Autoblog

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A few years ago, Bruce Pascal paid more than $70,000 for a single Hot Wheels car. The car was an extremely rare rear-loading Beach Bomb with an even more rare pink coat of paint. But it didn't have even a single diamond or ruby, which makes us wonder what Mr. Pascal thinks about this jewel-encrusted toy car commissioned by Mattel to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Hot Wheels.

Jeweler to the stars, Jason of Beverly Hills, transformed this $1 toy into a $140,000 dust-collecting bauble. Almost every surface of the car is covered in some type of precious stone. The car's 18-karat white-gold body shimmers with blue diamonds, the base features white and black diamonds, rubies are set in the car's taillights, and black diamonds were used on the car's tires. Even the tiny interior is jeweled as is the engine. There are 2,700 jewels on the car at a weight of nearly 23-karats.

The car was introduced at the 2008 Toy Fair in New York by Nick Lachey (who's sorry now, Jessica?), who will auction off the toy later this year with the proceeds going to Big Brothers Big Sisters. The lucky (by which we mean having more money than sense) winner will also get a custom-made display box that features 40 more diamonds, one for each year of Hot Wheels production.


[Source: Gizmodo, Mattel, Photos by Rob Loud/Getty]

From time to time we've all been tempted to purchase that fake diploma from the endlessly circulating email, right? The last time I checked, though, they weren't offering fake certificates from the Art Center College of Design, or the Academy of Art University. If you still held onto the dream of someday shaping cars, even after all your sketch pads had been confiscated, the normal path was that you'd go to an institution where you could learn industrial design through a rigorous academic program. That's the reason why those of us who continue to doodle four wheeled conveyances are reduced to sketching while on boring phone calls; to truly design real cars takes years of practice, hard work, and skill. Alternatively, you could drop a measly 20 bucks and start computerating up some fun looking vehicles with Topics Entertainment's Sports Car Designer software.

In the end, it's still no replacement for learning to render a form on paper with perspective, shading and foreshortening; all those things that take years to develop skill with. From what we can see, you're limited to a profile view, but the options for body shape creation are wide ranging enough that you can whip up some interesting forms. We're not seeing a tremendous amount of variety or originality in the screenshots at the support website sportscardesigner.com, but for $20 at Best Buy what do you want, Cinema 4D? When you're done with your masterpiece of the moment, you can export it as a .jpg, or you can spit CAD data out so that another program might be able to stitch the entire car together for you in 3-D space. It's a fun way to divert some hours, and hey, it'll keep that eternally fidgeting car-crazy pre-teen quiet for the vast span of 15 minutes, at least.

Thanks for the tip, Larry!

The Ford GT has always been badass. When it went into production in 2003, all of those kit cars from back in the day suddenly paled in comparison to a genuine GT40-inspired supercar. It was a relative bargain, too. Of course, when we say relative bargain, we mean expensive. Always willing to settle, we've found a way to claim with a straight face that we own a GT. It's still not cheap, but it's hundreds, not hundreds of thousands. Winding Road has pointed us to the 1:6 scale remote control Ford GT over at wowzzers.com. Equipped with a 23cc engine, this three-plus foot long vehicle can buzz around at a maximum speed around 60 mph. Christmas is coming, and it's only $650.

[Source: Winding Road]

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Ok, they're not all crossovers -- one of them's a Prius, the Corolla Fielder's a wagon, and the Honda Stream's an MPV -- but Takara Tomy's new CAUL R/C lineup is still CUV-heavy. The nicely-detailed palm-sized R/C cars cost just ¥600 in Japan (a little over $5 at current exchange rates), and while that low price makes them very appealing as kids' toys, the company expects to sell a lot of them to male R/C aficionados between the ages of 20 and 30. The budget-friendly price point also encourages collecting, which is, of course, good for Takara Tomy, which plans to release a total of 28 different models. Incidentally, CAUL seems to be an acronym for Car Action Units Line. Yeah, we don't quite get it either.

The initial 7 cars offered are:

• Honda Crossroad
• Honda Stream
• Toyota Corolla Fielder
• Toyota Harrier
• Nissan Murano
• Nissan Dualis
• Toyota Prius

[Source: Takara Tomy via Carview]

Great, another retail establishment that can't spell. Here's a tip: "Z" does not equal "S." Using Z to pluralize words will also not make you hip or cool. Rather, it will point out that it's an obvious stab at being cool, without actually attaining coolness. Alphabet abuse aside, the concept of RideMakerz is cool. From the soft, cuddly folks at Build-A-Bear Workshop (and Chip Foose, natch) comes a less fluffy, more greasy idea. Those of us who spent hours inhaling Testor's model glue fumes finally have a mall refuge for our car-freak offspring. Kids can pick the type of vehicle they want to build, trick it out with accessories (pardon us, accessoriez), add decals, and even customize the license plate and add remote control capabilities, depending on Mom and Dad's available credit. The first store opens in Myrtle Beach this week, and the Mall Of America is going to get one soon, too. If they make you kiss the engine, turn around three times and recite some incantation, just watch out for the fan blades.

