We're all familiar with stories about old Hot Wheels cars from decades and decades ago rising to insane values years later, like the $200,000 'Beach Bomb' last year. What's less familiar are the values of cars that are still relatively current skyrocketing to the same extremes.
Hot Wheels nerds will concede that new-edition models do sometimes enjoy a boom in price, thanks to eBay and online pre-release hype. But the hysteria over the 'Candy Striper' Chevrolet Bel Air Gasser that Hot Wheels released just three years ago is out of this world.
It's a homage to America's drag-racing heyday, with a monstrous blown V8 jumping through the engine-bay and a raised front profile. Finished in a candied pink, it was earmarked early as a collector favourite.
It was an 'RLC' release, which means that only members of the Hot Wheels Red Line Club were eligible to buy it. And, like many other models of its ilk, it broke the company's website as soon as it was listed for sale online. Naturally, they were sold out in a shot.
Three years on and even run-of-the-mill versions of the Candy Gasser have had their values explode to around NZ$1,000 a piece (on card, of course). But an auction currently unfolding on eBay is set to eclipse that.
Photo / greeneagle2003eagle
Admittedly, the car is no normal Gasser. Of the 4,000 that Hot Wheels made, this is number 0001, and it also comes with the striped roof variation. And with five whole days to go, the current bidded price is US$12,700.
Or, in New Zealand dollars ... eighteen thousand, six hundred and fifty four bucks.
Considering how much time there is left on the auction, and that more than 1,200 people have it on their watchlist, expect that value to continue to rise as well.
It might not be quite as sought after as the six-figure 'Red Line' cars of the '60s and '70s. But give it time, and this could be one of the most famous Hot Wheels cars of all time.