These days, the most expensive Hot Wheels cars can be worth more than a real, driveable vehicle. Few people have a thousand-dollar toy sitting in storage, but every now and then a collector’s gem emerges. With the right rarity, near-mint condition (and if you’re very lucky, sealed packaging), a Hot Wheels car can be worth huge sums.
We’ve collected a list of some of the most expensive Hot Wheels ever sold. Many of these belong to Hot Wheels Museum founder (and owner of over 4,000 Hot Wheels cars) Bruce Pascal, who kindly shared information and pictures from his collection for this guide.
Before we get racing, here are a few more lists from Wargamer that may interest collectors. As well as the best Hot Wheels cars, we can point you to the most expensive Lego sets and rare Pokémon cards.
Here are seven of the most expensive Hot Wheels cars money can buy:
Pink Rear-Loading Beach Bomb
| Year produced | 1969 |
| Estimated value | $133,000 |
The ‘holy grail’ of expensive Hot Wheels cars is the 1969 Pink Rear-Loading Beach Bomb. This bright pink van doesn’t just sport a rare pink paint job – it also has surfboards loaded in its back window. These caused the car to tip over on a Hot Wheels track, forcing Mattel to adjust its design.
The design flaw and color make these cars a real rarity. Only 50 Rear-Loading Beach Bombs have been found, and only two of them are pink. The one owned by Bruce Pascal is also made rarer because it has the later base used on the released model and the original rear loading area for surfboards.
Pascal tells Wargamer he spotted a Pink Rear-Loading Beach Bomb on sale in 1999, and he paid between $50,000 and $72,000 for it (£39,447 – £56,804). In today’s money, that’d be almost $133,000 (£104,930). However, some sources estimate the Pink Rear-Loading Beach Bomb could be worth as much as $175,000 (£138,066).
Strawberry Over Chrome Mustang
| Year produced | 1968 |
| Estimated value | $50,000 |
If the Beach Bomb is the king of expensive Hot Wheels cars, the 1968 Strawberry Over Chrome Mustang is the queen. It’s one of several ‘chromed’ cars with a top and bottom plated in jewel-like colors. The Strawberry Over Chrome Mustang was also never sold to the public, making it an exceedingly rare find.
Pascal doesn’t own a Strawberry Over Chrome Mustang, but he does know of one that belongs to a fellow collector. The current estimate for this unique car’s value is $50,000 (£39,427). This is pretty standard for the Over Chrome series (several of which can be seen in the picture above). Pascal says all of them could be worth between $10,000 (£7,886) and $50,000 in the right conditions.
Anti-Freeze Over Chrome Custom Camaro
| Year produced | 1968 |
| Estimated value | $35,000 |
Another high-value Over Chrome car is the 1968 Anti-Freeze Over Chrome Custom Camaro. Just like its Strawberry sibling, this Camaro is valued for its striking chrome color (this time in green), as well as its scarcity. Pascal has one in his collection that he estimates is worth $35,000 (£27,590) today.
The Anti-Freeze Over Chrome Custom Camaro is fairly rare, but you can find some of these cars for sale. Sites like eBay show Anti-Freeze Camaros on sale for anywhere between a few hundred and a few thousand dollars.
This goes to show that a car’s condition is just as important as its scarcity. Even if you did find an Over Chrome car in your old toy collection, it’d need to be like-new to be worth serious money.
Mad Maverick
| Year produced | 1969 |
| Estimated value | $20,000 |
The Mad Maverick was the original name of the 1969 Mighty Maverick. The name had to be changed for legal reasons, as another toy car was apparently using the ‘Mad Maverick’ name at the time. Mattel quickly changed the name and accidentally created one of its rarest prototype cars in the process.
Pascal says there are fewer than six known Mad Mavericks in the world. He has one in his collection, and it’s worth somewhere between $15,000 and $20,000 (£11,826 – £15,768).
Cheetah Base Python
| Year produced | 1968 |
| Estimated value | $12,000 |
The Maverick isn’t the only car that had legal troubles – the 1968 Python was originally advertised as the Cheetah before a law firm got involved. Apparently, Mattel couldn’t use the name thanks to a real car that was already called the Cheetah. A few Cheetah Base Python prototypes had been produced before the switch was made, though.
Pascal says there are fewer than ten known Cheetahs in the world of expensive Hot Wheels. This puts their price up significantly, but not quite as high as the Maverick’s. In today’s money, the current estimated value is around $12,000 (£9,464).
Brown Classic ‘31 Ford Woody
| Year produced | 1969 |
| Estimated value | $10,000 |
The 1969 Classic ‘31 Ford Woody is one of several ‘classic’ cars that released in 1969. The Woody was produced in multiple colors, but the brown version is particularly desirable – and valuable, with an estimated worth somewhere between $8,000 and $10,000 (£6,312 – £7,890).
While brown might not be the most visually appealing choice for a paint job, it’s hard to find a brown Woody. Pascal says fewer than 12 brown Woody cars have been spotted in the wild.
White Custom Camaro
| Year produced | 1968 |
| Estimated value | $7,000 |
The Custom Camaro was one of the first cars released in the 1968 Hot Wheels lineup (often called the ‘original 16’ or ‘sweet sixteen’). A White Custom Camaro is one of the rarest versions of this car, as it’s a prototype that may have been produced even earlier than 1968.
White Custom Camaros weren’t meant to be sold to customers – like many cars on this list, they’re a prototype. Pascal says there are fewer than 20 known copies, and it’s believed that the white cars were used for internal testing by Mattel.
Some sources have previously put a price tag of $100,000 (£79,259) on the White Custom Camaro. However, Pascal gives a far lower estimate of their worth. He tells Wargamer a White Custom Camaro currently sells for $6,000 to $7,000 (£4,734 – £5,523).
For more rarities, here are the most expensive YuGiOh cards the trading card game has ever seen. Or, if you’re shopping on a budget, here are the best cheap Nerf guns we’d recommend.
Source: Wargamer
