Post by ferrari512s on Dec 21, 2013 11:40:19 GMT -5
It was back in 1971 when the Three Dog Night had their greatest hit of all time "Joy To The World"! Still love that song even to this day. Written by Hoyt Axxton who is a country singer and wicked song writer...
Let me segue back to the actual topic here...
Lux Hot Wheels Promotion
Only in Canada eh! What a damn pitty!
Image courtesy of ferrari512s
In 1971 there was a Hot Wheels® promotion quietly going on north of the US boarder that didn't gather much interest at all. This marketing promotion was from a soap company called Lux and from all outward appearances went completely unnoticed by US collectors and even by those people living in Canada. This promotion was quite brief and wasn't heavily advertised using the mainstream media or television.
In December of 1997 a Canadian collector reported about a rare Lux Hot Wheels® find that literally swept the Hot Wheels® community by storm. A frenzy to own these few models still in the blistercard ensued and many serious Hot Wheels® collectors had to have at least one or more of these trophies for their showcase. On eBay™ other earnest Hot Wheels® collectors experienced a similar rush of excitement when news broke of these rare Lux Hot Wheels® finds. These were not cheap to acquire but the seasoned Hot Wheels® collectors had to have these . . . and they did! Today the enthusiasm to own these very few Lux Soap promos that are circulating time to time still rages on.
I too must admit that I'm captivated by these redline era Hot Wheels® not only for the interesting Hot Wheels® models that were available but also for the distinctive and unique packaging that was done for this special promotion. Surprisingly enough I purchased one of these Lux promos in my childhood and still own it. To this day, I never did like the enamel dark green Lola that I purchased... but that was the only Hot Wheels® model that was left behind. Those boys who loved Hot Wheels® took the decent ones and left me the average looking Lola. How many did they leave behind you ask? Twelve in total Lola GTs were left behind. Damn these ugly peg warmers!
… and so here is the actual story behind this incredible find, as told by the Canadian collector who discovered them…
In December (or thereabouts) of 1997, on a Saturday morning, my wife came back to the house from a local craft
sale with some items... One of these items was a blue Hot Wheels car which she gave to our son and he immediately
tore open. Now, being 3, and already a connoisseur of fine cars; he noticed there was no hood. Thus it was not
complete, and after crashing it into the others for a few minutes, it was unceremoniously tossed into the 'also-ran' pile
I picked it up a few minutes later, along with the bits of the package; and I thought it looked kind of familiar... Yes, in
fact it looked Just like one I had when I was his age. "Well, what do you know... they're still making the same cars", I
thought. It seemed odd, however, and so after a bit, I pulled the package back out of the trash to have a closer look;
and found the copyright 1971 fine print on the back.
OK, So now the wheels are turning, and I figure these are really really neat, and could be worth maybe 5 bucks apiece.
The asking price was 2 Bucks each... so throwing caution to the wind, and under threat of divorce, I rushed to the bank
and took enough cash to buy the whole box. By the time I got to the place, it was evident to the sellers that these cars
were very slow movers, and without a more aggressive pricing strategy, they could be stuck with them. Soooo... the price
had been reduced to $1 each. There were 78 left, and I grabbed the lot. The sellers thought I was out of my mind....
"Grown man... etc etc", And, so did my wife when I got back..."You spent HOW MUCH on toy cars???" And....I must
admit that at the time, I thought there was a good possibility that I overpaid... however, I reasoned that I had bought
many more than that already for the kids (in dribs and drabs) at Wal-Mart; so it was a no-lose situation.... I'd just dole
these out to the kids if it turned out they were worthless.
Once I began to research it, it took a long time to find anyone that had even heard of the 'LUX' promo; let alone gives
any indication as to what they were actually worth. In early 1998, I emailed everyone I could find related to Hot Wheels®
on the Internet and only one response from someone calling themselves Ultimate ... besides that nothing.
So I sold a few (pretty cheap) to cover the initial investment. Some of these in turn passed hands
a few times, and ended up on eBay™... for example, a certain Brown Boss Hoss. The rest is history. To my knowledge, every
LUX promo out there today originated from my 'box'.
(Take note, there has been another find since without the black magic marker price on the item).
... And, you know my wife gave me heat about that 80 bucks until the very day we saw that Boss Hoss's go for 650 US
bucks on eBay™. She is now VERY understanding, and has actually studied "red-striped-wheels" in order to recognize
the next big find. By the way... the car my son tossed aside was indeed a Heavy Chevy. I must tell him all about it when
he gets older.
Quite the wonderful and entertaining Hot Wheels® story. All I can say is this was a great find!
So let me carry on with my research on this Lux topic...
The Unilever company that distributed this Lux Liquid decided in 1971 to have a promotion featuring a Hot Wheels give away car and special pricing on track sets. Mattel chose 10 cars for this joint promotion and designed an exclusive special Lux Hot Wheels packaging. You could simply purchase this Lux Liquid soap product and a Hot Wheels car in packaging was attached around the top or neck of the bottle.
