Amazing to see Hot Wheels change from gas to hybrid to EV over the years.
useless red circle
This seems accurate to what modern car underbodies look like, a smooth underbody is very important for aerodynamics and therefore fuel efficiency. For race cars it is often even more important not only for fuel efficiency but for downforce.
Also rust protection. Northern cars just having the floor fall out is less of a thing.
All of those plastic covers are a detriment in the north east. All of the salt and sand gets inside of them then you can’t clean it out.
why northern? I thought the Southeast was more prone to rusting as the Mexico Gulf is right there?
Probably salt on roads. Sea air kinda rots everything, salty roads just the bottom.
that makes sense, my southern brain didn’t even process that road salts could cause corrosion haha
In the north there’s even people who will specifically head south to buy a car that’s never spent a winter driving on salted roads. Road salt corrodes so badly it’s nasty
Wow that’s extreme, TIL
I think for some people it’s more about killing multiple birds with one stone. One guy I know went to see a Dolphins game, bought a car and got some warmer weather during the coldest part of the year. Another bought a car while visiting family (and learned the hard way that radiators are sometimes refilled with water and therefore will freeze in the winter if brought north) and another had their 20 year old truck die while hauling their RV and bought a new truck from the nearest dealership. So maybe it’s not widespread, but every one has talked about the benefits of a car that’s never seen salted roads
Salt only lowers melting point around 4°C, below is split. The occasional fire for heating the engine on the other hand…
Edit: Rollsplit being loose gravel.
I don’t pretend to be an expert on salt (though I have certainly listened to the testimony of experts on salt), but I do know there are different compounds that all fall under the general heading of “salt,” despite some of them not being salt at all. And that heading is probably one coined by a layman like myself.
As far as whether the other compounds are responsible for corrosion the way tradition salt would be, I have no idea!
Typically they are – for two of the same reasons, first being that most of the “salt alternatives” in use, the original “salt” in this case being sodium chloride, are also chlorides (potassium or calcium chloride, usually) and it’s that chlorine ion that’s corrosive. They also all turn the meltwater into an electrolyte, forming an easy electrical connection between the various metals in your vehicle’s parts and dramatically accelerating galvanic corrosion.
Technically any compound composed of positive and negatively charged ions that balance out to a net neutral is a salt, chemically speaking, and by definition they are compounds, i.e. held together with weak ionic bonds via their electrostatic charges and not molecules held together with strong covalent bonds. This means they like to liberate their constituent ions easily, allowing whatever-it-is they’re composed of to readily react with something else.
TL;DR: Pretty much all salts, not just sodium chloride salt salt, are corrosion promoters.
not as much profit in making durable toys
Lego would like a word with you.
yup. since my kid was born, we’ve collected them. about 500 last count, all inside, never played with in sand. matchbox ones are cooler though, more real world cars in my opinion.
Apparently, in order keep the “die cast” label, either the base or the top are die cast.
Some cars are plastic on top and metal on the bottom, and others are metal on top and plastic on the bottom.
As I recall, the wheels are also no longer 4 separate axel pins. They’re just two long pins. One in the front, one in the back.
Lol hotwheels have a locked diff
With free spinning hubs though!
I had one of these that had actual rubber tires on the wheels. Pretty sure they were a choking hazard.
I had a jeep that changed colours from army green to bright yellow. Also an old school caddy that went from purple to pink. All metal; great toys
I had a couple with spring loaded “crash damage”, one on the side and one on the rear. When it got hit hard enough, the panel would flip around and the car would be “dented”.
Was awesome.
Awww man you just unlocked a memory of mine. I had several of those.
Also, like the other person who replied to you, I had He-Man toys that did that. I’m like 90% sure it was Skeletor and He-Man.
I had “Thunder Punch” He-man who had a little backpack that took the circle 6-shot caps. You twisted his torso & got a BANG! with the punch.
The 80’s were a time
I think my brother still has one of those kicking around somewhere. I’m pretty sure his kids are playing with it now.
I had a He-Man figure like that.
Like when you put them under hot water? I had those too.
when I was little I’d take them in the bath with me lol
Mine were bath toys for sure.
Yep those ones.
They still make them. Still metal too. My 3 year old has a few and loves them. I have some old ones and they still work, albeit not as fast as they used to.
That 2012 one looks like I’ve focused it as a UI component. I need to get out and touch some grass.
Hot wheels from the 70s and 80s were deadly weapons … you stepped on one it was like stepping on a roller skate, you broke one it turned into knife and if you threw one, you could cause a concussion. Even just opening up one of those damned things when you were kid usually meant you severely cut yourself (I know from experience).
Right? They were awesome.
I have one or two hot wheels shaped wounds somewhere on my skull from when my brothers tossed these things at me in a fight … and I returned the favor as well.
Cheaper and cheaper as time goes on. My Tonka dump truck was made from steel and it would hurt me more than I could hurt it.
Matchbox were always better.
more real life cars, but same parent company lol
For anyone looking for a fun way to play with your toy cars, I highly recommend the free tabletop game GASLANDS. Glue some guns to them and blow them up with your friends!
Not just that what if these are electric cars and don’t need all that stuff in the bottom. Hmmm
Some hypercars actually have a flat undercarriage to maximize aerodynamics. Also not all HotWheels are depicting real cars, so they might not have realistic underbody. This could be one of those 2 cases.
It says Corvette C7 Z06 on the top one, so it can easily be compared to the underbody of the real one, which doesn’t really look like that.
Oh yeah, I didn’t zoom in to check. Just assumed it was unreadable. Z6 does in fact has stuff on the belly, according to Google image search.
Since not everyone is a car enthusiast, I doubt slight chance of them think of aero stuffs.
Weak sauce.
The dates are stamped in so I would trust it
Oh, I just meant it’s weak sauce that they stopped adding these details.
