You can file this under the Lamley Series “Gems of the Original Boulevard”, but we have a lot more to talk about.
It is time to bring back one of the most surprising castings Hot Wheels has ever done, the Vector W8 TwinTurbo.
I mean look at this thing! I have covered it before, and I will cover it again, and I will even admit in this case to going into full #lamleyhype mode. I am not trying to make the only release of the Vector, in Boulevard, more expensive (although that is already happening, #lamleyhype or not), I am trying to get my friends at Hot Wheels to make this model reappear. Car Culture? Boulevard again? RLC? Wherever. Skip basic, but bring this late 80’s/early 90’s jetcar back.
It finally happened with the Koenigsegg Agera. New Boulevard Mix 2 is where that is happening, and based on what I have seen the frenzy for it will be as strong as any model in recent memory. And that is because times and tastes change. Some supercar enthusiasts were happy to see the Koenigsegg when it first appeared in HW Entertainment a few years ago, but it didn’t set the world on fire. At all. The ugly wheels it sat on didn’t help, but watching this lack any buzz after Speed Machines died, the consensus became any non-Ferrari or non-Lamborghini supercar was not going to catch on.
That certainly changed. It didn’t take long for the demand for the Agera to grow, and as new, younger collectors jumped into the fray, one of the first models they wanted to fill in their collections was the Koenigsegg. Prices skyrocketed.
At one point I asked the Hot Wheels team about a possible return of the Koenigsegg.
“No plans.”
That thankfully changed. The growing demand for the Agera was hard to ignore, and the decision was made to bring it back. And a good decision it was.
Now it is the Vector’s turn.
I have no idea how the Vector was originally greenlighted. In 2011. I could see it hitting the Hot Wheels world when it was first made, back in the late ‘80’s/early ‘90’s. That would have made sense. But something struck a chord in Hot Wheels Designer Manson Cheung – he of DeLorean fame – 20 years later, and it was made for Boulevard, and made beautifully. It is an incredibly accurate casting, and he did an amazing job replicating the Vector’s quirky design, from its slant nose front to horizontal rear, to even its strangely placed license plate slot.
And the Hot Wheels Vector is following that same path that many recent Hot Wheels Legends have followed. Pegwarmer to start, but a late-bloomer as collector tastes change. Like many Boulevard castings, the Vector was buried in oversized and too-frequent mixes, and collectors weren’t ready to appreciate an obscure 20-year-old American Supercar. Especially one that only had 20 examples made, and is rarely seen now.
But 90’s-era cars are making big waves these days, and the Vector’s time has come. Ultra car-nerd Doug DeMuro even dug unto one (it’s a long video, but nothing that a little fast-forwarding won’t fix) and you can’t help but smile when you see it. And be super happy that somehow someway Hot Wheels made one.
And now I am hearing more and more collectors ask about the Vector. And I in turn have asked the Hot Wheels Team about it.
“No plans.”
Well it is time to make a little noise and try and change that. My first concern, with only 20 made, are there any other colors beside red? Yep. I’ve seen black, silver, white, and even purple! (RLC!)
So yes, Mattel, get that license back, give us a couple more colors, and let’s create a Vector family. This casting, and Manson, the dear Hot Wheels soul that created it, needs more love. I mean we collectors had the audacity to vote his Super DeLorean Worst Super of the Year, so we owe him this.
In fact, I even asked Manson about how the Vector was made. You can pull what you want from our text thread:
Whether Manson’s version of the story or mine, the Vector got done. It made it to the pegs. It is currently a “one-and-done”, and a unique one at that. Truly a model any Boulevard collector really should have. One that Hot Wheels needs to push back to the pegs. Based on what I have seen, collectors will buy it.
Am I right?
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