Tuesday 30th October 2012

Chevy to sell Hot Wheels Camaro

Homage to die-cast toys marketed to big kids

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Never has the phrase "I've got a new toy" been so apt to describe a car. This is the Chevrolet Camaro Hot Wheels Edition, which will go on sale early next year in the ultimate homage to the die-cast toys that got a generation of kids switched onto fast cars.

True, the souped-up Hot Wheels phenomenon was more of an American thing compared to our more production faithful Matchbox fare, but any British kids who got hold of them found the shiny-wheeled cars were pretty epic down their orange gravity tracks.

One-off '67 Camaro also gets the treatment

The first one available in 1968 was actually a Camaro. Any 40-something blokes with long memories might just associate the special edition's black/bright 21in wheels with red rim stripe as belonging to their early toy. There's also a matt black stripe down the bonnet and roof, and any memories faded too badly by beer and gasoline fumes will be jogged by the flaming Hot Wheels logos.

There are other bits to account for the $7,000 extra on the coupe and convertible models, but because this is American muscle, you'll still be horrified by the price they pay over there.

The special edition LT2 coupe with the 323bhp V6 is the equivalent of £22,975 including destination tax, while the 426bhp V8 manual is £27,430. That's WITH all the Hot Wheels gubbins.

Powered by a modern 6.2 V8 with 430hp

The car is currently being shown at the annual SEMA tuner festival in Las Vegas alongside another Hot Wheels Camaro recreation, this time the original car that become the first toy.

This stunning looking one-off is based on a 1967 Camaro and comes painted in a match of the Spectraglide blue paint of the original Hot Wheels, as well as wearing a similar wheel design to the production homage.

And as SEMA isn't just for showing off, it comes fitted with GM's crate 6.2-litre, 430hp LS3 V8 engine that can be bought off the shelf for $7,790 (£4,850).

Now THAT's a toy we'd like to get our hands on. Perfect for a recreation of that really very strange 1970s Matchbox Superfast Mini with an engine bursting from the bonnet and an airman poking his head out of the roof.

[DanDC5]

Those wheels are hideous.

[suffolk009]

How do these american cars do it for the price? Why do they make european sports cars look sooo expensive?

[GranCab]

From the land of good taste ...

[GranCab]

suffolk009 said:

How do these american cars do it for the price? Why do they make european sports cars look sooo expensive?

They are built in big volumes and down to a price !

[CypherP]

That is ridiculously cheap. So is their fuel, in comparison to ours though. I'd rather import one of these than go and buy anything german, although I'm not sure I fancy the fuel bills over here though.

[chrisironside]

"And as SEMA isn't just for showing off, it comes fitted with GM's crate 6.2-litre, 430hp LS3 V8 engine that can be bought off the shelf for $7,790 (£4,850)."

That's fantastic! I'd be sticking one of them in everything.

[TTmonkey]

I they fitted that with a 3.0 litre TD, and made it RHD, theyd sell millions.

[Carnnoisseur]

suffolk009 said:

How do these american cars do it for the price? Why do they make european sports cars look sooo expensive?

I was thinking the exact same thing.....not sure though, when I'm visiting the States, they always look so desirable, but they just dont seem to have the same effect when I see them in the UK - must be a mind thing.....

[Bob_Defly]

I want the Hot Wheels version they did at last year's auto show!

[Hellbound]

GranCab said:

They are built in big volumes and down to a price!

Something that rarely comes across from the press releases, photos and biased American reviews online. They're massive cars with small interiors that are cheaply made. Sure, they 'do the job', but for most European tastes, it's not good enough. That's the impression I got first hand with the new 'stang and Camaro anyway. Lots of pointless dead space behind all the fixtures and fittings, you get the feeling 20% of the volume is redundant and only exists because engineering the same car in a smaller and more space efficient package would just cost more.

A car definitely imported with the heart, not the head.

That '67 car though....

[Nick Grant]

My '67 was one of the nicest driving cars I've ever owned


Tarantino Death Proof 003 by NickGrant.co.uk, on Flickr

[James1972]

If you are going to do a loud shouty muscle car then this branding is as good as it gets. The big kid in me wants one and I know my 3 & 5 yr old urchins would be massively impressed
Other half perhaps less so

[Miklad]

Awesome stuff. Not for everyone I know, but nonetheless awesome.

The '67 is just... lovely. Especially with modern underpinnings!

The pics made me go

[xRIEx]

suffolk009 said:

How do these american cars do it for the price? Why do they make european sports cars look sooo expensive?

One thing to remember, American prices are quoted excluding taxes, as each state sets their own sales tax levels (highest looks to be 7.25% though, nowhere near VAT).

[LuS1fer]

Hellbound said:

Something that rarely comes across from the press releases, photos and biased American reviews online. They're massive cars with small interiors that are cheaply made. Sure, they 'do the job', but for most European tastes, it's not good enough. That's the impression I got first hand with the new 'stang and Camaro anyway. Lots of pointless dead space behind all the fixtures and fittings, you get the feeling 20% of the volume is redundant and only exists because engineering the same car in a smaller and more space efficient package would just cost more.

A car definitely imported with the heart, not the head.

That '67 car though....

This is palpable nonsense. You get a 6.2 litre V8 instead of a crappy turbo/3 pot and the interiors are perfectly serviceable (often leather) and are not optional extras like thay are in most Euro cars. What you see is what you get. Who cares about space efficiency in this type of car. In general, they also tend to weigh less (the Mustang is certainly a lot lighter than the equivalent BMW). Just what do you expect for the money? My Mustang is better than our Mondeo Edge and better than my Fiesta ST which are probably the average comparators in real life. Given you can imprt a V6 for £23k as a dollar equivalent, I'd say you'd be mad to buy the European offering most of the time.

[PascalBuyens]

Hellbound said:

Something that rarely comes across from the press releases, photos and biased American reviews online. They're massive cars with small interiors that are cheaply made. Sure, they 'do the job', but for most European tastes, it's not good enough. That's the impression I got first hand with the new 'stang and Camaro anyway. Lots of pointless dead space behind all the fixtures and fittings, you get the feeling 20% of the volume is redundant and only exists because engineering the same car in a smaller and more space efficient package would just cost more.

A car definitely imported with the heart, not the head.

That '67 car though....

I never had any bad comments on the interior of the Camaro so far... Doesn't look and feel cheap at all to me. And it's certainly spacious enough.

[Captain Muppet]

GranCab said:

They are built in big volumes and down to a price !

Is there anyone who thinks VW don't design everything they sell with a specific BOM target and selling price as part of the project justification?

Everything built by successful companies is built down to a price.

After this thread on how to tell the quality of car interiors I spent three weeks in a 2012 Mustang and I liked it.

[PascalBuyens]

Bob_Defly said:

I want the Hot Wheels version they did at last year's auto show!

I'd love that Stingray in the back

[woof]

Everyone thinks that these big V8 are thirsty - having owned a Corvette for the last 6 years I can tell you that really isn't the case and I certainly don't have a light left foot.

To give you a comparison
I have a Mini JCW - I get around 22mpg average. yep I drive it hard
The vette gets 16mpg - which isn't great but compare that to a Range Rover that will do around 10mpg if your lucky !

Also the service costs on the Vette are really reasonable - I spend £300-400 a year on it.

oh and it less to road tax than the mini - Zero Co2 Emission (not rated)

Edited by woof on Tuesday 30th October 15:13

[anonymous-user]

Well I LOVE it