Hot Wheels: 35 Years of Speed, Power, Performance, and Attitude

by Randy Leffingwell

Book Overview

Silver Medal Winner at 2004 International Automotive Media Awards!In the 1960s, diecast cars and trucks were simple, stodgy, and clunky. They were hobby items, not toys, often displayed but seldom... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0760315736
• ISBN13: 9780760315736
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Motorbooks International
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 3.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 10.9" x 12.4"

Customer Reviews

Long overdue book

Hot Wheels were a major pastime for me growing up and I'm surprised this book didn't appear sooner. The wealth of information and anecdotes on how this toy came to be made the book very entertaining to read. While quite knowledgeable about his subject, the author made a number of factual errors regarding automotive history (I work in the industry) and was vague about some of the actual dates during the first few years of Hot Wheels production. Still, the good photography and artwork have made this one of my favorite books!

Wonderful book, perfect for a collector or car lover

I bought this book for my 8 yr old that has every car I think that has ever been made by hotwheels(these include my old cars from when I was a kid). This book was wonderful. He loved seeing all the cars he has and some that he needs to get. This book was very well put together and will be an asset to any car collector or car lovers collection. Alot of information and wonderful photos inside.

Highly interesting for the casual collector

This is a general overview of the creation and manufacture of Hot Wheels toy cars. Some rabid collectors will probably already know a lot, if not all, of the information in the book but I found it to be highly readable. There's not a lot of minute details but general information about the development and production of the early years. There is also some general information about Mattel's history.For toy cars they put a lot of effort into creating them and to this day it still shows. They have held up well and are still like little trophies to me. There are some details that elude the end of the story, like one engineer that volunteered to work on a no salary/percentage of production basis. They never explained what the end result of that bargain was other than it worked well for him in the long run.Other information like the development of the wire axles, Delrin bearings and the patents involved really took me by surprise. I had no idea how involved it was to create these little gems and what a chance they took in producing them. I am even more impressed with the toys after reading this book. It really was a labor of love to some extent. I also never realized that Elliot Handler's wife was the primary force behind Barbie.Anyone with even a casual interest in the toys and persons involved would probably find the information in this book to be insightful. I enjoyed it immensely.