First Look: Hot Wheels HW Road Trippin' '83 Chevy Silverado...

This was a little surprise.

While many of us were frantically hitting the stores to find the '83 Silverado Super Treasure Hunt, Hot Wheels quietly released another Silverado in the Walmart Exclusive Road Trippin line.

The Road Trippin line hasn't been talked about too much, probably because there is no chase in the lineup, and as we know collectors love their chase models.  It is also the third incarnation of the Walmart sets that sit right next to the main line pegs.  We had the Decades models (pretty good), Jukebox (pretty bad), and now the Road Trippin.

At first glance, the themed models with the wordy deco on them doesn't do much for a collector like me.  But then you see the roads that Mattel has chosen to be celebrated in this set, and you start to come around.

If you haven't looked up the roads, you should.  You might be near one of them.  Or you might need to take a trip and drive one of them.

And that is one of the reasons I like this Silverado.  It is one of my favorite pickup castings, so leaving it behind was not an option.  The other reason is because it represents the amazing Highway 1 at Big Sur.  If you haven't driven Hwy 1 from Monterry through Big Sur and back, you really should. And the secret?  Stop at Pfeiffer Beach.  You will not be disappointed.

So if you can't make it to California tomorrow to hit Big Sur, you can go grab one of the Silverados, if you can find it.  So far it is being gobbled up by those that encounter it on the pegs.  There is always ebay.


Hot Wheels '83 Chevy Silverado (2014 HW Road Trippin'):

All three 2014 releases:

First Look: Hot Wheels Custom '71 El Camino Treasure Hunt...

Regular Treasure Hunts are for kids.

We say that a lot here, and while the El Camino is the first Regular TH in awhile that is not a Hot Wheels original, and a muscle car to boot, don't mistake it for a collector-aimed model.

We have long argued that Supers are for the collector, and Regulars are meant to be left by collectors for kids.  And as soon as a kid opens the model and sees the special message hidden behind the model on the card, they will want another.  Alas, a budding collector is born.

So we don't give much merit to collector's complaints about the Regular TH's.  After all, collectors are not supposed to like them.  And the plan is working, as I have seen more and more Regs left behind by collectors.  And we always laugh at the guy who posts his pic of the 10 Rescue Duty TH's he bought, and we wonder what he is going to do with them.  Better to get one and leave the rest behind.

Back to the El Camino.  The '71 El Camino is a classic car, and a collector fave.  But this one has a rocket sitting on the back.  There is another '71 El Camino casting without the rocket, and (surprise!) it was a Super last year.

Mattel is releasing a Hot Wheels movie soon, and this Team Hot Wheels El Camino might be part of it.  Actually, I have no idea, because I don't care.  The movie is for kids, and I will probably never see it.  Someone who does can let me know.

So, yes, the El Camino is a nice change from the non-licensed models we have seen lately, but if you find a few, take a couple and leave the rest.  Regular Hunts are for kids...

(Better yet, leave all the Regs on the pegs, and pick one up at Wheel Collectors along with your Lamley Deals order...)


Hot Wheels Custom '71 El Camino (2014 Regular Treasure Hunt):

The two TH's in batch L:

Cool is Cool is Cool: Hot Wheels Slick Rides '83 Silverado & Custom '62 Chevy Pickups...

Maybe the word "Cool" in this post can refer to the need for us to cool down on the pickup truck posts.

Nope.

We love classic pickups, and if we have some to show, we probably will.

So today you get a couple of treats from the 2010 Slick Rides line.  It seems the Slick Rides kind of came and went quickly, and are a bit forgotten.  The series was a continuation of the Delivery series, but kind of got lost among the Garage line.  Many times on the pegs it was hard to tell one from the other.  So as a set the models kind of blue together, but individually there are some models that really shine.

Of course there are the mega-popular castings like the Convoy Custom, Chevy Panel, and Dairy Delivery.  There were also the fantastic new tools that debuted, namely the Dodge A100 Panel Van and VW Variant.

And there were a ton of pickups.  And for good reason.  The theme of the Slick Rides were to put real auto part makers on nostalgic or vintage models and decos.  Pickups are prime candidates for that.  And many turned out wonderfully.

Like the Silverado and '62 Chevy.

(Oh, and good thing Mattel made the card art on these so drab.  It didn't make it difficult to rip these open.)

The Edelbrock Silverado and Holley 62 are definite standouts in the line, as the colors work well and deco is nicely simple.  And, thankfully the wheels work really well.  Those wheels on the Silverado look so good on many classic castings (like the '55 Gasser Super TH this year), and I wish they would use them more.

So enjoy the pics, keep putting up with our pickup infatuation, and go find a Slick Rides to add to the collection...

Hot Wheels '83 Chevy Silverado & Custom '62 Chevy (2010 Slick Rides):