Customer Reviews

Hot Wheels Spectraflame: The Essential Guide (Hot Wheels (Krause Publications))

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The book had very high quality photographs and overall it appears to be a worthwhile reference book for HOT WHEELS collectors.
So far, I have found no fault in it.

I purchased this for my brother for Christmas, and he was really pleased. He is a Hot Wheel collector, and has a massive collection. He says that he pulls it out every few days to go through it again. Going strictly by his reaction to it, I would recommend it to anyone who has a strong interest in Hot Wheels.

I have grown tired of the hotwheel books that focus on the entire product offering through the years. The Tomarts guides did a good job of covering early redlines, but it's job was, once again, to cover all hotwheels. The Spectraflame book takes it back to the start, covers the beginning and ends it right there (~'72).

For the redline enthusiasts, this book will be a welcomed addition; good photos, notes, and definite focus. Is it 100% authoritative as a source? Others may be more qualified than me to scrutinize; all I know is my first car was the custom camaro along with a barebones strip track, I remember when the superchargers came out, adding a whole diminsion to track layout. I remember stalking the local stores when the spoilers came out(especially the nitty gritty kitty) I was in the Hotwheel club and received my chrome heavy chevy, while my friend got the boss hoss that I had hoped would come in my box. I had the tune-up tower, the sky show, and a few of the heavyweights, etc etc.

So, I may not be an expert, but I was there and have been collecting off and on through the years. I enjoyed the book.

What it lacks is more information of the track design and concepts. But, by its title "spectraflame", it owes none of that info to the reader.

Although the price from Amazon is very fair; save your money. This book isn't as good as you might be led to believe. For the very best and most definative information regarding Hot Wheels of the Redline era, you should look for The Ultimate Redline Guide by Clark and Wicker, 2nd edition. Although printed 4 years ago it is still the best.

I have reserached Hoywheel editions and find that this editionis an excellent source for those HotWheels collectors out there. Nice purchase.

[...]

Very sorry to see the single star rating by one of the URG-bots (now the Elite Redline Guide...another good tool that has it's own flaws). Ed Wershbale's guide deserves better. It may fall just short of the URG/ERG but is still one of the top resources on the market for the Spectraflame collector. It is especially valuable for newer collectors. You won't be disappointed.

As a collector, I found this book while out of state on business at a local bookstore in Little Rock, AR for $25.00.

I was very excited to receive this same book, as new, from a vendor with Amazon for less than 1/3 of the "new" price including shipping!! What's not to love??