HW Stangs Guide to Mustang Hot Wheels
Chapter 1: Introduction
Let me start off by saying Hot Wheels has been putting out some very nice die cast models since 1968. Kids and collectors alike have took notice and made the cars very popular. But there is just one car that makes its appearance in almost every case of Hot Wheels. That car would be the Ford Mustang. The Mustang has been a huge part of Hot Wheels success. From the custom Mustang in 1968 to the 2005 Mustang that debuted in the mainlines in 2005, Hot Wheels has paid a lot of respect to such an iconic car. Seems there is always a “New Model” Mustang being released by Mattel to introduce into the Hot Wheels mainlines. This guide is to educate you on the many castings of Mustangs and to pay respect to one of the most successful sports cars in American history. If your a Hot Wheels Mustang collector, this guide will be for you! I hope you enjoy it!
Chapter 2: Redline Era Mustangs ('68-'77)
When Hot Wheels came out in 1968, they came out with what is now called the original sixteen. These first sixteen castings sported redline tires and today that is what makes these very valuable. These Hot Wheels immediately became popular as kids from all over were buying them. It's wasn't too long after they started becoming very collectible. Adults started collecting these die cast cars and the hobby only grew as time went by. The red line era was from 1968 to 1977. One of the most collected castings from the original sixteen and red line era was a car called the Custom Mustang. There were fifteen colors released of this Mustang and were made either in Hong Kong or the United States. One of the rarest colors to be found was the watermelon color. This color was only found on the Custom Mustang that came with a in-store display.
There were several colors of interiors that you could find on the Custom Mustang. There were five interior colors and they were black, gray, white, tan, and red. The US made Mustangs with white interiors are more desirable by collectors today.
You could also find the Custom Mustang with louvered windows in colors of red, yellow, orange and light blue. These were hard to find and today bring a pretty penny on the secondary market.
Another very cool variation only found in the gold and red colored Custom Mustangs was the open hood scoop variation. These too sell today for good money on the secondary market. The RLC (Red Line Club, which is later discussed in the guide) did a replica of the gold open hood scoop Custom Mustang in 2013.
It wasn't up until 1970 when Hot Wheels released another Mustang, the Boss Hoss, and this one was colored in chrome only obtainable thru an offering on the back of an international collectors catalog. It only came with black or white interior with white being the less common of the two.
In 1971 Hot Wheels released the Boss Hoss as a regular Hot Wheels model. Some were released with color over chrome. This was from where they used unsold chrome club cars from 1970 and painted over the chrome. These today are very collectible and valuable on the secondary market.
There were eleven colors released on the Boss Hoss. The rose and pink colors were found with stripes on the roof. The brown and olive colors were found with solid black roofs.
The only two colors found on the interiors were black or white with black being the more common color found.
In 1975 Hot Wheels introduced another Mustang casting. The Mustang Stocker was released as a Flying Colors and only had three colors. A yellow one with orange and magenta stripes was the most common one found. Another yellow one was found but this one had red and blue stripes. A white one was also found and it also had red and blue stripes. The white one was the hardest to find and today is considered one of the rarest Mustang Stockers. The yellow one with red and blue stripes is considered rare today but not as rare as the white Mustang Stocker.
In 1976, the Mustang Stocker was released again in the Super Chromes and only sported one color, chrome. It had orange and magenta tampos and redline tires.
The Mustang Stocker was again released in 1977, again as a Super Chromes car. Also in 1977 black wall tires was introduced to Hot Wheels. This Mustang Stocker had two wheel variations on it. One sported redline tires and the other sported black wall tires. Both were the same color, chrome and had white, blue, and red stars and stripes. Each had black interiors and sported unpainted HK bases.
This concludes the redline era of Mustangs. The redline Mustangs are considered some of the most collected Hot Wheels today and are sought after by many collectors. These are also some of the most expensive Hot Wheels Mustangs out today.
Chapter 3: Black Wall Era Mustangs ('78-'88)
After 1977 Hot Wheels did away with the redline tires and went to a new tire called a black wall. These are collectible but are no where near as valuable as the red lines are. The black wall era runs from 1978 to 1988 and includes some very nice Mustang castings.
In 1978 Hot Wheels released a number of Hot Wheels and once again, the Mustang Stocker was included in the list. It appeared in the Super Streeters segment of the 1978 Hot Wheels. It was chrome and sported black wall tires with white, blue, and red stars and stripes. Along with blue tinted windows, it sported an unpainted HK base.
If you were a Mustang collector in the late '70's to early 80's, it must have been a depressing time. After the 1978 release of the black wall Mustang Stocker, the next Mustang from Hot Wheels didn't appear until 1981. This Mustang released in 1981 was a new casting to the Hot Wheels world and became an instant hit with collectors. Today, the casting is very collected and one of the most popular black wall Mustang castings.
The Mustang Turbo that hit stores in 1981 was orange with black Cobra tampos on the hood. It had black wall tires as well. This Mustang Turbo was the first of many to come.
The 1982 Hot Wheels consisted of some very nice castings and once again the Mustang Turbo showed up. It was put into the Hot Ones segment of Hot Wheels and consisted of two different colors. The colors that could be found on this Mustang were red and yellow. The red could be found as a Hong Kong casting or a Malaysian casting. Both had black cobra tampos on the hood and sported black walls. Another red variation could also be found with black, yellow, orange, and blue tampos. The second color, yellow, was found with black, orange, and red tampos. All of these sported black wall tires but a different kind of black wall tires made especially for the Hot Ones series. They were called Gold Hot Ones and were sported by many castings in the Hot Ones segment of Hot Wheels in 1982.
Also in 1982 Hot Wheels brought back the Mustang Stocker. The color was white with blue stripes and had black wall tires. It also had an interior variation as it could have been found with either a tan or yellow interior. The yellow interior was the uncommon of the two and harder to find.
In 1983 the Mustang Turbo showed up again in the Hot Wheels mainlines. This time only one color but with a twist. Two variations of red could been found on this Mustang. One being just a plain red color; the other a metallic red. There were two variations of the metallic red and just one of the plain red. All three sported the GHO black walls but were not part of the Hot Ones segment of Hot Wheels in 1983. The plain red variation had dark yellow tampos with a Mexico base. One metallic red variation had dark red, black, and yellow stripes while the other metallic red variation had no tampos with a Mexico base.
The Mustang Stocker made another appearance in the 1983 Hot Wheels but in two different segments. One Mustang Stocker showed up in the Hot Ones segment and was the harder to find of the two cars. It was yellow with yellow interior and had regular black wall tires on it. The second one that showed up in 1983 in the Speed Machines segment. It was black with black wall tires.
Chapter 4: Blue Card Era Mustangs ('89-'94)
This guide will be finished at a later date.
