id 20-15 Batmobile

Batmobile – id

Batmobile! POW! Here is another Hot Wheels Batmobile that is done really well. Batman started in the movie theatres in the late 90s. This was the first Batmobile of the new era in Batman trilogies. This Batmobile is not only nostalgic at this point (30 years old!) but it also carries several similarities to the essence of the original Batmobile. Extreme styling and a rocket engine, yet this vehicle is believable as a real car. The original 66 Batmobile was derived from a GTO, this version maybe a corvette? Yeah you see it. The newer versions are more like spaceships than cars and don't resemble any cars at all.

As you might have expected from the id series at this point, this one is not short of details. The car in the movies was flat black but the spectraflame black on the id release looks cool, almost a gunmetal color that gives it some flash while still looking menacing. It features a Batman logo on the side (period correct logo as well) and carries the black and yellow scheme from the period as well. The base, windows and thrusters are yellow plastic so when light hits it just right, it almost glows. There is a lot of detail like trunk louvres and the side panels where the machine guns popped out of in the movie.

Michael Keaton was the Batman for this one and we can probably debate for hours about who was the best Batman, but if anyone was to ask my opinion of the “Bat Cars” in the new era, this one is the best and it was the first (in the new era). Add this one to your collection quick, they have sold out 2x on the web and I have never found one in the stores. This Batmobile is a fan favorite in the Hot Wheels world as well.

              

Thank you,

Collector Quentin

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

id 20-14 - Arachnorod

               

Arachnorod– id

The name says all it needs to. This is a fantasy casting and has been in the mainline for quite some time. It was first released in the mainline in 2000. I rarely like the fantasy lines and even least, the animal related lines. However, this one comes from a time when I was deep in the collecting and I admit that I really like the Arachnorod. I think that this is actually believable as a car.

As is the theme with the id series, the Arachnorod-id is a great addition to any collection. The paint is two tone, black base and grey details. From the top, the detailing makes it look like an actual spider. There is a red spider on the nose of the car that hints at a black widow. The engine cover and exhaust are in chrome and are also highly detailed. If you look closely at the detailing of the front end, you can see the imprints of the eyes and fangs of a spider! Note that on some Arachnorods (mainline) the eyes are actually open with a plastic insert! The more you look around this casting, the more really cool features come out. One feature I didn’t catch until taking the pictures for the post are the wheels. If you look at them head on, the spokes are chrome. The darkness of the wheel well leads you to believe the wheels are typical black plastic. However, turn the car over and add a little light, the wheels are actually a translucent smoke color! The red from the plastic base shines through to highlight the red even more!

I honestly passed on this one several times. Then as I was cruising through the smile company, I noticed it was on sale, so I snatched one for my collection. I am very pleased with the purchase and will not be passing on Arachnorods anymore!

This car is ok in the app, it is the better of the street beast series in my opinion. It handles well and is pretty fast.

Thank you,

Collector Quentin

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

id 20-13 Pagani Huayra

Pagani Huayra – id

I recently started taking notice to Pagani automobiles and its incredible take on automotive styling. The Huayra is the latest model in the Pagani line. The real car approaches the $3 million mark to own and the service is around 15k per year so its not a practical car for guys like me. But when Hot Wheels added one to the id series line, I had to have a small piece of this historic car.

The id series Huayra is an honorable tribute to the real car. The livery is an actual livery available on the real car. The gold colored id wheels look like wheels you would actually find on the real car. The decal on the side of the car features the signature of Horacio Pagani, the designer and company owner himself. Headlights and taillights are highly detailed and the pinstriping on the car to separate the colors is the Italian tricolore made famous on many Italian supercars of today. The Pagani logos on the tail of the car are also finely detailed, mimicking the sense of detail in the real car.

