Hot Wheels easter eggs and design inspiration

[OldNYJim]

I’m a big fan of Hot Wheels, plus I’m a design nerd and I really like when designers put ‘easter eggs’ in their designs - little details and surprises to be noticed upon closer inspection.  They do the same in movies and TV shows - little nods and details for knowledgable fans that might not be obvious on first viewing. 

For example, the Hot Wheels Porsche 944 has a stethoscope on the rear parcel shelf as a nod to the designer’s doctor who had the same model Porsche.  Their Pontiac Aztec has a Heisenberg hat in the interior to reference the vehicles appearance in Breaking Bad…stuff like that.  

These well thought out little touches really make me want to do a better job of adding stuff like that to MY builds…I’d be interested to hear if anyone here adds fun little ‘in joke’ details to their projects too?

I made a diorama piece for a friend a while back and added graffiti stickers and tags on the edges that were scale versions of actual ones in the subject’s neighborhood - they’re not actually visible when the finished piece is in it’s shadow box unless you shine a torch in there and view it from the right angle:

 

Here’s a fun design feature I found on a Hot Wheels I picked up this past week - a HW Corvette:

Instead of the usual rivet on the front of the base it has a clear plastic circle - and if you shine a light in there the headlamps illuminate!

If anyone else knows of any other cool hidden details like this on diecasts (or in model kits?!) I’d love to hear them!

[Robberbaron]

Back in the 80's for a couple years Hot Wheels made a series of cars called "Crack Ups" that had simulated accident damage.  Each car had a spring-loaded, latching panel on the front, side, or back that flipped from "normal" looking to crash damaged if it was hit.

I had this hatchback car in burgundy metallic (think its a fantasy car, but seems kind of like an '80s Nissan Z car?).  When the back panel is "normal", the vanity plate reads "NICE".  When the panel flips after a crash, I remember that the plate changes.  Can't really make it out in the below pic, but I think it changes to read "OUCH", or something similar.

[Robberbaron]

This one is pretty infamous.  The original release of the Ramblin' Wrecker tow truck included designer Larry Woods' actual phone number on the side.

After getting way too many calls from little kids, the tampo design was revised to delete the real phone number.

[OldNYJim]

Ha, those are both great!  I love stuff like this!  Thanks for sharing!

Edited April 16, 2024 by CabDriver

[Keef]

Glad to see I’m not the only one that likes HotWheels. This has double and almost tripled since this picture.