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Welcome to HTBomb's Magical Hot Wheels. I played with Mattel Hot Wheels when I was a kid and began collecting them as an adult in 1996 shortly after leaving a 79 cent limited edition Treasure Hunt Passion on the pegs at KMart. That car is now worth $100! Several months later I found and bought three Treasure Hunts at Target. I was hooked.

I am interested in buying childhood collections of toy cars: Hot Wheels, Matchbox, Corgi, Husky, Dinky and Topper Johnny Lightning; Slot cars from Cox, Aurora and Tyco AF/X; Plastic model kits from AMT, Monogram, MPC. Please contact me via my website link below.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Hot Wheels Red Baron

One of the most famous, best-selling and iconic Hot Wheels of all time, Red Baron started life in 1968 as a hugely popular Monogram plastic model kit designed by Tom Daniel.

1968 Red Baron model kit by Monogram
In 1970 Mattel, who owned Monogram for several years, decided to expand its Hot Wheels lineup with cars based on successful model kits: Red Baron, Paddy Wagon and Sand Crab.  Unlike most early Hot Wheels, Red Baron was only produced in one color: Spectraflame red.  Notice that fenders were added by Mattel's designers.

1970 Hot Wheels Red Baron

During the 1960s the Peanuts comic strip brought us Snoopy flying his imaginary Sopwith Camel and fighting the Red Baron.  This would also be the subject of a Monogram plastic model kit.



In 1966 there was a hit single by a Tampa, Florida group called The Royal Guardsman.









The Red Baron model kit was so popular that a real hot rod was built for display at car shows.


1969 Show Car



In 1973 Mattel had to cut production costs and chose to replace the Spectraflame paint with enamel and removed the black crosses from the helmet.

1973 Hot Wheels Red Baron

Look for the 1/12 scale Big Red Baron Monogram kit build-up and Hot Wheels car on display at the Air & Space Museum in Washington, DC.

Big Red Baron and Hot Wheels

According to Tom Daniel the Hot Wheels Red Baron is the second biggest seller of all time.  He suggests it would be the biggest seller if only it was politically correct.

The Hot Wheels Red Baron appeared in the hit movie Toy Story. Buzz Lightyear hops aboard and rides it down the classic orange track, through the loop, and to infinity and beyond via the jump ramp.  Great stuff.

Sadly Tom never received royalties for his Hot Wheels designs because Monogram considered him a paid staff designer.  That wasn't the case when Johnny Lightning introduced many of his other classic designs in the 1990s.  Toy Zone worked with him more recently to create a lineup of toys based on his classic designs.

If you're truly a Red Baron fan, for starters you'll want Tom Daniel's 1:18 Scale Red Baron Hot Rod and the reissue of the classic #6740 Monogram Red Baron with Fokker Triplane 1/24 Scale Plastic Model Kit.  For the kids (or kid in you) try Tom Daniel SHOWROD RACING Track Set with RED BARON Vehicle from Toy Zone

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