I really would like to touch on the real car for a quick minute. As I started looking into this car, I quickly became captivated by the amount of thought put into every detail of all Pagani cars but most of all the Huayra. It has electronic wind flaps front and rear that lift as needed and independent from each other. The gear shift is not necessary but Pagani though it was important enough to include one anyway. The shifter features over 50 moving parts and it is open to view the parts moving as it is used. They even included an LED light to show it off in night conditions. The attention to even the most minor detail is unprecedented. Every titanium bolt is stamped with the Pagani logo, the dash assembly is hand made by an Italian watchmaker. Gloss coated carbon fiber is used in the front suspension area where only owners will ever see. Each Huayra is custom made to spec by the purchaser and even comes with a designer leather luggage set, also tailored to the owners spec. it may not be a practical car but it is a rolling piece of art and has the power to back it up. If you have time, look up Pagani Huayra and look at the details for yourself.

This car is a blast to drive in the app. I have used it several times. It is fast and handles like you would expect from a virtual Huayra! Much applause for the Huayra, both in real life and for the Hot Wheels id version. 

Thank you,

Collector Quentin

I own the actual diecast pictured in this post. However, all packaging artwork, Mattel or Hot Wheels logos, paint descriptions and wheel descriptions copyrights of the Mattel toy company.

Pagani and Huayra are trademarks of Pagani Automobili S.p.a.

id 20-12 HW50 Concept

HW50 Concept – id

The HW50 was released in the mainline in 2018 as a part of the 50^th anniversary of Hot Wheels. It is not clear if this casting is intended to be the next flagship car yet. The Bone Shaker remains the flagship for now. The HW50 joins the growing lineup of hot rods in the rat rod genre.

The original release wore HW blue colors and 50^th anniversary wheels. It was not released in the mainline in 2019 but it made the id series instead. The Hot Wheels blue plastic body is translucent and looks great with the silver flames all over the body. The chrome interior, windows and engine parts give the translucent body a cool glow in bright light. The all large id wheels give the HW50 an aggressive look that can handle any corner. The clearance is good and the HW50 does well on the orange track.

This car is great in the app. It is fast, responsive and does not need boosting to win races early on. I noticed that in the app, this car is depicted with treaded tires which indicates real riders (the actual casting does not have real riders) where most app cars have just regular plastic looking wheels. Interesting. This is one worth adding to the collection.

Thank you,

Collector Quentin

I own the actual diecast pictured in this post. However, all packaging artwork, Mattel logos, Hot Wheels logos, id logos and wheel descriptions are copyrights of the Mattel toy company.

id 20-11 Volkswagen T1 GTR

Volkswagen T1 GTR – id

Volkswagen T1 vans have been a hot item for Hot Wheels. It is no surprise considering that the most valuable Hot Wheels is a T1 van! (Pink Beach Bomb side loader) There are a lot of versions of the T1 in the Hot Wheels line up and I really like that they branched out with another version for the id series.

      The T1 GTR is not released in any other part of the Hot Wheels line up. I am confident that most collectors will like this version. Hot Wheels captures all the looks for this one, including a racing placard on the side, a carbon look to the roof and all the lights are highly detailed. The chrome smaller id wheels give the casting a lower center of gravity, but the lower stance and long wheel base are huge disadvantages on the orange track.

Interestingly, this model represents a recent fad in Europe where they actually put a high-end engine in the back of one of these – typically a Porsche engine – and race them. There are several videos on Youtube of vans similar to this one frustrating high-performance cars!

   

 

This casting is great in the app. I raced it a couple times. The T1 handles great for a bulky car and has great speed.

Thank you,

Collector Quentin

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

id 20-08 Darth Vader

Darth Vader - id (Apple Store Exclusive)

The dark lord theme playing in the background, out of the fog comes the shadowy presence of he, the sith lord, Darth Vader. And with that scene in your mind, out rolls the Darth Vader id car the heavy breathing from the exhaust and its presence. There is a regular line casting in the Star Wars series of character cars but this version is designed to impress. There is also a real life version, a running functioning Hot Wheels Darth Vader! See the link below for the Jay Leno Garage episode featuring the real car (it is approx 22 minutes long)!

