Hot Wheels Grand Prix

In 1968, Mattel introduced a exciting new line of diecast toy car: "Hot Wheels"! Since then, much has been written about the history, success, and sustained popularity of the Hot Wheels line. To learn more about the history of Hot Wheels, the reader is referred to the following excellent books:

"The Ultimate Redline Guide". by Jack Clark & Robert P. Wicker
"Hot Wheels: 35 Years of Speed, Power Performance & Attitude", by Randy Leffingwell
"Hot Wheels Cars", by Mac Ragan
"Tomart's Price Guide to Hot Wheels Collectibles", by Michael Thomas Strauss

A signature feature of early Hot Wheels cars (from 1968 through 1977) were their mag wheels and red-striped tires. These so-called "redline" cars were wildly popular when first introduced in the 1960s, and remain a hot collectible item today. Toy cars that sold for less than a dollar in the '60s and '70s often sell for hundreds of dollars today, depending on their condition and color.

Like many other kids growing up in the '60s, I was a huge fan of Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars. I managed to hang on to many of the cars I played with as a child, and they formed the foundation of a new collection that was started a few years ago when my sons discovered Hot Wheels cars.

This website is dedicated to my favorite type of Hot Wheels cars: the Grand Prix Series. Grand Prix cars form the nucleus of my adult collection, and I have spent a lot of time researching, collecting, and trying to learn as much as possible about the various Grand Prix castings and their variations, colors, relative scarcity and value. Within these pages I attempt to list much of what I have learned in hopes that other collectors can both learn and correct my errors and omissions.

The eleven Grand Prix cars can be divided into two groups: the open-wheel Indy cars and the wide-body Le Mans/CanAm cars. The four Indy cars - Brabham Repco, Indy Eagle, Lotus Turbine and Shelby Turbine - were produced only at the Hong Kong plant, while the seven wide body cars were produced at both the U.S. and Hong Kong plants. All of the Grand Prix cars were produced in multiple Spectraflame colors and a few signature enamel colors. Spectraflame paint was another unique feature of the early Hot Wheels cars. It was basically a transparent paint that was applied over a shiny metal body, resulting in a metallic appearance of the paint job. The colors of the various cars are very important to collectors because the color in large part determines the value. For example, a purple Indy Eagle is relatively common while a purple Porsche 917 is quite rare and worth several hundred dollars! Likewise, the combination of color and casting variation also determines value. For example, purple Ferrari 312Ps from the H.K. plant are common, but U.S. purple 312Ps are very rare. A color guide is provided at this site to help collectors determine the colors of their favorite Grand Prix cars.