INDEX: Hot Wheels Retail Displays & Matchbox Car Retail Displays

INDEX:
Hot Wheels Retail Displays
and Matchbox Car
Retail Displays

Hot Wheels Bulk Bin Goes Mobile – Hot Wheels Retail Displays & Matchbox Car Retail Displays

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SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTOS AND LINKS…
…to Hot Wheels Retail Displays
and Matchbox Car Retail Displays

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This Hot Wheels Retail Displays, Matchbox Car Retail Displays,
and Die Cast Toy Car index page aggregates links to all posts and photos of
retail merchandising, display, and outfitting
as well as deep Background courtesy of Wikipedia.

BACKSTORY: Hot Wheels is an American media franchise and brand of scale model carsinvented by Elliot Handler and introduced by his company Mattel on May 18, 1968.^[1] It was the primary competitor of Matchbox until Mattel bought Matchbox owner Tyco Toys in 1997.

Many automobile manufacturers have since licensed Hot Wheels to make scale models of their cars, allowing the use of original design blueprints and detailing. Although Hot Wheels were originally intended to be children’s toys, they have become popular with adult collectors, for whom limited edition models are now made available.

In the late 1960s, Elliot Handler, co-founder of Mattel, developed the concept for Hot Wheels as a toy line that would appeal to boys in the same way their Barbie had to girls.^[2] Handler was inspired to create a new line of toy cars after seeing his son Kenneth play with Matchbox cars. Unlike Matchbox, which focused on small-scale models of real production vehicles, Handler envisioned Hot Wheels as a line of exaggerated, customized “hot rod” cars, featuring big rear tires, superchargers, flame paint jobs, hood blowers, and outlandish proportions.^{[citation needed]} He began producing the cars with assistance from fellow engineer Jack Ryan.^{[citation needed]} The flame logo was designed by artist Rick Irons, who worked at Mattel at the time.^[3] Mattel first unveiled 16 Hot Wheels cars in the 1968 New York Toy Fair.^[4]

Starting in 2018, Hot Wheels launched a new program called the Hot Wheels Legends Tour. This program was originally launched to commemorate Hot Wheels’s 50th anniversary. Each year, there are 18 Legends Tour events that are held at various Walmart locations across the United States. Over 111,000 people attend and about 5,000 cars are entered at those events. At each event, one car is picked to be recreated as a potential new Hot Wheels casting. After all the events for that year conclude, one finalist is then picked to be the winner, and their car then gets recreated as a new Hot Wheels casting next year. Hot Wheels are looking for vehicles that embody the fun and creative spirit of Hot Wheels, which is their main selling point.^[30] (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

BACKSTORY: Matchbox is a toy brand introduced by Lesney Products in 1953, and is now owned by Mattel, Inc, which purchased the brand in 1997. The brand was given its name because the original die-cast “Matchbox” toys were sold in boxes similar to those in which matches were sold. The brand grew to encompass a broad range of toys, including larger scale die-cast models, plastic model kits, slot car racing toys, and action figures.

During the 1980s, Matchbox began using plastic and cardboard “blister packs” that were used by other die-cast toy brands such as Hot Wheels. By the 2000s, the box style packaging was re-introduced for the collectors’ market, such as the 35th Anniversary of Superfast series in 2004, and the 50th Anniversary of Superfast in 2019.

Products currently marketed under the Matchbox name include scale model plastic and die-cast vehicles and toy garages.

The Matchbox name originated in 1953 as a brand name of the British die-casting company, Lesney Products, whose reputation was moulded by^[2]John W. “Jack” Odell (1920–2007),^[3]Leslie Charles Smith (1918–2005),^[4]and Rodney Smith. The name Lesney was a portmanteau of Leslie and Rodney Smith’s first names. Their first major sales success was the popular model of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation coach, which sold more than a million models. Lesney co-owner, Jack Odell, then created a toy that paved the way for the company’s future success which was designed for his daughter. Her school only allowed children to bring toys that could fit inside a matchbox, so Odell crafted a scaled-down version of the Lesney green and red road roller.^[5]^{[citation needed]} This toy ultimately became the first of the 1-75 miniature range. A dump truck and a cement mixer completed the original three-model release that marked the starting point for the mass-market success of the Matchbox series. The company decided to sell the models in replica matchboxes, thus yielding the name of the series.

Additional models continued to be added to the line throughout the decade, including cars such as an MG Midget TD, a Vauxhall Cresta, a Ford Zodiac, and many others. As the collection grew, it also gradually became more international, including models of Volkswagens, a Citroën, and American makes. The size of the models allowed Matchbox to occupy a market niche barely touched by the competition; the associated price advantage made the toys affordable and helped establish “Matchbox” as a generic word for small toy cars, whatever the brand. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

BACKSTORY: Die casting is a metal casting process that is characterized by forcing molten metal under high pressure into a mold cavity. The mold cavity is created using two hardened tool steel dies which have been machined into shape and work similarly to an injection mold during the process. Most die castings are made from non-ferrous metals, specifically zinc, copper, aluminium, magnesium, lead, pewter, and tin-based alloys. Depending on the type of metal being cast, a hot- or cold-chamber machine is used.

The casting equipment and the metal dies represent large capital costs and this tends to limit the process to high-volume production. Manufacture of parts using die casting is relatively simple, involving only four main steps, which keeps the incremental cost per item low. It is especially suited for a large quantity of small- to medium-sized castings, which is why die casting produces more castings than any other casting process.^[1] Die castings are characterized by a very good surface finish (by casting standards) and dimensional consistency.

Die casting equipment was invented in 1838 for the purpose of producing movable type for the printing industry. The first die casting-related patent was granted in 1849 for a small hand-operated machine for the purpose of mechanized printing type production. In 1885 Ottmar Mergenthaler invented the Linotype machine, which cast an entire line of type as a single unit, using a die casting process. It nearly completely replaced setting type by hand in the publishing industry. The Soss die-casting machine, manufactured in Brooklyn, NY, was the first machine to be sold in the open market in North America.^[2] Other applications grew rapidly, with die casting facilitating the growth of consumer goods, and appliances, by greatly reducing the production cost of intricate parts in high volumes.^[3] In 1966,^[4] General Motors released the Acurad process.^[5] (SOURCE: Wikipedia)