Which Hot Wheels Redline era cars were issues for this Lux promotion? Let's see which ones I can remember from memory (edits will occur to add the rest)
6219 Deora® (Show-N-Go)
According to the Biblical reference documents, guides and sacred scrolls this was not produced after 1969...and then there was the Deora Skyshow in 1970.
6254 Lola GT70 (Grand Prix)
6263 Indy Eagle (Grand Prix)
6264 Brabham-Repco FI (Grand Prix)
6275 Mercedes 280SL (European)
6277 Maserati Mistral (European)
6406 Boss Hoss (Spoilers)
6407 TNT Bird (Spoilers)
6408 Heavy Chevy (Spoilers)
6417 Ferrari 312P (Grand Prix)
Here is a picture of the Deora which happened to be an enormous peg warmer for Mattel. (It really sat on the shelves in my retail stores).
Image is courtesy of ferrari512s
I wonder what Mattel did to get rid of these excess stock Deoras....and the fabricated story goes something like this...
So Mattel decided to donate these Deoras (many with those desirable white interiors too) to a soap company and the LUX Liquid promotion was born. These Deoras were practically given away. Actually they were…if you purchased the 24-oz or 32-oz Lux Liquid soap. And look closely, track sets through mail order were available too! But alas, those were not free but cheaper than retail prices.
As I mentioned briefly above, the Grand Prix open wheeled Indy cars came with not only the common interiors but with white ones as well. These white interiors are considered quite rare by many serious Hot Wheels® collectors. To date the only location where white interior Grand Prix cars have been spotted is Canada. (Note: Another faction of Hot Wheels® collectors classify these white interior Grand Prix cars as prototypes. Please see eBay™ for details)
The back portion of the Lux blister card contained a send-away form for various Hot Wheels® sets. These could be purchased directly from Lux through this mail offer. In total, there were four super-value Hot Wheels® sets to choose from, and there was no limit to the quantity of track sets purchased. The super value sets were as follows:
A. 3 "Hot Wheels"® cars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .only $1.25*
B. Dual Lane Rod Runner™ Set. . . . . . . . . . . .only $5.00*
C. Sizzlers® Newport Pacer™ Set. . . . . . . . . .only $6.50*
D. Sizzlers® California/8™ Set. . . . . . . . . . . . .only $6.50*
* Plus any 3 Lux Liquid front labels and applicable Provincial Sales Tax.
Here is a picture of the reverse side Lux blister packaging.
The Lux Liquid promotion was done in conjunction with Mattel Canada Ltd. The location of the Mattel plant in Canada at this time was Toronto, Ontario.
A last picture of the Deora peg warmer with that distinctive white interior which I'm fond of.
Image courtesy of ferrari512s
So does anyone have the complete set of this Lux Series? Anyone...
Let me segue back to the actual topic here...
Lux Hot Wheels Promotion
Only in Canada eh! What a damn pitty!
Image courtesy of ferrari512s
In 1971 there was a Hot Wheels® promotion quietly going on north of the US boarder that didn't gather much interest at all. This marketing promotion was from a soap company called Lux and from all outward appearances went completely unnoticed by US collectors and even by those people living in Canada. This promotion was quite brief and wasn't heavily advertised using the mainstream media or television.
In December of 1997 a Canadian collector reported about a rare Lux Hot Wheels® find that literally swept the Hot Wheels® community by storm. A frenzy to own these few models still in the blistercard ensued and many serious Hot Wheels® collectors had to have at least one or more of these trophies for their showcase. On eBay™ other earnest Hot Wheels® collectors experienced a similar rush of excitement when news broke of these rare Lux Hot Wheels® finds. These were not cheap to acquire but the seasoned Hot Wheels® collectors had to have these . . . and they did! Today the enthusiasm to own these very few Lux Soap promos that are circulating time to time still rages on.
I too must admit that I'm captivated by these redline era Hot Wheels® not only for the interesting Hot Wheels® models that were available but also for the distinctive and unique packaging that was done for this special promotion. Surprisingly enough I purchased one of these Lux promos in my childhood and still own it. To this day, I never did like the enamel dark green Lola that I purchased... but that was the only Hot Wheels® model that was left behind. Those boys who loved Hot Wheels® took the decent ones and left me the average looking Lola. How many did they leave behind you ask? Twelve in total Lola GTs were left behind. Damn these ugly peg warmers!
… and so here is the actual story behind this incredible find, as told by the Canadian collector who discovered them…
In December (or thereabouts) of 1997, on a Saturday morning, my wife came back to the house from a local craft
sale with some items... One of these items was a blue Hot Wheels car which she gave to our son and he immediately
tore open. Now, being 3, and already a connoisseur of fine cars; he noticed there was no hood. Thus it was not
complete, and after crashing it into the others for a few minutes, it was unceremoniously tossed into the 'also-ran' pile
I picked it up a few minutes later, along with the bits of the package; and I thought it looked kind of familiar... Yes, in
fact it looked Just like one I had when I was his age. "Well, what do you know... they're still making the same cars", I
thought. It seemed odd, however, and so after a bit, I pulled the package back out of the trash to have a closer look;
and found the copyright 1971 fine print on the back.
