Post by ferrari512s on Jan 14, 2014 14:40:27 GMT -5
Redline Hot Wheels® Promotions
Through the years there have been a plethora of Hot Wheels® promotions. These various giveaways, mail-in offers, 3rd party promotions, exclusive editions, special car sets, and Limited Editions all fall under the category of special or promotional vehicles.
Jack-in-the-Box Promotion
Although the company credited with hosting the first Hot Wheels® special promotion in 1970 is Jack-In-The Box, this information is not necessarily true or chronologically accurate. Unfortunately the historical documentation or lack of factual text has been vague to say the least.
There are earlier promotions that precede this as recorded in Mattel's database. One example is the Cheerios promotion in the summer of 1968. A Hot Wheels car was received in a mail-in giveaway.
This excerpt is from my Python Cheetah article on this forum:
"There exists a red Cheetah™ prototype in which Bruce Pascal acquired with plenty of edge wear as shown in the example below.
This was initially acquired by someone who sent away for a cereal company endorsement in 1968. Mattel was engaging in these types of mail in promotions frequently in an effort to sponsor their toy lines. In this particular case, the Hot Wheels® promotion Mattel was sponsoring somehow provided the customer with this mint prototype red Cheetah™? Hot Wheels® car! What an unbelievable choice toy car this came to be! Obviously the Cheetah™ was well loved judging by the edge wear it acquired through the years. By the way, this is the only Cheetah™ to date adorning the beloved long tail pipes. Talk about extremely rare and unique! These attributes make this Cheetah™ artifact even more desirable!"
Getting back to the Jack-In-The-Box Promotion...
The Jack-In-The Box company is actually a hamburger chain establishment. They have many locations scattered around the California area. The toy car they chose for their promotion was the Hot Wheels® Jack Rabbit Special. An exclusive decal sheet was designed for this promo featuring the Jack-In-The Box clown logo with numbers and stripes. All the decals are shown above. This Hot Wheels® car promotion was complimentary with the purchase of food at this fine dining establishment. The Hot Wheels® Jack Rabbit Special usually came in a plastic baggie with a decal sheet. It is possible this was also released on a blistercard with the decal sheet stapled to the card. These have recently surfaced as of 1999 and could possibly not be legitimate.
As I mentioned above, there have been other Hot Wheels® promotions that occurred precious to this one in the early years but have gone relatively unnoticed. Does anyone remember the following?
- Duz Soup (US) 1968-69
- General Mills (Cheerios) 1968
- Hi "C" 1968
- 1969 Toy Fair (Mattel Chrome Dinner Cars)
- Biz Laundry Soap Hot Wheels promotion (US) 1968-69
- Eskimo Pie 1970
- Coca Cola 1970
- Hot Wheels Club Car 1970
- Lux Liquid Detergent (Canada) 1971
- Santa Pod Raceway Promotion (UK) 1971
- Zellers 2-Pak (Hot Wheels / Zowees) 1972
- Zellers Exclusive packaging 1973
Biz Laundry Soap (1970)
A Hot Wheels vehicle/collector button in a paper/plastic baggie was inserted in each box of Biz laundry detergent. The cars that I know for this promotion were:
Silhouette in yellow
Ford Mk IV in enamel red
’36 Ford Coupe in blue
Snake in enamel yellow
Mongoose in enamel red
I believe the year of this promotion was 1970 however I could be mistaken. I’m also certain there were more vehicles available for this giveaway promotion. If anyone else has further information about this obscure promotion, please advise us.
Duz Soap (1968 – 1969)
Free with the purchase of King Size Duz Soap was a Hot Wheels vehicle in a regular blister card with a round red sticker attached to the blister card to indicate this promotional item. There were probably many cars available for this promotion however the only ones I’ve come across are Custom Eldorado and the Twin Mill in green as shown in the picture
Duz Soap Picture
The year of this promotion is perhaps late 1968 to early 1969. Details on this promotion are obscure at best. If anyone has further information on this promotion I’d like to hear from you.
Lux Liquid Detergent (1971)
There was a single Hot Wheels car packaged in a specially produced Lux Hot Wheels blister card. This packaging was attached to a Lux liquid detergent bottle. The top center of the Lux blister card had a cut circular hole where it was fasten to the bottleneck of the Lux product. The front portion of the blister card had written FREE/GRATIS on the card with the familiar Hot Wheels logo on there also.
Lux Liquid Picture
These following Hot Wheels models were selected for this exclusively Canadian give-away promotion:
6219 Deora (Show & Go)
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)
Furthermore, there was a send away form on the reverse side of the Lux Hot Wheels blister card for various Hot Wheels sets. These could be purchased directly from Lux through this mail offer. In total there were four possible super value Hot Wheels sets to choose from and there was no limited to the quantity of track sets purchased. The available track sets were advertised in television commercials.
