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Hot Wheels® Collectors Guide
Frequently Asked Questions


Frequently Asked Questions

Q

1. Does the year on the base determine when the car was produced?

A

The year on the base is the year the design was first copyrighted. This is usually the year before the car was released for the very first time. The date on the base has nothing to do with the age of the car or the year it was produced.

Q

2. What is PR5, 5SP, BW, RL?

A

These are different wheel types found on Hot Wheels cars.
Click Here for a comprehensive wheel guide.

Q

3. What is Mtflk., Tampo, Baggie?

A

These are different terms used in some of the descriptions for the Hot Wheels listings.
Click Here for an abbriviations and term guide.

Q

4. Does your club/website sell cars listed on the guide?

A

At this time our club does not offer/sell/trade cars listed on the site. The guide is for reference only.

Q

5. How come some of the listed cars have no value ($0.00) on them?

A

This is due to a few reasons. The cars are too new to calculate an average selling price, there isn't any sales history of the car, or the missing price is in error.

Q

6. Why are some of the listings with IMG missing pics/images?

A

If the database shows we have a photo on the car, the IMG tag is generated automatically. Since we are running low on disk space some of the pictures are not on the webhost.

Q

7. I have a car/variation/error not listed on the guide. What can I do to get it listed?

A

You can always submit your car/variation information by emailing the editor. If it's possible to verify through several sources the existance of the car/variation, it will be added to the database. This does not include errors as this would most likely double the size of the database.

Q

8. What determines if a car is a variation or an error?

A

Generally, a variation is a running change on a car. This could be a wheel change, a change in paint/base/interior/window/tampo colors, or casting differences.

An error can be missing parts, missing tampos, mismatched wheels (including all small or all large), or cars not assembled correctly.

Q

9. What is a ZAMAC car?

A

Basically a ZAMAC car is an unpainted car. The name ZAMAC is an acronym for "Zinc Aluminum MAgnesium and Copper" or "Zinc Aluminum Metal Alloy Casting" This is the metal alloy that Hot Wheels cars are cast from.

Check out our ZAMAC Page for more information and comparison pictures.

Q

10. What's the difference between the 1996 First Edition Drag bus and 30th Anniversary Drag bus?

A

The main difference is the base. The 96 FE version has a rectangle shape on the pivot point and the anniversary version has a trapezoid shape on the pivot point.
Check out our VW Drag Bus Page for a detailed description (with photos) of these differences.

Q

11. What is the difference between the FTE wheel and the OH5SP wheel?

A

The FTE wheels (known as Faster Than Ever) are actually OH5SP wheels. What makes them faster are the nickel-plated axles that the wheels spin on. To make these FTE axles easy to identify, Mattel used a copper color for the OH5SP wheels. In the Guide FTE=Copper OH5SP's.

Q

12. How are you able to view the mystery cars w/o opening the blister?

A

The photos of the mystery cars are just a photoshop trick, which combines one photo of the car in a clear blister and merging it with a photo of the black mystery blisters.

Q

13. I have a certain car that is packaged on a card with the different name. Are cars packaged on wrong cards worth more??

A

A car packaged on the wrong card is considered an error. These type of errors are fairly common and generally do not add value to the car.

Q

14. What is the meaning of the code located on the bottom of a Hot Wheels car?

A

The code states the year and week of manufacture. 'A42' would signify that the car was manufactured on week 42 of 2008.



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This page last updated May 14, 2014.

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