The id version is the same tooling as the character cars Hot Wheels Darth Vader casting. The paint on this version is incredibly beautiful. The depth of the gloss black is sinister and the smoothness of the paint surface on the car I obtained is like an alien monolith. There are so many little details to this casting that I may need another page. One really cool feature of the real car (that is too small to recreate here) is the area of the mask on the front of the car. Where the darker stripes are on the real car, there are Hot Wheels logos cutout for air inlets! There is also a coveted prize in the interior - watch the linked video to see what it is!

Back to the casting, the base is clear but Mattel has mounted a red piece midway so when you look at the car from the side, the red shines through and looks like Darth Vaders light saber (clearly visible in the picture below). A clever additional note is the side pipe area also serves as the light saber handle. The wheels are the only release to not say HWid on them, instead one side reads “Darkside” and the other side reads “Sith Series”….love this detail. From above, the infamous helmet is well detailed and is easily recognizable.

Another notable detail is the packaging usually tells you how many are in the sub series, this one is labeled as Galactic Empire Series and does not have a 1 of number, indicating that it will be the only one in series one. The dark side needs no other. It is noted on the Apple store website as Apple store only but I have heard rumors of them showing up in Target stores. Ooops!? No matter how you get one, this is sure to shine in any collection.

Time to test it out in the app. As of this writing, this car does not even show up in the list of id cars so I am very curious what happens.
**Editorial note** I was able to scan Darth Vader into the app. The car comes in at full power and is a blast to drive. The dark lord wins every race! 

Thank you,

Collector Quentin

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

Click here to watch Jay Leno Garage review the Hot Wheels Darth Vader!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMoGFbhLgJw

#20-11 Bone Shaker

Bone Shaker

The Bone shaker. The latest flagship car for the Hot Wheels brand. Hot Wheels has always embodied and celebrated cool hot rods and custom cars. Flagship car – a car that Mattel / Hot Wheels has actually manufactured into a real-life car that tours to chows and collector events around the United States. In an episode of Jay Leno Garage, a Hot Wheels designer noted that there are 14 such cars. The Bone Shaker is one of those additions. Darth Vader is the latest.

     The Bone Shaker casting has been featured in the Xbox Forza Motorsport video game and is the only car in the id series app to have a different paint job for the app car than the physical casting.  

The Bone Shaker was designed by Larry Wood and was first released in 2006 [1]. Bone shaker is the embodiment of the rat rod styling. A huge skull for a front grill, the skeleton hands holding the headlights in place. No frills interior, just seats and pedals are all you need. There have been a couple different versions of the casting. The main casting has an open roof. There is also a casting with a closed roof. There is a 1:48 scale release. 2018 collectors were treated to a limited run chase version with rubber tires painted like the real-life car and there were only 10000 pieces made, making it extremely rare and expensive when found for sale.

Bone Shaker has been in the main line every year since 2006 and has been featured in most of the Premium line including the 2020 Boulevard set which is a collector favorite (the boulevard sets have premium liveries and real riders with special wheels). There is also a special Batman 5 pack release that has not appeared anywhere else, the Joker Bone Shaker with purple paint and green wheels. Bone Shaker is a simple casting with not too much detail, but it doesn’t need a lot of detail, it is a true rat rod and that is how rat rods are meant to be. Bad to the Bone!!!

The real car is an exact replica (not sure which came first) of the 1:64 version. If you are curious about the specs and more images, check out this short article for more information:

https://hotwheels.mattel.com/explore/HW_50th/en/2011-bone-shaker

(photo courtesy of Google - labeled for reuse)

Take note that the real car is the open top version! There is no doubt that the Bone Shaker, weather in real life or on the pegs, will be sure to entertain and amuse all ages of Hot Wheels fans for many years to come.

Happy Peg 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/Bone_Shaker