This Lux promotion was done in conjunction with Mattel Canada Ltd. The actual location of the Mattel plant in Canada was Toronto, Ontario.
Santa Pod Raceway Promotion (UK) (1971)
In 1971 Mattel sponsored racecar driver Ed Shaver. A special edition “Ed Shaver” AMX car was created and available in a blister card. The only way to acquire this special car in the blister packaging was at the "Santa Pod Raceway Gift shop". This is the track in the U.K. where Ed Shaver raced.
Ed Shaver’s AMX
Ed Shaver AMX Promotion™
This piece is extremely rare. Just when you thought the rear board beach bomb was the rarest. Here comes the Ed Shaver Custom AMX from the U.K. There is less than 10 know to exist in the hands of collector's. That is about 10 less than the rear boarded VW Beach Bomb. This piece is not a pre-production model. That make's this car even more rare. You could only get this car 3 way's the first being going to the drag strip in the U.K. and watching the Mattel sponsored Ed Shaver drag team (you say I thought Mattel only sponsored the snake and mongoose wrong!) the second being sending proof of purchase from Weetabix cereal. The third being sending 5 flame point's found on the back of blister pack's. Back in the 1970's the English were big into matchbox car's to care about the American drag racer. So in my eye's that is why there is not many around? That is just my opinion if you have your own opinion or one of these car's please feel free to email me with your thought's. There is one more item that goes with this piece and is as rare as the car. I know of only 3 in the hand's of collector's. This piece is the U.K. club kit catalog that look's like the us version but is totally different on the inside and it show's the Ed shaver drag team all 3 car's in color on a full page and the Ed shaver story. This is super rare! This car and catalog came from the former author of the U.K. hot wheel's newsletter. I also have newspaper clippings - model magazines – and other items about the car and they go with it. You will not find a more rare redline hot wheel car and you will not find this piece in the Tomart price guide.
Speed Test Day Promotion
This piece is super cool! These were given away to kid's in 1969 as a promotion for one day only! The kid's had to go to their local hot wheel's dealer for speed test day and race. All the kid's received an iron on patch - driver card - and a free redline. These are very hard to find! The people at Mattel must have been asleep when this one was made because this one has no (d) in driver.
If anyone has any other information on these promotions or any other promotion that have eluded us please let us know.
Through the years there have been a plethora of Hot Wheels® promotions. These various giveaways, mail-in offers, 3rd party promotions, exclusive editions, special car sets, and Limited Editions all fall under the category of special or promotional vehicles.
Jack-in-the-Box Promotion
Although the company credited with hosting the first Hot Wheels® special promotion in 1970 is Jack-In-The Box, this information is not necessarily true or chronologically accurate. Unfortunately the historical documentation or lack of factual text has been vague to say the least.
There are earlier promotions that precede this as recorded in Mattel's database. One example is the Cheerios promotion in the summer of 1968. A Hot Wheels car was received in a mail-in giveaway.
This excerpt is from my Python Cheetah article on this forum:
"There exists a red Cheetah™ prototype in which Bruce Pascal acquired with plenty of edge wear as shown in the example below.
This was initially acquired by someone who sent away for a cereal company endorsement in 1968. Mattel was engaging in these types of mail in promotions frequently in an effort to sponsor their toy lines. In this particular case, the Hot Wheels® promotion Mattel was sponsoring somehow provided the customer with this mint prototype red Cheetah™? Hot Wheels® car! What an unbelievable choice toy car this came to be! Obviously the Cheetah™ was well loved judging by the edge wear it acquired through the years. By the way, this is the only Cheetah™ to date adorning the beloved long tail pipes. Talk about extremely rare and unique! These attributes make this Cheetah™ artifact even more desirable!"
Getting back to the Jack-In-The-Box Promotion...
The Jack-In-The Box company is actually a hamburger chain establishment. They have many locations scattered around the California area. The toy car they chose for their promotion was the Hot Wheels® Jack Rabbit Special. An exclusive decal sheet was designed for this promo featuring the Jack-In-The Box clown logo with numbers and stripes. All the decals are shown above. This Hot Wheels® car promotion was complimentary with the purchase of food at this fine dining establishment. The Hot Wheels® Jack Rabbit Special usually came in a plastic baggie with a decal sheet. It is possible this was also released on a blistercard with the decal sheet stapled to the card. These have recently surfaced as of 1999 and could possibly not be legitimate.
As I mentioned above, there have been other Hot Wheels® promotions that occurred precious to this one in the early years but have gone relatively unnoticed. Does anyone remember the following?
