#Red hot wheels car driver#

Shaver was a driver on the first Hot Wheels-sponsored drag-racing team in the U.K., and the specialty-packaged Ed Shaver AMX cars (which included a sheet of decals matching those on his dragster) were distributed at race events. But in terms of rarity, the most valuable by far is the slightly later blue “Ed Shaver” version. For the sporty 1969 die-cast Hot Wheels version, most (like the one above) trade for hundreds of dollars, with hard-to-find colors like salmon and antifreeze fetching on the higher end. The real AMX street car was a short-lived two-seater produced by AMC that, like most muscle cars, stuffed a high-powered engine into a midsize frame.

Here, five of the most valuable and desirable Hot Wheels castings, most of which are squirreled away in private collections and not available on the open market: The fewer of a variant that are produced, generally speaking, the higher their value. Perhaps most desirable: early prototypes of popular models that were never produced. Changes could affect wheels, interiors, windows, graphics, paint shades, you name it. When something changes early on in the production process-such as the name or a key aspect of the physical design-the less-produced variant immediately takes on value. When it comes to mass-produced toys, variations make all the difference. Even rarer: finding an original model in its blister pack. It’s unusual to find the so-called “sweet 16” of 1968 in lightly-used condition since the painted tires often wore quickly and the wire axles frequently buckled from use. Serious Hot Wheels collectors seek mint-condition toys, with little to no sign of use, preferably in their original paperboard-and-plastic blister pack. Of course, the condition has a lot to do with how much any vintage die-cast car will fetch.

Red hot wheels car