hotwheels redlines

                 Guide to Collecting Redline Hot Wheels

                           Executive Summary By Jay Villaverde

Hot Wheels first came out to the market in 1968. Soon, this was changed to cars being exclusively made in either the United States or Hong Kong, and by 1972 all of the Hot Wheels cars were being manufactured solely in Hong Kong.

From 1968 to 1977, all of the Hot Wheels cars had tires with painted on red lines around them. This was a very distinguishable trait of these early Hot Wheel designs and is the reason why this age of Hot Wheels production is known as the "Redline Era" and the cars themselves are known as Redline Hot Wheels.

Of the first 16 models introduced in 1968, 9 of them were customized versions of actual, in-production vehicles of the time and the other 7 models were show cars and racing cars. Redline Wheels: As mentioned, all of the original Hot Wheels are now known as Redline Hot Wheels, for the red paint around the tires.

Chrome Rims/Hubs: Another famous trait is the chrome rims. When the cars were being made both in Hong Kong and the United States, the Hong Kong wheels typically had shinier, brighter chrome.

Grading Redline Hot Wheels

There is a big market for the collecting of the original Redline cars. A "near mint" car may appear largely intact but has the minor defects that hinder it being rated as mint. An "excellent" Redline will have visible damage to the paint, the wheels and the body.