when his mother gave him a cigar box with his childhood cars. Within 6 months of that day, he jumped at the […]
For Charlie Mack, it all began on the cement patio outside his Durham home. When they were kids, he and his brother used to spend hours there playing with their beloved Matchbox cars and trucks, using chalk and bricks to construct miniature worlds for their miniature vehicles. More than 50 years later the patio is […]
In January 1945, while World War II still raged, Elliot and Ruth Handler joined a partner, Harold “Matt” Matson, to start a company in the Handlers’ garage in Los Angeles. Matson and Elliot combined their nicknames to come up with Mattel Creations. The young company produced picture frames, later adding dollhouse furniture made from the […]
Every year, Mattel sells nearly $1B worth of new toy cars to kids. But on the secondary market, adult collectors and dealers reign supreme. By day, Bruce Pascal is a successful commercial real estate executive who brokers multimillion-dollar deals in the nation’s capital. By night, he buys $5k Hot Wheels cars on eBay. […]
In 1993, Carter Pennington published a small 21 page booklet describing all of the Topper Johnny Lightning models made for the US market. In his booklet, he describes four models which were obviously designed but never mass produced by Topper. All four are replicas of American made cars, with the Mustang and Camaro being the […]