First Look: Hot Wheels 1990 Honda Civic EF...

It all depends on what camp you are in.

To some, Hot Wheels releasing another Civic is a yawner.  What is this, the third Civic they have done?  Plus hasn't Matchbox done one?  Why the obsession with a car that many associate with daughter's first car?  Sensible, practical, and reasonably priced, but not terribly interesting.

Or...

Holy M*#herf*^#@ing Sh#* an EF!!  A F#*%ing EF!  Hot Wheels made a Kanjo Racer!  It is about time.  Hold on I am grabbing my tools...I am going to customize the shit out of this thing...

One side may not understand the other, but it should be made known to a fair share of unknowing folks here in the US that the EF to many is an epic car.  I won't claim to know a ton about why the EF is so revered, but I know the 4th-generation is a favorite, and it seemed to carry all the traits that made the Civic a cultural staple in Japan.  And here in the US for that matter.

But let's talk Japan.  No, let's let these guys talk Japan, and a little about the highly illegal, extremely dangerous Civic-dominated Kanjo Racing in Osaka:



Now the Hot Wheels version.  There is a lot of excitement about this one.  That excitement may not be totally evident among the old-school Hot Wheels crowd, but the ebay prices for the first releases is all the evidence you need (look at the completed listings).

Hot Wheels' resident JDM nerd Ryu Asada, already responsible for the Chevy C10 and C7 Corvette, along with the upcoming Porsche Panamera and Fiat 500, is behind this one.  And what Jun Imai is to Datsun/Nissan, Ryu is to Honda.  While designing for Matchbox, Ryu designed the Type R Civic and Ridgeline, and for Hot Wheels he has done the CR-X (which we will see again this year) and supremely-popular S2000 (which is also returning in 2014).

And there are signature Ryu touches on the EF.  Ryu is the king of proportion and detail.  Side-mirrors may not seem to be a big deal, but they are not common on Hot Wheels models.  It has a perfect stance, stock(ish) to remind Stephanie of her freshman year at ASU in 1991, but low enough to zip around the moving trucks and curves of Osaka today.

We may not be all about the hellaflush or other elements of the culture surrounding the EF, but we are 100% in on the EF as an emerging classic and a fantastic choice for the Hot Wheels line...

Hot Wheels 1990 Honda Civic EF (2014 New Models):

And by the way, the customizers are already ALL over it.  The EF has appeared on short card in a few areas of the world, and the customizers have already had their way with it.  Here are a few fantastic examples, with what we are sure are MANY more to come in the next few months: