Hot Wheels: Awesomeness on a miniature scale

Ok, I know that you're thinking Home Built NZ is just about real cars, but what happens when you can't afford the cars of your dreams?

Since 1968, Hot Wheels has been the subject of collecting and sharing across the globe and is a far more cheaper option than collecting real cars. In recent years, collecting in New Zealand has increased vastly and Mattel, the producer of Hot Wheels, has met this demand with some pretty cool collectible cars.

For example, Mattel recently released this super cool set of classic Japanese cars called "Japan Historics". These were based on real life cars and feature legends such as the Mazda RX3 and Nissan Skyline 2000GT-R. People promptly snapped them up and now you can only get them through private sellers.

Here's a couple of design shots of both the Skyline 2000GT-R and the RX3. The level of detail on these cars is astounding, note the replica works details on the Skyline and the large flair guards on the RX3 which are styled after the original race cars.

There are also cars to collect that are a bit more homegrown like the legendary MK1 Ford Escort RS1600. Most of us grew up around these cars and they were also built here as well as in the UK. These hot wheels cars aren't superbly rare but hoarders get in to the boxes before they are released and take them all to on sell them for way higher than they are worth.

Hot Wheels cover a vast range of different car cultures, from JDM imports such as the Honda Integra GSR, Exotic italian cars like the Pagani Huayra and American muscle cars like the Ford Mustang. There is also fictional cars such as the "Tail Dragger" that look pretty damn cool. Overall, Hot Wheels is a great way to get into cars and due to a large availability, can be collected by all ages.

If you are a collector of Hot Wheels or other die casts, share your collection below or on our Facebook page. If you would like to read more about Hot Wheels, visit the official Hot Wheels site. Thanks for reading!!!