[Source: RideMakerz via Jalopnik]

It's one thing to design a Transformer in CGI and have it magically transform from a car to a 40-foot-tall robot in 24 frames of animation. It's entirely different to produce a toy that actually does transform with moving parts that have to work together in total harmony. HASBRO is in charge of producing the full gamet of Transformers toys this time around and has a website up that shows us exactly how Optimus Prime will go from big rig to big robot. Click here, skip the intro and, unless you have a pair of cardboard 3D glasses handy, click on the 2D link. Here you'll find animations that show how Optimus Prime, Scorponok, Ratchet and Ironhide will actually transform when pulled from their plastic packaging.

The site also has 360 degree views of each Transformer toy, as well as some extra items like a wearable Optimus Prime helmet. Our search for a Halloween costume this year is officially over.

[Source: 3Dtransformers.com via tfw2005]

At the very least we're about one year away from seeing the production version of the Dodge Challenger, probably longer for the Chevy Camaro. We can't wait that long, and we're guessing neither can you. Hot Wheels has come to the rescue with two pairs of limited edition miniature motors.

Beginning Tuesday morning at 9 AM PST, Hot Wheel Collector's Club members (membership is free) can buy the Real Riders Chevy Camaro and the Real Riders Dodge Challenger sets. The Camaro set has the iconic 1967 and 2006 concept versions of Chevy's pony car, and for the MOPAR fans, the Challenger set comes with a 1970 and 2006 concept versions. All four cars are much more detailed than any Hot Wheel car you'll find in stores, and feature rubber tires on special chrome wheels and a metal base. Each pack is limited to only 12,000 copies and at $9.99 each, are likely to sell out very quickly.

Check the jump for photos of the Challenger cars then go to the HWC website for even more photos of both.

Around our office, we're always passing small files between the multiple workstations via USB flash drives. Chinese toymaker Marsilli has come up with a fun way for us to amuse ourselves as we pass files back and forth. Their 512MB flash drive that doubles as an RC car comes with its own race track, though the first thing we'd try is zooming these little buggers around from room to room. They're controllable with your cellphone, though we're not sure if it's via Bluetooth or some other scheme. The USB port jutting out the back of the New Beetle is also just about the correct scale to match some of the inane drainage-pipe exhausts we've seen on clapped out rides around town, too. It's too bad we don't have an office pet, as we bet these zoomy little cars would do great on smooth surfaces and drive cats and dogs absolutely bonkers. We know we'd giggle like schoolgirls for a good half hour, maybe more. We're not sure where to find these in the US just yet, but we haven't looked terribly hard, either. We've been avoiding actually finding them because they're just what we need, more excuses to be unproductive while we hold out for that dream job of GranTurismo beta tester.

[Source: engadget.com]

And the Gremlin and the Pinto. Yeah, all scale models, but didn't your jaw drop just a little after reading the headline? Mine did after spotting these at a major discount retailer's toy department last week. Available in 1:60, 1:24 and as a remote control 1:16 scale, these bad-rep rods of the 70s are part of the Fresh Cherries lineup from Motormax.

Surrounded by other, more respectable models like a Bugatti Veyron, the 2006 Camaro Concept, and a Ferrari F40, the 1:60-sized Gremlin on my work desk has sparked many conversations. The kitsch factor of these small mechanical monsters goes to 11. At less than $4 for the smallest versions, you can afford to have your very own ignoble garage, or recreate an 80s-era used car lot. For even more realism, set the Pinto on fire, and leave the Mustang II next to the Gremlin in the yard to build up some nice rust. We imagine the remote control Mustang II might cost more than a 1:1 scale version, though it would probably hold its value better.

We can't wait for the next round. What should be on that list? Hmm. Vega, Citation, maybe a Le Car.

Check the jump for a larger promotional photo from Motormax.

Congratulations to Alix, whose comment was plucked from obscurity among the 188 left on our last post. Alix will receive a complete set of Automoblox toys that includes seven vehicles, an expansion block set and a t-shirt. But now it's time to focus our efforts on the grand prize of the Autoblog After Christmas Sweepstakes: a Power Wheels Jeep Hurricane! We posted on the Power Wheels Jeep Hurricane a while back because we were in awe over the advancements made in kiddie-sized, battery-powered transportation since we were kids, and a Power Wheels vehicle has long been the one gift that we always wanted under our tree but never got. The Power Wheels Jeep Hurricane features Ultimate Terrain Traction to tackle wet grass with aplomb, a real FM radio, and cup holders! Thanks go out to Fisher Price and Power Wheels for supplying this great prize.

Entering to win the Power Wheels Jeep Hurricane is as easy as the last two sweepstakes in our series. Just leave a comment on this post telling us what's the one gift you always wanted for Christmas but never got. In other words, how has Santa snubbed you? We'll randomly select a comment from the list tomorrow at 3PM and announce the winner. Hopefully one lucky person will have all their childhood issues of neglect repaired in one fell swoop when this Power Wheels Jeep Hurricane arrives at the door. Good luck everyone!

Some quick basic rules:

• You can enter each of the three drawings once, but you can only win one prize
• You must be 18 years old to enter
• Winners must be a resident of the continental U.S. (we're working on broadening our reach for future sweepstakes, giveaways and contests)
• Prizes will be shipped after all drawings are completed.

Check out the official rules here.