OK, So now the wheels are turning, and I figure these are really really neat, and could be worth maybe 5 bucks apiece.
The asking price was 2 Bucks each... so throwing caution to the wind, and under threat of divorce, I rushed to the bank
and took enough cash to buy the whole box. By the time I got to the place, it was evident to the sellers that these cars
were very slow movers, and without a more aggressive pricing strategy, they could be stuck with them. Soooo... the price
had been reduced to $1 each. There were 78 left, and I grabbed the lot. The sellers thought I was out of my mind....
"Grown man... etc etc", And, so did my wife when I got back..."You spent HOW MUCH on toy cars???" And....I must
admit that at the time, I thought there was a good possibility that I overpaid... however, I reasoned that I had bought
many more than that already for the kids (in dribs and drabs) at Wal-Mart; so it was a no-lose situation.... I'd just dole
these out to the kids if it turned out they were worthless.
Once I began to research it, it took a long time to find anyone that had even heard of the 'LUX' promo; let alone gives
any indication as to what they were actually worth. In early 1998, I emailed everyone I could find related to Hot Wheels®
on the Internet and only one response from someone calling themselves Ultimate ... besides that nothing.
So I sold a few (pretty cheap) to cover the initial investment. Some of these in turn passed hands
a few times, and ended up on eBay™... for example, a certain Brown Boss Hoss. The rest is history. To my knowledge, every
LUX promo out there today originated from my 'box'.
(Take note, there has been another find since without the black magic marker price on the item).
... And, you know my wife gave me heat about that 80 bucks until the very day we saw that Boss Hoss's go for 650 US
bucks on eBay™. She is now VERY understanding, and has actually studied "red-striped-wheels" in order to recognize
the next big find. By the way... the car my son tossed aside was indeed a Heavy Chevy. I must tell him all about it when
he gets older.
Quite the wonderful and entertaining Hot Wheels® story. All I can say is this was a great find!
So let me carry on with my research on this Lux topic...
The Unilever company that distributed this Lux Liquid decided in 1971 to have a promotion featuring a Hot Wheels give away car and special pricing on track sets. Mattel chose 10 cars for this joint promotion and designed an exclusive special Lux Hot Wheels packaging. You could simply purchase this Lux Liquid soap product and a Hot Wheels car in packaging was attached around the top or neck of the bottle.
Which Hot Wheels Redline era cars were issues for this Lux promotion? Let's see which ones I can remember from memory (edits will occur to add the rest)
6219 Deora® (Show-N-Go)
According to the Biblical reference documents, guides and sacred scrolls this was not produced after 1969...and then there was the Deora Skyshow in 1970.
6254 Lola GT70 (Grand Prix)
6263 Indy Eagle (Grand Prix)
6264 Brabham-Repco FI (Grand Prix)
6275 Mercedes 280SL (European)
6277 Maserati Mistral (European)
6406 Boss Hoss (Spoilers)
6407 TNT Bird (Spoilers)
6408 Heavy Chevy (Spoilers)
6417 Ferrari 312P (Grand Prix)
Here is a picture of the Deora which happened to be an enormous peg warmer for Mattel. (It really sat on the shelves in my retail stores).
Image is courtesy of ferrari512s
I wonder what Mattel did to get rid of these excess stock Deoras....and the fabricated story goes something like this...
So Mattel decided to donate these Deoras (many with those desirable white interiors too) to a soap company and the LUX Liquid promotion was born. These Deoras were practically given away. Actually they were…if you purchased the 24-oz or 32-oz Lux Liquid soap. And look closely, track sets through mail order were available too! But alas, those were not free but cheaper than retail prices.
As I mentioned briefly above, the Grand Prix open wheeled Indy cars came with not only the common interiors but with white ones as well. These white interiors are considered quite rare by many serious Hot Wheels® collectors. To date the only location where white interior Grand Prix cars have been spotted is Canada. (Note: Another faction of Hot Wheels® collectors classify these white interior Grand Prix cars as prototypes. Please see eBay™ for details)
The back portion of the Lux blister card contained a send-away form for various Hot Wheels® sets. These could be purchased directly from Lux through this mail offer. In total, there were four super-value Hot Wheels® sets to choose from, and there was no limit to the quantity of track sets purchased. The super value sets were as follows:
A. 3 "Hot Wheels"® cars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .only $1.25*
B. Dual Lane Rod Runner™ Set. . . . . . . . . . . .only $5.00*
C. Sizzlers® Newport Pacer™ Set. . . . . . . . . .only $6.50*
D. Sizzlers® California/8™ Set. . . . . . . . . . . . .only $6.50*
* Plus any 3 Lux Liquid front labels and applicable Provincial Sales Tax.
Here is a picture of the reverse side Lux blister packaging.
The Lux Liquid promotion was done in conjunction with Mattel Canada Ltd. The location of the Mattel plant in Canada at this time was Toronto, Ontario.
A last picture of the Deora peg warmer with that distinctive white interior which I'm fond of.
Image courtesy of ferrari512s
So does anyone have the complete set of this Lux Series? Anyone...
