As a kid, you would build tracks to race your Hot Wheels. There would be days where the track would be long and straight with just one loop. Other days your track would be looped and have a series of loops for your cars to travel through.
Sometimes, just the construction of the track was just as much fun as racing the cars. It would feel that your cars and track were magnetic with how they stayed together and the car didn’t fly off the track.
But are Hot Wheels actually magnetic?
Unfortunately, Hot Wheels are not magnetic. The reason the cars stay on the track while doing several loops is just due to force. Instead of the science of magnets keeping your car on track, it’s actually the science of force, speed, and gravity.
Most Hot Wheels made now are mostly plastic so although they might have a little metal in them it is not enough for them to be picked up or used with magnets. Older Hot Wheels were mostly metal so they could be picked up with magnets if you wanted to.
Are Hot Wheels Metal?
When you would play with Hot Wheels, you would race them across the track as fast as you could. If you reached in to stop them, often you could end up with a smashed finger or two.
Most toy cars are made from plastic and lightweight, but what about Hot Wheels? What are Hot Wheels made of?
Hot Wheels are made of a compound called ZAMAC3. All the letters are different types of metal: aluminum, cadmium, iron, magnesium, copper, and zinc. ZAMAC is also called white metal.
Hot Wheels are not just made out of metal. The windshields are made of a type of plastic. The axels are made of wire and the wheels are made of a combination of plastic and rubber.
While the body of the car is made of metal, there are other materials used in creating Hot Wheels. Their heaviness is due to their metal body.
What Are Hot Wheels ID Cars?
You may have collected Hot Wheels as a kid and are now excited to share this tradition with your children. However, there are so many new cars that somehow seem fancier.
Even the tracks look much different than they used to. Now Hot Wheels has created a series of cars, Hot Wheels ID vehicles. What exactly are they?
Hot Wheels ID cars is the newest generation of Hot Wheels. With the world ever advancing in technology, our beloved Hot Wheels did too.
Hot Wheels ID is a way for you to not only play in real life but also virtually. The more you play with the physical track and car, the more they level up in the game.
You can keep track of your cars’ records, speed, and laps on the track in the video game. There is even a power booster that can launch the car at up to 900 mph (in scale speed, real speed would put a hole in your wall.)
Some mini-games can also be played through the app. It also comes with three cars that are specifically designed for the track and game.
How Do You Customize Your Hot Wheels?
Hot Wheels have advanced since their first release in 1968. They used to have flexible, thin wire axles, tiny wheels, and independent suspension. Since then, improvements have been made to allow Hot Wheels to run faster than before.
What about customizing your own? Are you able to take your favorite parts of early released cars and improve them with newer cars?
What about taking all the best pieces of your favorite Hot Wheels and creating a superior car? Whatever your reason for customization, can you customize Hot Wheels?
You absolutely can customize your Hot Wheels however it is not easy. Customizing a Hot Wheel car beyond the paint job will require you to disassemble the car which is difficult.
Below are a few tips to use when customizing your Hot Wheels.
Remove Rivets
Hot Wheels are held together by riveting together the posts of the metal body. To disassemble the car, you will need a drill to remove the rivets. You will need to be careful and drill slowly to ensure that your car stays intact.
Remove Parts
Now that the rivets have been removed, you can disassemble your car. The separate parts of a Hot Wheel are typically the plastic windshield, interior, body, and chassis.
Begin Customizing
Now that you have removed the pieces of the car, you can reshape and rearrange the car however you desire. If you want a newer base on an older car, then just assemble the pieces back together.
If you are wanting to get more in-depth and customize a brand new car completely, make sure to use the proper tools. Hot Wheels are made with zinc, aluminum, copper, and magnesium.
You can use a drill to sand and cut the metal body to whichever shape and size you desire.
How Can You Tell You Have Real Hot Wheels?
Since it isn’t that hard to customize your Hot Wheels, there have been people that either have created bogus Hot Wheels or customized some to make them look like other models. They then place them back in the package or new packaging that they created.
Whichever the case, when you go to purchase Hot Wheels, you want to make sure that you are getting the real thing. How can you tell that you’re purchasing real Hot Wheels?
There are few subtle differences that you can find just by looking at the package. Here are a few things to check before making your purchase.
- The “H” in Hot Wheels: In most fake packages, the “H” in Hot has a straight top edge. The “H” is supposed to be slightly curved.
- The Font: Any word on the package, the letter “F” won’t drop below. For example, in the word California on a fake package, the tail of the “F” goes below the rest of the word. On the real package, it is uniform with the whole word.
- Mattel Symbol: On the fake packages, the Mattel symbol won’t be exact. The Mattel symbol should be inside a pointed circle, it almost looks like a Reese cup. The word Mattel should also take up the length of the symbol and it isn’t that bold.
- Punctuation: Most of the packaging of Hot Wheels should be grammatically correct. This does not mean that there won’t ever be grammatical errors. Typically, if there is a grammatical error and it was Mattel’s fault, they would let consumers know. Typically though, if you do come across a package that has a few grammatical errors, it means it’s a fake.
Final Thoughts
Whether you are adding to the current collection of your childhood Hot Wheels or you are starting a collection with your kids, it is always good to know that you are purchasing real Hot Wheels.
Maybe your collection could even branch out into the video game realm as well?
Regardless of your reasoning for purchasing Hot Wheels, they will be sure to bring you many memories as you either collect them or race them on the track.