Hot wheels redline design series series#

More importantly, the wheels made Matchbox cars difficult to get moving.Ĭonvinced that he could break into the die-cast game, Handler joined forces with a team of designers to create a series of aesthetically-pleasing, lightning-fast cars. Surely, Handler felt, kids would rather play with designer hot rods. For one thing, these little cars were all based on existing automobiles. The dominant force in that market was the English Matchbox brand, whose scaled-down vehicles left a lot to be desired (at least in Handler’s opinion). In the 1960s, tiny die-cast car toys were all the rage. Elliot had his doubts, telling his wife that “no mother is ever going to buy her daughter a doll with breasts.” But he was wrong: Barbie debuted in 1959, and within 12 months, Mattel had sold 351,000 of the dolls.īut soon, Elliot would have his own multimillion-dollar idea. Then, in the late 1950s, Ruth hit on what would prove to be a brilliant idea: The Handlers' young daughter, Barbara, loved to play with paper dolls inspired, Ruth decided to create a three-dimensional replacement for the primitive toys. In its early years, the company’s biggest hits were novelty items like cap guns and ukuleles.

By 1946, toy manufacturing had become Mattel’s specialty. Handler started using spare parts to make dollhouse furniture, which was sold on the side. HOT WHEELS WERE THE BRAINCHILD OF ELLIOT HANDLER, WHOSE WIFE CREATED BARBIE.Įlliot and Ruth Handler, along with their friend Harold Matson, founded a picture frame company named Mattel in 1945. Here are 11 other things you might not know about those iconic racing toys called Hot Wheels. And they're about to get a big-screen adaptation courtesy of Fast & Furious director Justin Lin. They can zip along orange trackways at speeds of almost 600 scale miles per hour. They vary in price from $1 to more than $100,000. An estimated 41 million people have played with them.

Hot wheels redline design series