TEXAS TOY MAN

Hot Wheels: State Police Cruiser, 1976

 

 

 

This Olds 442 Police Cruiser is the Hot Wheel ‘muscle-car’ model that had the hood cast shut and the plastic roof in the color light blue. As an interesting sideline, Mattel also produced some similar castings including the Olds 442 in 1971; Chief’s Special in 1975; Maxi Taxi in 1976, and Army Staff Car in 1976.

 

The version pictured here also comes with the yellow and black ‘State Police’ tampo on both doors. There were two other variations of the ‘Police Cruiser 6963′ that came with an opening engine cover, stickers on the side with ‘Police’ (instead of State Police), and red plastic light on top.

 

Note: The ‘State Police’ car models (not pictured) produced in 1973 by Hot Wheel had stickers instead of tampos and was one (1) of only three (3) cars Mattel ever produced with stickers. And if you’re wondering what those other two (2) cars were…. they were the Snake and Mongoose.

 

This 1976 Hot Wheel State Police Cruiser has the following features:

 

• RSW-Redline tires
• The number 12 on both front fenders
• ‘State Police Law Enforcement’ tampo on both doors
• White in color
• Blue plastic roof light
• Blue tinted windshield
• Radar printed on both rear fenders
• Two cast roof-top sirens
• Small front redline tires
• Medium rear redline tires
• Made in Hong Kong
• Plastic chrome chassis
• Cast shut hood
• Black plastic interior

 

As stated, if collecting the Olds 442 style cars, your collection will include not only these three (3) state police cars, but also the others we mentioned above … the Olds 442-BW, Chief’s Special-RSW, Maxi-Taxi-RSW and Army Staff Car-RSW.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hot Wheels – ‘The Demon’ by Mattel

 

 

This Hot Wheel Redline – ‘The Demon’ – was produced by Mattel from 1970-71. It was based on the original show car ‘Lil Coffin’ . The original car was a ’32 Ford Sedan and when finished was painted an ‘Apple Red’. To read more about the original ‘Lil Coffin’ visit this link.

Mattel’s ‘Demon’ came in varying combinations of colors. The car produced during the 1970-71 period came in 10 different metallic colors: Aqua, Blue, Brown, Green, Lt. Green, Olive, Orange, Purple, Red, and Yellow. In addition to the 10 different body colors, the car also was produced with two (2) different interior colors: Black and White. While the black interior is the more common version, if you are lucky enough to have – or find – one with a white interior, you can expect to have the value of the car double.

Our ‘Demon’ feature here has the following features:

• Produced 1970-71
• Metal chassis
• Blue tinted windshield
• Redline tires (RSW)
• Black interior (plastic)
• Made in Hong Kong
• Black roof (painted)
• Exposed engine
• Metallic Aqua color

 

Mattel has often based their Hot Wheels on ‘real’ cars driven by ‘real’ people. If you would like to see some pictures of the Lil Coffin as it appeared at a car show in 2008, visit this link.

 

Hot Wheels “Vintage” Mongoose (Ltd. Ed. 10,000)

The original, copyrighted (1969) Mattel Hot Wheels Mongoose was first introduced to the market in 1970. This ‘re-issue’ of that vintage Hot Wheel hit the market in 1994.

Both issues were based on the famous funny car of the top drag race driver – Tom “Mongoose” McEwen. The Hot Wheels pictured in this post was manufactured for Mattel in China with the following features:

• Red color
• Black interior
• Clear windshield
• Lift-up-body
• Metal base
• BW Red-line (Basic Wheels)
• Matching Hot Wheels Collector’s Button
• Coke Cola and “Mongoose” emblem on hood
• Tom “Mongoose” McEwen shown on both sides of the car
• ‘Sugarless Care Free Chewing Gum’ logo on both sides
• Hot Wheels and Coke Cola logo on both sides
• Pennzoil logo on both sides of the car
• Hot Wheels Vintage logo embossed on the bottom
• “Mongoose” embossed on the bottom
• Mattel Inc. 1969 embossed on the bottom
• China embossed on the bottom

This limited edition “Mongoose” funny-car “drag racer” was famous for racing against the Don “Snake” Prudhomme. Their races were legend in their fierce competition over the years.

If you’re lucky enough to find one of the Limited Edition 10,000 of this car, I would highly recommend adding it to your collection – IF it is in good condition “near mint” and still in original packaging.