Hot Wheels Forty Years (Hot Wheels (Krause Publications)) (Hardcover)

by Angelo Vanbogart (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Presented in a big, beautiful photographic format worthy of the "biggest" little collector cars ever made.

Great "anniversary" gift for anyone celebrating Hot Wheels' 40th anniversary in 2008

If you're a collector of the ultra cool, sensationally sleek and super speedy Hot Wheels, you are in for a treat with Hot Wheels: Forty Years. This big, beautiful coffee table book tells the story of these miniature marvels through more than 600 stunning color photos, and historical details including company history, interviews with Mattel designers, major developments and trends. All the attitude and innovation of these revolutionary pocket-sized racers - Redlines, Blackwalls, Number Pack Vehicles, Prototypes and more, is captured in the pages of this must-have reference.

About the Author
Angelo Van Bogart is an avid Hot Wheels collector who shares his collecting passion with readers of Toy Cars & Models magazine through his column, “Hot Wheels Hunting.” He’s the editor of Old Cars Weekly magazine, and the author of 100 Years of Cadillac, published by Krause Publications. Expert photographer Doug Mitchel is an accomplished author, photographer and automotive historian with more than 15 books to his credit. His most recent titles include Anatomy of the Chopper and Anatomy of the Hot Rod.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Krause Publications (October 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0896895688
• ISBN-13: 978-0896895683
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 10.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #301,217 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Insight into the History of Hot Wheels, September 26, 2008

By	James N Simpson (Gold Coast, QLD Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Hot Wheels 40 Years is a very nicely put together book. It is a vast improvement in design, paper quality and everything thing else the its five years before predecessor Hot Wheels: 35 Years of Speed, Power Performance and Attitude. It is important to point out that although 40 years are covered, this is no field or price guide and only has a very small number of Hot Wheels vehicle photographs inside. Collectors or would be collectors would need to grab a Warman's Hot Wheels Field Guide: Values and Identification or something like this to get prices of and pictures of all the vehicles out there.

What this book is, is a look at the Hot Wheels brand and its history through the eyes of an avid fan and collector. There are many interviews with designers and others associated with Hot Wheels along with many photos, sketches, castings, prototypes and the like. A lot of photos and information holiday cars given as staff bonuses to Mattel employees are inside as well which are quite interesting and show the company is or at one time was a fun place to work.

The reader is taken step by step through the design stage of some vehicles. Commentary is also given on the finished product of cars throughout the decades as well as production errors such as VW beetles having the engine up front.

There are places where maybe the authors love for the product stopped him from asking the hard questions such as what was the public reaction to the Mystery car packaging (black bubble instead of clear so buyer had a lucky dip type experience, I mean it obviously isn't around anymore, did it just get cancelled due to lack of sales or were customers annoyed with what they got? Also no commentary on the general public perception, of Hot Wheels being an inferior product to brands such as Matchbox (who are now owned also by Mattel) or Johnny Lightning and if Mattel plans on trying to life the image and quality of the brand or is content to just compete on price alone.

Hot Wheels being pretty much the cheapest option for die cast car toys meant pretty much everyone had some of these things when they were kids. They are still priced well below Johnny Lightning (although granted their vehicles are more for adult collectors) and Matchbox today so no doubt if you've got kids today they've got some too. This book would make an excellent showing your kids the difference between your childhood and there's book.

The author is really into his combi vans and a lot of the pages are devoted to those Volkswagen vehicles. The back pages of the book have Hot Wheels top 40 castings which is basically the author's opinion on the best car brought out by Hot Wheels each year of its existence.

It's not a bad read and an enjoyable way to relive the past. Unfortunately a fair few photos make multiple appearances in here though, surely the editors could have stepped in and said hey, how about covering a bit more of the range.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars nice coffee table book, August 28, 2008

By	Rosemarie Merten (Royal Oak, MI) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I purchased this book for my 6 1/2 year old son who is Hot Wheels crazy. He looked at all of the pictures and then put it away. It's really for the collector and Dad who played with the cars in the 70's. For them, it's a great book to have around.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars not just a catalogue, December 27, 2007

By	Jeff Tate "just fix it" (Vancouver WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

interesting book, plenty of photos, not just a dry catalogue, goes into the history of the manufacturing and design process, great coffee table and reference book