It’s easy to plot the growth we’ve experienced in automotive design over the past 50 years. From the hippie era to the hipster era, we’ve seen quite a lot of change in cars… but for one second, take a look at automotive evolution from a completely different perspective.
50 years ago, Hot Wheels made its first set of miniature automobile toys, using a die-cast outer body. Starting with outlandish designs and making it their signature (before building a few existing car designs too), Hot Wheels have come a long way, enchanting children for half a century, myself included. When you chart the evolution of Hot Wheels cars, you don’t notice the same trends as those of automobiles. You notice qualities that are much more aspirational to a different user base, so Hot Wheels’ trend chart’s always been to do incredibly cool things that entice children as well as the inner child in adults.
Hot Wheels have done a lot of things in the past 50 years. They’ve made modded cars, pandered to movie franchises and pop cultures, made some incredible adrenaline-filled race-tracks and theme sets, made Hot Wheels DIY kits, outlandish cars inspired by outlandish creatures, cars with bottle-openers integrated into the spoiler, cars that change color based on temperature, and even a Hot Wheels GoPro mount… and when you see how far they’ve come in the past 50 years, it’s truly worth admiring.
Watch the video above by the guys at Donut Media pay homage to 50 years of phenomenal toys that inspired children to be passionate car enthusiasts, drivers, collectors, and the occasional transportation designer! Here’s to 50 more glorious years of miniature automotive domination!
Designer: Hot Wheels (Mattel)
Video Credits: Donut Media