Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Auto

Every Kid at Heart Needs This Hot Wheels Coffee Table Book

Jahla Seppanen
By

Now that you’re grown and mature, it’s harder to justify whipping out your Hot Wheels for a “ride” around the apartment. Luckily, publisher Assouline has released a hard-cover coffee table book packing 300 pages and more than 200 illustrations of all things Hot Wheels.

Vroom, vroom, baby.

Assouline

The book, simply titled Hot Wheels, starts with a personal and nostalgic forward by Mario Andretti, widely considered one of the most iconic racecar drivers, and transitions into a history lesson reaching back to the 1960s when the first Hot Wheels were released and sold for a dollar a piece.

Recommended Videos

Hot Wheels also gives a behind-the-scenes look at core designers that shaped the brand into an astounding success. What many non-fans fail to realize is that Hot Wheels may be replicas but are a style in their own, competing for a long time against Matchbox cars. (Hot Wheels owner Mattel eventually bought Matchbox. There’s a reason Hot Wheels is the No. 1 toy in the world — roughly 10 million of the miniature die-cast cars are produced every week and 16 cars are sold every second.

Related

Today, Hot Wheels is a full-on lifestyle brand dabbling in apparel, gaming, and even life-sized cars. For many men, they’re luxury collectible items. Hot Wheels also opens up this passionate world of Hot Wheels fandom and highlights the fervent collectors who count thousands of cars in their caboodle, not excluding the author and car junkie behind the book, Paul Biedrzycki.

Biedrzycki has 500 Hot Wheels in his collection and has lived with one foot embedded into the auto and racing world since he was a kid. He says his earliest memories include wandering around a garage and marveling at the spare parts and tools. Biedrzycki went on to cover the motorsports industry with a focus on the cultural climate surrounding what many see as simple engines, brakes, and doors.

The goal of Hot Wheels toys — and the reason they’re still so damn fun to play with — has always been to promote creativity, experimentation, and competition. This book, flush with vibrant colors and stunning car sketches, is a reminder of how excited we once got unwrapping a box with the flaming logo emblazed on the front. (We got a similar jolt of excitement when Lego released this Aston Martin BD5 earlier this year.)

Honestly, getting the Hot Wheels book is essential for the survival of your childlike spirit. Plus, it will make you feel like your mom packed you with $20 heading to the school book fair.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Jahla Seppanen
Jahla Seppanen
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Born and raised off-the-grid in New Mexico, Jahla Seppanen is currently a sports, fitness, spirits, and culture writer in…
Bugatti Bolide: A track-only hypercar for drivers with no racing experience
The Bolide isn't a race-inspired road car, it's a street-inspired race car
Black Bugatti Bolide in the middle of a wide track standing ready to go.

Imagine a car for drivers with no track experience that accelerates past 200 mph faster than a Formula 1 race car. Expensive and not allowed on public roads, the Bugatti Bolide is the ultimate fantasy car. The Bolide doesn't appear to be the V16-powered hypercar in development that Bugatti teased earlier this year because it will build on the brand's proven 1,600 metric horsepower 8.0-liter W16 turbocharged engine.
Also, despite having antilock braking system (ABS) brakes, electronic stability programming (ESP), and road-car niceties not typically found on race cars, the Bolide won't have a future street-legal incarnation. According to Bugatti, "... the Bolide represents a departure from the norm, a shift towards a completely different realm of driving that Bugatti hasn't yet explored in its modern-day history."

That statement begs a look at the company's earlier history when, 100 years ago, it designed and engineered the Bugatti Type 35 solely for track performance.
Why an approachable track-only hypercar matters

Read more
Camper van vs Class B RV: How to choose which to buy for your outdoor adventures
Class B RV vs Camper Van - who ya got?
Man building a campfire in front of a Winnebago Ekko Springer camper van.

If you would love to go on road trips and experience the best national parks, there is no better way to do it and still feel comfortable like you’re at home than camping in an RV. Let’s be honest: You will enjoy sleeping on a cozy bed in an RV with an air conditioner more than in a moist and chilly tent. It’s also easier to prepare your meals in an RV because of the refrigerator, and you don’t have to worry about packing and unpacking your camping bags every night or morning. 

However, the big RVs can be a headache if you're driving through low-hanging bridges or tight spaces. They’re also more expensive to fuel and maintain compared to smaller-size vehicles. Alternatively, you could choose a Class B RV or a camper van if prefer an RV that strikes a balance between rural camping and big-city adventure. But the question is — what’s the difference between a Class B RV and a camper van? And which one should you buy?
A Class B motorhome is built with all the camping amenities

Read more
John Hennessey reveals the Venom F5’s weirdest engineering challenge
The Venom F5's oddest engineering challenge has to do with Michael Jordan
Venom F5 roadster revolution

During our recent chat with John Hennessey, the founder and CEO of Hennessey Performance, we mentioned one of the more unique engineering accomplishments of the company’s flagship hypercar—the Venom F5. Unlike many high-performance vehicles, the hypercar is built to accommodate larger people, including basketball legend and Venom F5 owner Michael Jordan.

Hennessey says: “Michael is one of our clients. He fits in his F5 like a glove, even with the roof on. He has an F5 Revolution Roadster—so just one of 12. He has just one of two with completely exposed carbon fiber."

Read more