Sizzler Hot Wheels Views

Toys & Games

1970 was a first-rate year for Hot Wheels, so Mattel came up with a new slogan for the cars: Go With the Winner . 43 new cars appeared this year. This was also the year that Sizzlers and Heavyweights appeared. Howard Rees, who worked with Ira Gilford, was tired of designing cars. He wanted to work on the Major Matt Mason action figure toy line-up. Rees had a good friend by the name of Larry Wood. They had worked together at Ford designing cars. When Wood found out about Hot Wheels at a party Rees was holding, Rees offered Wood the job of designing Hot Wheels. Wood agreed, and by the end of the week, Larry Wood was working at Mattel. His first design would be the Tri-Baby. After 36 years, Larry still works for Hot Wheels.

However, 1972 and 1973 were slow years; only 7 new models (and 4 new Sizzlers cars) were made in 1972, but 24 models (as well as 7 Sizzlers) appeared for 1973. That year, to cut costs because of the inflation back then, most cars changed from Mattel's in house Spectraflame colors to less-shiny solid enamel colors, which mainline Hot Wheels cars still use today. Due to low sales, and the fact that many of the castings were not re-used in later years, the 1972-3 models are known to be very collectible.

The Sizzler car bodies were also very unique. Instead of being made from aluminum or another kind of metal they were made from plastic. Being made from plastic made the cars much more lighter than other toy cars you could find at the time. There was not to many different types of Hot Wheels Sizzlers. There was the Flat Out Sizzler, which looked like a drag racing car, the Live Wire - a car that looked to be modeled after the corvette, the 'Cuda TRANS-AM which I sure you know looks like, the Double Boiler - which was a futuristic looking car, the Up-Roar was a racing car with the engine exposed, and the Co-Motion was another futuristic looking car with a double engine on the back.

Hot Wheel Sizzlers that are over thirty years of age are considered to be vintage items. Finding a working Sizzler from the 70' is actually not that hard. Yes, most that you will find at flea markets and online do not have functioning batteries, but some in fact still work today. We have found that eBay and Amazon.com are the best places to look for vintage Sizzler race cars, some can even be found in there original boxes, just be prepared to pay a little more for a Hot Wheels Sizzler that is in mint condition.