20 GF10 '70 Road Runner

’70 Plymouth Road Runner

Beep Beep! The 70 Road Runner is a great casting that collectors have latched onto for mote than 2 decades! Originally released in the 1998!

The 70 Road Runner casting has been featured in many different series and some very exclusive releases as well. Features such as Store exclusives like Ames, Hot Rod Magazine series, Snap On tools, Hot Wheels collector convention car just to name a few. This version is the 2010 mainline version and is a great release. The metallic silver paint with black and blue decals really give this release an aggressive street look that could have been the star of any of the Fast and Furious movies.

The 70 Road Runner casting represents the car in great form. Key features like the taillight setup, the trunk lock, hood vents, door handles and front grill are all clear and make for an easily recognizable casting. The blue interior is a little much for my taste but there is also something that just works with the decals. The J5 wheels in chrome represent a custom style street wheel.

Bottom line, the 70 Road Runner casting is a fun, casting that has a real world counterpart that can be witnessed at Mopar car shows from time to time. It has been in the lineup for now 22 years and has been featured in so many series and exclusives that there is something for every muscle car collector at all price levels. They are not real rare, so they are easy to find. This casting is good on the orange track system as well.

Thank you,

Collector Quentin

I now 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.

20 GF4 - Dodge Tomahawk

Dodge Tomahawk

Let’s clear the road for this one! This is not a fantasy casting. The Dodge Tomahawk is an actual vehicle although it is not street legal. It debuted at the 2003 International Auto Show and was sold to the public in very low numbers as a "collectable" vehicle. There are a couple reasons for the low numbers and not being street legal.

1        1)  There is a highway safety rule stating that to be considered a motorcycle, vehicles considered as motorcycles can only have a maximum of 3 wheels touching the pavement (Allpar.com [1]). The Tomahawk has 4 wheels so it would be required to uphold the safety features of a car.

         2) The LED light system is not not street legal.

         3)  This vehicle was not designed to be street legal, it was designed as a shock and awe event.

Don’t grunt to much, there are approximately 9 in existence and they ran around the $550k figure brand new, most likely around $1m if you found someone willing to let one go! The Tomahawk has a Viper V10 strapped to a motorcycle frame with 2 wheels sandwiched up front and two wheels out back. According to Allpar.com, the motorcycle can do 0-60 in 2.5 seconds and has a top speed of close to 400 mph although other sites claim 420mph was the top speed.

Hot Wheels loves extreme vehicles and this one was an easy oh yeah. It is actually a great casting, even if you didn’t know about the real ones. The double wheels make it one of the few motorcycles that can stand up without props and actually rolls on its own. The chrome version that has been gifted to me and represented here is the 2005 release in the mainline.

There is not much surface to decal, but the Dodge logo is clear on the tank. The casting has all the right details, the throttle body inlets, the top mounted handlebars, the suspension parts and engine are detailed to a high level for such a small platform to work with. The Tomahawk has not been featured in a while and it was limited on release. The only years of standard mainline were 2004 – 2007. The Tomahawk has appeared in the moto line which is a little different than the main Hot Wheels line (including price point). All in all, the Tomahawk is another moment in time casting that may or may not make appearances so when it does, be sure to add it to your collection!

Thank you,

Collector Quentin

I now 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.

[1] https://www.allpar.com/cars/concepts/tomahawk.html

#20-12 Rodger Dodger

 Rodger Dodger

Its all in the name sometimes. The Rodger Dodger is a great piece of Hot Wheels history. The casting continues to be featured in the mainline including 2020 releases. With some stints out of production, the casting has been around for 21 years! (excluding the out of production years)

     The casting was first released in 1974 [1]. It had a short run up to 1979 and then was re-tooled and re-released in 2000. The re-tooling just brought it up into the new century. However, in 2015 it was re-tooled again and brought the casting closer to reality as the exhaust was relocated from the hood to behind the front wheels and now exits below the front fenders [2]. The versions with the exhaust pipes on the hood is really cool but not sure if I can even imagine being able to see past them!

     Rodger Dodger is another fantastic creation of Larry Wood [3].  The latest release in the mainline (2020) is a gorgeous steam punk livery with gold and silver accents on a matte black paint. This release also has Grey wheels, something fairly new but really adds to the look of the steam punk look. 2019 also saw Rodger Dodger get released in the new id series line up (see my feature in the id series). It is an Amazon exclusive release and has another gorgeous livery in white, black and gold.

  From a collector’s angle, this is a gem. The first releases in the flying colors line are very difficult to track down and there is a very rare blue version of the first release. Rodger Dodger has been featured in several collector convention releases and the coveted treasure hunt line in 2001 and again in 2005 [4].

    

                    

    I personally owned a 1973 Charger SE with a 318. It was a fun, big car. It was no where near the pavement bruiser that the Rodger Dodger represents but I do wish I had though to invest in recreating the Rodger Dodger. I imagine the powerplant would be a 426 or 440 big block. Reminiscing, I remember a lot of fun with this car even though it wasn’t much on power. 70s era chargers have gained a lot of popularity in the real car collector market and seeing one at a car show is always a treat.

                  

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.

Dodge and Charger are copyrights of Fiat FCA LLC.

[1] Casting information gathered from:

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

id 20-02 - Rodger Dodger

Rodger Dodger – id exclusive (livery -  Amazon only)

The mainline release of Rodger Dodger in 2020 was an amazingly done steampunk paint job in black, gold and silver and I thought it was the nicest Rodger dodger I had witnessed in a long time. Then along came my package with the id version in it. It is an Amazon exclusive release. The level of detail here will be hard to wrap up in a short version but I will try to limit myself!

The id version is the same tooling as the main line Hot Wheels Rodger dodger casting. However, the decorations are what makes this one over the top and into 3^rd on my personal id favorites list so far. The off-white pearl plastic body is adorned with black and yellow Hot Wheels logo. The colors contrast and compliment very nicely and make a connection to the steampunk look on the main line. The only disappointment is the lack of front or rear decals.  The wheels however have a two-tone red and yellow accent stripe which only appears on this release so far. The number 68 represents the official beginning to the Hot Wheels toy line and is a great accent for this exclusive livery.

I have won many city races on the app with this car, it is just so much fun to drive virtually. It is a great orange track car as well 

so when I get  a hold of a portal, I will update with my app progress of the Rodger Dodger.

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.