A Car Becomes a Toy

M I N I - M E

~ By Elana Scherr

A Ca r Beco m es a Toy

Riley Stair’s 1970 Pontiac Firebird gets the Hot Wheels shrink ray.

The Hot Wheels Legends Tour is a build contest in which professional and amateur fabricators put forward their rides in hopes of having them minimized to one day be sent hurtling off tabletops to the delight of small children (and no small number of adults). Riley Stair’s alcoholburning, wide-body, tubeframe 1970 Firebird is the third winner since the competition began in 2018. It took him 18 months to build the ’Bird. The Hot Wheels team had half that time to re-create it in one-64th scale. Here’s how they do it.

1.

Mattel’s small-car toy empire includes more than 2500 people who work around the world, but it all starts in the design department in El Segundo, California, with sketches and renderings based on photographs and notes about the full-size car.

2.

Next, the drawings go to the 3-D-modeling lab. Models used to be made

from clay and wood, but modern sculptors use a virtual-modeling program originally designed for training medical students. For Riley’s car, the sculptor started with a digital model of a stock Firebird and added the aero and engine details from the design sketches.

3.

Mattel has been using 3-D printing since the late ’80s. The new machines

can print in multiple materials across the same part. Details that look right in renderings and even in the virtual model may not come through that way in production. Better to discover that before a run of thousands.

4.

Hot Wheels takes performance seriously. The test track at its headquarters is leveled, measured, and identical to test tracks in its factories. Making it through the loop is a big moment in any small car’s journey to toy-store shelves.

5.

With 450 products, including 50 new models, each year, the packaging-design team is busy. They source original artwork, write specs, and create themed boxes and graphics for

collector editions. If you’re a “keep it in the original packaging” type, you make this team very happy. But Stair says he hopes buyers take out the Firebird and send it through the loop.