Well I do not know how many people know about this but I know alot of companies at Walmart have stepped into the HO market making cheaper cars available for much less and the newest one to hit the market is Hot Wheels. Has anyone seen any of these cars? Well I have bought about 5 of them so far. The best thing for me is that there are 2005 Ford Mustangs available. Only in Tan but they look great and are an average car to have on any modern day train layout. They cost $2.97 each. They also have a porche type of car, some muscle cars as usual and I am betting this is just a start for them. They must be thinking of releasing new styles as time passes. The Mustangs look real good too. Push over Malibu Hot wheels is here! How wheels line of cars is huge so imagine if they start providing HO cars like they do the regular cars. Would be real nice then. Well if you have not seen the cars yet run down to your local Wally world and see f tehy ahve arrived. I found them in my state of Connectcut
I just hope thay they come out with some Japanese autos. Some Toyota, Nissan, and etc. would be nice. I want more trucks, mini trucks and SUVs. Moterhomes and campers would be nice too.
Yeah, we talked about this a few weeks ago - the usual diecast cavets apply, viz the ones in the Plastic Display box are HO scale (or close to it), the ones in the bubblepack packaging are S scale.
I have the Hot Wheels mustang (got it last week at Wal-Fart), and while OK the rear wheel well seems to really throw the whole proportion off - its larger than the front wheel well by a significant amount (well, the rear wheel/tire [.345] is larger than the front wheel/tire [.285] that is true, but the wheel wells seem more noticible [R .400/F 0.350]). Did you notice that in your model Mustang (and how is the ratio for the Ricko Mustangs)?
The wheels are actually correct. Those of you who know mustangs know that the newer mustangs have different versions and in some versions the cars come with like 18"s on the front and 20"s on the rear. Alot of car do that too. It looks just like the Mustang Cobra I saw a couple of months ago at the dealership and it had different size fronts and rear. I am going to strip and paint another one. Rickos=$13-16 including shipping Hotwheels=$3
I do not care about rickos. I did want one at first but now I dont need them at all. I wanted the Ricko Police charger too but at that price I will wait for Hot Wheels or someone else. Funny thing though
I’d guess it’s more like licensing and royalties to auto manufacturers. Most of the “larger” Hot Wheels are more generic in nature, and avoid the licensing and royalties. The “smaller” ones are considered “models”, and, to avoid copyright infringement, would need licensing agreements and royalties and such.
I’d welcome any realistic and affordable HO scale car. The trick is will they be all modern post 2000 cars or will we get some cars that cover a broader time period like the 80’s or 70’s. Thats the trick! I suspect they will go with current modern cars like you see on the street now a days.
We’re not the target market, I’m afraid. Sure, they’re 1:87, but most of their sales will be to parents with young kids who like “race cars.” They aren’t particularly scale-conscious at that age, and they’d rather have something that looks like a street dragster than a prototypical vehicle. That’s why you’ll see Camaros and Mustangs, but not a lot of Corollas.
I hate those big goofy wheels. Does not look as nice as the “malibu” models Wal-mart offers in the little plastic boxes. I’ll pass.
Matchbox has been trying the last few years to “upgrade” their regular matchbox cars, but they have a long way to go. Johnny Lightning and the Japanese brand “Tomica” are a much better designed vehicle, but they also cost 3 times as much too.
I’m pretty sure the largest factory wheels you can get on a Mustang are 18 in. You can get bigger wheels as dealer installed options, but the vast majority of Mustangs are sold with factory wheels. Besides that, chutton01’s comment was regarding the wheel wells, not the wheels.
If a person is modeling today’s time period, it would be realistic to have a sports car or two with oversized wheelwells, wheels, and even spoiler kits on the layout. The “Fast and the Furious” movies helped to make a big impact in the “what’s cool on cars” category of the younger generation.
The jacked up “Pimp mobiles” are not my cup of tea as I’m an “old school” car enthusiast. I’ll go for an early 70s Dodge Charger or 1979 Trans Am anyday. Though I must admit to being partial to today’s sporty “low rider” style tricked out cars and pickup trucks. Would be interesting if Hot Wheels produced more of these.
Agreed. It doesn’t seem appropriate to be pointing out things like this. BTW, I met Al at the Springfield MA train show and he is a real nice guy - he is a little unconventional for the old farts around here but real nice, real talented and fun. Heck, we all have a few rough edges and it took me years to learn proper forum etiquette.
I agree 100%. These “Pimp My Ride” (I love that show) cars work well for places like where I live (Los Angeles) but maybe not so much for places like where I am modeling (Montana).
What I would like to see is maybe some lifted trucks. Now you know you will see a lifted pick-up truck in any town you come to.
If you’re in the right neighborhood, “26’s” are the in thing. We’ve gone from lowriders to cars that look like they will topple over at any minute [:)] It’s kind of like graffiti on freight cars - if you are doing a layout set in the time now era, that Mustang would be right at home.
Those wheels are more representitive of After market Rims and look very plausible on the model. Also Riverpoint Station has released models of Ford’s 08 F-250/F-350 extended cab and crew cab.
