The age-old question in any collector hobby is “What are the rarest and most desirable pieces?” In the world of Hot Wheels, it’s no different. I get asked this same question on a fairly regular basis from other passionate collectors and friends of mine. Everyone wants to know.
Rare pieces in any hobby are truly a matter of opinion, and this holds true for the old REDLINE Hot Wheels. Over the past thirty years, I’ve purchased literally hundreds of original one owner REDLINE Hot Wheels collections that has equated into thousands of cars. In all those years, I’ve come across some amazingly rare pieces like the Orange Peeping Bomb with painted head-lights, unpainted ZAMAC Custom VW and Classic Nomad, Blue Power Pad, Purple Short Order, Orange Classic Cord, Hot Pink Classic Cord, Rear Louvered Custom Mustang, Open Hood Scoop Custom Mustangs, Chocolate Brown Nitty Gritty Kitty, and many more. As rare as some of these are, they still pale in comparison to the rarest of the rare REDLINE Hot Wheels.
Some collectors over the years have ranked the rarest Hot Wheels, but I’m gonna resist that temptation and base it on my over three decades of experience collecting these little gems. So let’s get started with what, in my opinion, are the rarest REDLINE Hot Wheels in no particular order, prototypes included. Keep in mind that this list is not an exhaustive list by any means. Next month I will cover what I think are the toughest cars to find in the original one owner childhood collections that most of us had as kids.
The Rarest!
OLDS 442
Probably the most desirable and rarest of the regular production cars is the OLDS 442. 
What makes some of this casting extremely rare are a few of the colors that it was released in. This casting had a very brief run in the stores prior to it being pulled by Mattel for legal reasons. The OLDS 442 is rare period, but especially rare in Purple, Lite Blue, Hot Pink, and Lite Green. There is also an extremely rare OLDS 442 prototype that was produced in Red with a Black Interior. 
Even the collectors buttons (Plastic & Metal) that came with the car back in the day are going for $100+ each on any given day. The “STAR”sticker Sheets that also came with the car are now fetching over $300 a piece. Needless to say, this is the car every REDLINE collector wants as a centerpiece in their collection.
Rear Loading Beach Bomb
Another extremely rare and desirable piece is the Rear Loading Beach Bomb Prototype. I only mention this casting because of the desirability of the piece both as a prototype and as a full pro-duction as the Side Loading model. About 50 examples of the Rear Loader prototype in all colors are known to exist, in all different types of condition. Hot Pink, Lite Blue, and Antifreeze tend to bring the biggest bucks when one does trade hands which rarely happens. The Rear Loading Beach Bomb was only produced as a test car and was pulled from the line due to its inability to hold the track through the Super Charger (Top Heavy), in lieu of the Side Loading Beach Bomb. Pictures of the Rear Loading Beach Bomb showed up late in 1969 and early in 1970 as a car that was part of the new line of Hot Wheels for that year, but never made it to the production line due to its issue of not being able to hold the track. One example actually made it to the Antiques Road Show recently on PBS and was valued by their resident Toy Expert at $100,000.00 – $150,000.00.
In my opinion, all the original REDLINE Hot Wheels are rare and only becoming more so as time goes on. Finding these beauties in near mint to mint condition is becoming more difficult with every passing year. First produced in 1967 and released in 1968, a lot of the cars are now over 50 years old. Time is not kind to the spectra flame paint depending on how they are stored and in what climate.
You now ask yourself the age old question: “How do I sell my old Hot Wheels?”
LOOK NO FURTHER!
Here at REDLINE ARCHEOLOGY, we will appraise your collection, at NO COST and NO OBLIGATION, and make the highest offer in the hobby for your cars, if they are from the years we are looking for 1967 – 1977.
With over 30 years of diggin’ up original one owner Hot Wheels collections, REDLINE ARCHEOLOGY is the only place to have your old Hot Wheels appraised by one of the most successful collectors in the hobby, Bob Young. Bob has recently authored a book titled “REDLINE ARCHEOLOGY: A History of Diggin’ Up Original Hot Wheels Collections” now available on AMAZON and Barnes & Noble. Call us anytime at 856.912.2463 or complete our contact form.
REDLINE Hot Wheels are considered the most desirable of all the Hot Wheels, but also the most expensive across the board. You will get an argument from some hardcore mainliners, but for the most part, these puppies are what every Hot Wheels collector truly dreams about. Hot Wheels were first released by the Mattel corporation in the summer of 1968; June ’68 to be more accurate. I think they timed it just perfectly for my 8th birthday celebration in July. 😉 They were produced for the following ten years, until 1977 and also switched from the shiny Spectraflame to the Enamel paint for the most part in 1973. They were an instant hit with their California Custom designs, Spectraflame Paint, Cool packaging, and the most innovative accessories for any toy line at the time and still to this day, in my opinion. Hot Wheels just blew away the competition, Matchbox, and as they say, the REST IS HISTORY!
When Mattel started producing the reproduction Redlines, they either stamped the bases with the Hot Wheels logo or placed a small Hot Wheels logo TAMPO on the body of the cars. Another way of identifying the originals is to look at the base to see where they were produced. The original Redlines were only produced in the US and Hong Kong. Newer reproductions were produced in Malaysia. Also keep in mind that even though a car may have a date of 1968 stamped on the base, does not make it an original. The date is the first year of production for that model/casting.