Koolwheelz Original 16 (Mattel Hot Wheels tribute)

[airdave]

[Doubting Thomas]

Dave, I got to meet one of the designers for Mattel in the 1980's before his retirement. I haven't thought about him and his wife in a very long time. Even though I have a modest collection of Hot Wheels. I showed him some of mine when I was in High School and by my birthday in Aug. there was a large manila envelope addressed to me. Inside were two (new then) Hot Wheels catalogs. He and his wife were related to our friends who lived down in Capistrano Beach south of Los Angeles.
He told me that he most enjoyed working on the Mattel "Sto & Go" automobile artwork for their play-sets. When the couple retired, they moved to Albuquerque NM. So seeing your last post made me look them up...he passed away in 2015. A good friend I will always remember. (I still have my collection too). Maybe I'll download some of your new ones. My middle brother always wanted the corvette stingray like your last post, while my oldest brother loved his mustang he bought, the real ones that is.

[airdave]

The Hot Wheels Custom Fleetside was one of my favorite Hot Wheels at the time.
I clearly remember the hot purple version that I owned!
...
Another Harry Bradley concept, it was apparently inspired by his own customized Chevrolet El Camino.
His own sketches and notes corroborate this fact.
And this particular car established what he called the "California custom look" for all Hot Wheels designs.


...
The original model was produced for two years and featured a full interior and opening rear (plastic) Tonneau cover.
It was retooled in 1970 into the Sky Show Fleetside.
...
The Koolwheelz version is once again slightly larger than the real Hot Wheels toy
and the model sheet once again features a replica of the original Collectors Badge for this car.
...
A basic assembly diagram is also included on the Model Sheet.
Find it in the Showrodz-Toys-Original 16 section of Koolwheelz!

[fleetsailor1981]

I remember having the skyshow set back in the early 70s, Dave you keep bringing back the great memories and I thank you for that.

[Vermin_King]

I had the sky show, too.

[Scott K]

My Custom Fleetside was the copper coloured one. It came with my Popup Service Station. See one here; Vintage hot wheels 1968 red line era pop-up service station ** | Sportscards.com

The station and "my" Fleetside.

[airdave]

oh wow! that brings back memories. I had one of those too!

But I did not remember it until this moment.

I can now remember how the folded ends of the building did not pop out on their own
when the case was unfolded, and it did not want to open flat!

I don't remember where I got it, or when, or where it went.
But i remember you could attach it to the orange track.

Not sure if I had exactly that one...there seems to be different designs...

Vintage 1967 HOT WHEELS Pop-Up Service Station ptr | eBay

[airdave]

[airdave]

Koolwheelz Original 16 series Number 6....

In 1961, the staff of Car Craft magazine designed the "Dream Rod",
a small two seater Hot Rod which was later built by master car builder Bill Cushenberry.
Bill created the car using many existing car components and body parts and it was powered by a small Ford V8 engine.

After making the Show Car rounds, the car was sold in 1966 and restyled as the Tiger Shark with numerous alterations.
The newer Tiger Shark was the inspiration for master designer and builder Dean Jeffries to create the Cheetah design for Hot Wheels.
The model was obviously renamed Python when released.

Regarding the myth that early Pythons were named Cheetahs...
while original Mattel ads showed the car as the "Cheetah" ...and there were a few pre-production Cheetah prototypes made...
the model was actually renamed before release (in 1968), and the model was shipped to the public as the "Python".
A few Cheetah prototypes, like many Hot Wheels prototypes, ended up in the hands of Mattel employee's children for testing purposes.
Today, they are very rare collectables.

I never owned the Hot Wheels Python when I was younger, but it is a very interesting design with its asymetrical body.
And the detailed chrome engine projecting through the front deck makes this a powerful looking hot rod!
Most of the Pythons featured a black painted roof...some errors and pre-production models did not.



The model sheet once again contains a replica of the original Collectors Badge for this car.

A basic assembly diagram is also included on the Model Sheet.
Consider this one of the more difficult cars in this series to build.

Find it in the Showrodz-Toys-Original 16 section of Koolwheelz.

[Vermin_King]

I am not sure which of my light-fingered friends ended up with my copy of this one, but one day it 'just wasn't there'.