#20-10 Letter Getter

Letter Getter (at least for this writing)

The Letter Getter, exactly what it implies. This casting has been around for decades, literally. Maybe not some crazy cool Hot Rod but cool enough to be a fixture in the Hot Wheels city and metro line up. I am unsure what it is about the mail version but it is cool. 

     Where to begin, well at the beginning I suppose. Letter Getter was released in 1977 and is the design of Hot Wheels legend, Larry Wood [1]. There have been several versions of this casting although the variations are name only! The SWAT version was called, guess…. SWAT Van. Other names include: Pit Crew Van, Combat Medic, and Delivery Van [2].

There are not many features or details to discuss here, it is exactly what it is designed to be. A box delivery van. The liveries are what makes this casting great. The Letter Getter version shows a typical US mail truck livery, the SWAT van, the famous SWAT colors. So on and so on down the line. The interior is empty but has some floor casting if you can get in close enough to see it. The rear doors remained as an opening and functioning feature for a long time although there are some versions with closed, cast in place doors in place of the functioning ones.

There are some notable castings for this one if you are looking to boost your collection of city vehicles: 

1)     1989 – Wonder Bread Truck (mainline release)

2)   1990 – Larrys Garage Tune ups (Mainline release)

3)   1990 – Hazardous Waste (Homer Simpson Driver)

4)   2011 – Hot Ones

There are a lot of releases for this casting and they are fairly easy to find. It is not a fan favorite but some of the older releases carry a premium due to how long they have been around (43 year old casting!)

 

  

    The real-life vehicle seems to be a Chevy box van from the late 70s. Quite possibly a good candidate for a rear engine V8 monster sleeper! I estimate the brand by the fact that this shares the same nose detailing as the Rescue Ranger and the Chevy Custom Van castings. Some versions of this style van are still around and can be seen delivering something or another to and fro so owning a casting of something still in use is great for the imagination!

Happy Hunting,

Collector Quentin

       

I own the actual diecast pictured in this blog post. However, all Hot Wheels packaging artwork, Mattel logos, Hot Wheels logos, wheel types and paint descriptions in regard to the Hot Wheels versions are copyrights of the Mattel toy company.

[1] Casting information gathered from:

https://hotwheels.fandom.com/wiki/Letter_Getter