Snake vs. Mongoose and The Rapid Transit System

This snapshot was taken in 1971 at a Plymouth Dealership in South Florida.  It is a replica of Don "The Snake" Prudhomme's Funny Car that toured as part of the Rapid Transit System (RTS).  RTS featured custom performance versions of the Road Runner, 'Cuda GTX, Duster 340 and Sport Fury GT.  The Snake remains one of my favorite Hot Wheels, produced by Mattel in 1970, along with its racing rival Tom "The Mongoose" McEwen's red Duster.  The Snake vs. Mongoose rivalry is one of drag racing's greatest.

Note that there are spoilers on the roofs of the toy cars.  Apparently, this was not good for the real cars' aerodynamics so they were moved to the trunk.

For a really awesome accounting of the fabulous Snake vs. Mongoose match races this is THE book to own (just click on the pic to link to Amazon).  It is simply a gorgeous book.



If you're "just" into toys then this Hot Wheels set is the way to go.

Found: Hot Wheels 1:87/HO 1966 Batmobile!

I found this amazing Hot Wheels 1:87/HO scale Batmobile at Toys R Us.  They are very hard to find as they only come one per case and many of the cars are slow sellers.  The finish and detail are amazing.


 

If you want to find out more about the real car this is a great book (just click on the photo above).  I bought this great book a few years ago and its an excellent overview to many of George Barris' finer works.