Wastelanders 1/4 Mile Coupe 2003 Collector No. #213 / Wastelanders Cars Hot Wheels 2000 Basic Cars Item No.: Asst. ??? No. 57178 Manufacturer: Mattel Includes: n/a Action Feature: n/a Retail: $1 Availability: ca. 2003 Other: Second release
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Back in 2002, Spider-Man was huge - that first movie with Tobey Maguire was a big deal. Hot Wheels is no stranger to making things similar to but legally distinct from curreny trends, so the Wastelanders 1/4 Mile Coupe gives you a nice black hot rod, and adds dark blue and red spider markings to it. Johnny Lightning was enjoying the Marvel license around then, resulting in what may well be the fastest car money can buy. But this one is also nice, and cheaper back when it was new. It's not really Spider-Man, but it's good enough that I'm sure more than a few kids were happy with their $1 purchase. I certainly liked it as a $2 purchase in 2024.

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It's a nice car. The engine is plastic with shiny silver paint, but the pipes are metal - as is the front of the car. The wheels are great, with red spokes on the back, and a red metal base. It's pretty colorful, but it doesn't stop there thanks to clear red wheels and a very shiny blue and white trim. Under the lights of my photo box, the engine sparkles and everything else is nice, but not quite as nice as that shiny heart. The metal bits look good, the interior seems to be chrome behind the red windows. For a $1 toy from 21 years ago, it's hard to knock it.

The detailing is subtle, or my eyes are bad, as there are things I didn't notice at all until I had it under the studio lights. The sides say "BLACK WIDOW" in tiny letters, with a couple of spider drawings nearby. There are also a generous smattering of webs, but those are obvious. The Spider-Man colors are a nice touch, particularly the metallic blue which I feel was dripped out in the Toy Biz lines for those first couple of movies.

It's so fun to see these cars with a couple of decades of hindsight. You can see the market trends, mashing up hot rodding (which is, arguably, not as much of a thing anymore) with the seemingly endless love of super heroes or at least Spider-Man. The designers did a nice job with the base car, and the deco probably didn't hurt to show Marvel that Mattel was a good license partner down the road. Or rather, they'll do it with or without you. If you can get this car for a buck or two, I'd recommend it. This particular car is not currently in production in any color anymore, but there are thousands out there to be bought at very affordable prices.

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