- Duz Soup (US) 1968-69
- General Mills (Cheerios) 1968
- Hi "C" 1968
- 1969 Toy Fair (Mattel Chrome Dinner Cars)
- Biz Laundry Soap Hot Wheels promotion (US) 1968-69
- Eskimo Pie 1970
- Coca Cola 1970
- Hot Wheels Club Car 1970
- Lux Liquid Detergent (Canada) 1971
- Santa Pod Raceway Promotion (UK) 1971
- Zellers 2-Pak (Hot Wheels / Zowees) 1972
- Zellers Exclusive packaging 1973
Biz Laundry Soap (1970)
A Hot Wheels vehicle/collector button in a paper/plastic baggie was inserted in each box of Biz laundry detergent. The cars that I know for this promotion were:
Silhouette in yellow
Ford Mk IV in enamel red
’36 Ford Coupe in blue
Snake in enamel yellow
Mongoose in enamel red
I believe the year of this promotion was 1970 however I could be mistaken. I’m also certain there were more vehicles available for this giveaway promotion. If anyone else has further information about this obscure promotion, please advise us.
Duz Soap (1968 – 1969)
Free with the purchase of King Size Duz Soap was a Hot Wheels vehicle in a regular blister card with a round red sticker attached to the blister card to indicate this promotional item. There were probably many cars available for this promotion however the only ones I’ve come across are Custom Eldorado and the Twin Mill in green as shown in the picture
Duz Soap Picture
The year of this promotion is perhaps late 1968 to early 1969. Details on this promotion are obscure at best. If anyone has further information on this promotion I’d like to hear from you.
Lux Liquid Detergent (1971)
There was a single Hot Wheels car packaged in a specially produced Lux Hot Wheels blister card. This packaging was attached to a Lux liquid detergent bottle. The top center of the Lux blister card had a cut circular hole where it was fasten to the bottleneck of the Lux product. The front portion of the blister card had written FREE/GRATIS on the card with the familiar Hot Wheels logo on there also.
Lux Liquid Picture
These following Hot Wheels models were selected for this exclusively Canadian give-away promotion:
6219 Deora (Show & Go)
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)
Furthermore, there was a send away form on the reverse side of the Lux Hot Wheels blister card for various Hot Wheels sets. These could be purchased directly from Lux through this mail offer. In total there were four possible super value Hot Wheels sets to choose from and there was no limited to the quantity of track sets purchased. The available track sets were advertised in television commercials.
This Lux promotion was done in conjunction with Mattel Canada Ltd. The actual location of the Mattel plant in Canada was Toronto, Ontario.
Santa Pod Raceway Promotion (UK) (1971)
In 1971 Mattel sponsored racecar driver Ed Shaver. A special edition “Ed Shaver” AMX car was created and available in a blister card. The only way to acquire this special car in the blister packaging was at the "Santa Pod Raceway Gift shop". This is the track in the U.K. where Ed Shaver raced.
Ed Shaver’s AMX
Ed Shaver AMX Promotion™
This piece is extremely rare. Just when you thought the rear board beach bomb was the rarest. Here comes the Ed Shaver Custom AMX from the U.K. There is less than 10 know to exist in the hands of collector's. That is about 10 less than the rear boarded VW Beach Bomb. This piece is not a pre-production model. That make's this car even more rare. You could only get this car 3 way's the first being going to the drag strip in the U.K. and watching the Mattel sponsored Ed Shaver drag team (you say I thought Mattel only sponsored the snake and mongoose wrong!) the second being sending proof of purchase from Weetabix cereal. The third being sending 5 flame point's found on the back of blister pack's. Back in the 1970's the English were big into matchbox car's to care about the American drag racer. So in my eye's that is why there is not many around? That is just my opinion if you have your own opinion or one of these car's please feel free to email me with your thought's. There is one more item that goes with this piece and is as rare as the car. I know of only 3 in the hand's of collector's. This piece is the U.K. club kit catalog that look's like the us version but is totally different on the inside and it show's the Ed shaver drag team all 3 car's in color on a full page and the Ed shaver story. This is super rare! This car and catalog came from the former author of the U.K. hot wheel's newsletter. I also have newspaper clippings - model magazines – and other items about the car and they go with it. You will not find a more rare redline hot wheel car and you will not find this piece in the Tomart price guide.
Speed Test Day Promotion
This piece is super cool! These were given away to kid's in 1969 as a promotion for one day only! The kid's had to go to their local hot wheel's dealer for speed test day and race. All the kid's received an iron on patch - driver card - and a free redline. These are very hard to find! The people at Mattel must have been asleep when this one was made because this one has no (d) in driver.
If anyone has any other information on these promotions or any other promotion that have eluded us please let us know.