The Sweet 16: History of the Original 1968 Hot Wheels
Mattel’s inaugural run of sixteen Hot Wheels cars set the toy market on fire in 1968, revolutionizing the die-cast car industry and leaving competitors like Corgi and Matchbox scrambling to play catch-up. They never did.
Mattel co-founder Elliot Handler entered the die-cast car business after playing with his children in 1966. The die-cast cars they played with were clunky and not all that much fun. Handler figured Mattel could do better. So, he challenged his design team, which included a General Motors car designer and a rocket scientist, to create a toy car that was cooler and performed better than anything on the market.
They answered with the first-ever trackable toy car. Handler was so impressed by the car’s groundbreaking new wheel design and performance that his first response when he saw it rolling along the floor was: “Those are some hot wheels!”
Soon, deals were in place to re-create muscle cars from the Big Three car makers, along with a patented independent suspension to complement the speedy wheel design. The suspension in the original Hot Wheels cars utilized a thick gauge music wire as the axle, which when lubricated and coupled with a unique plastic bearing, allowed the wheels to roll and spin freely with minimal friction, making them far faster than Corgi and Matchbox toy cars.
The design team also zeroed in on making the cars eye-catching, accomplished through the unique “Spectraflame” paint jobs the cars sported. By polishing the car bodies down to an almost mirror shine and spray-painting them with a transparent colored paint, the result was a candy-colored, metallic finish the likes of which had never been seen before.
The first line of Hot Wheels die-cast cars introduced were called “The Sweet 16,” and made their debut at the International Toy Fair in 1968. “The Sweet 16” were just that: 16 cars whose designs were inspired by California muscle cars and hot rods.
The first Hot Wheels toy car offered was the Custom Camaro, sold on May 18, 1968 – Hot Wheels’ official “birthday.” Following the Custom Camaro, the 15 other cars in the line were the Beatnik Bandit, Custom Barracuda, Custom Corvette, Custom Cougar, Custom Eldorado, Custom Firebird, Custom Fleetside, Custom Mustang, Custom T-Bird, Custom Volkswagen, Deora, Ford J-Car, Hot Heap, Python (now called Cheetah) and the Silhouette. Those first toy cars were radically different than anything else in 1968. Today, “The Sweet 16” remain among the most valuable and collectible toy vehicles ever made.
