A 1969 version of the “Beach Bomb” Volkswagen bus estimated to be worth as much as USD$150,000 is believed to be the most valuable Hot Wheels car in the world.
The estimation of the tiny car is entirely believable based on its extreme rarity and its nearly perfect condition, collectables’ experts said.
The Hot Wheels car is owned by a Washington DC-area commercial real estate executive Bruce Pascal.
The commercial real estate agent has reportedly owned over 3500 of the miniature toy cars, including 175 unique prototypes that were never released to the public who received his first Hot Wheels car at the age of seven and has been collecting ever since.
An appraiser with Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers of Rhode Island, Travis Landry said, “When it comes to any field of collecting, there’s always that pinnacle ‘Holy Grail’ item where it’s just that the supply that’s out there can no way meet the demand and that causes the price to go through the roof.”
Although he hasn’t inspected the car himself, Landry said that Pascal’s toy is easily worth USD$100,000 (AUD$131,000) but probably more, especially as values for all sorts of collectibles have risen in recent months, 7news reported.
Many of the most valuable models of Hot Wheels cars in Pascal’s collection worth thousands of dollars but they were never sold in stores.
It emerged that the $150,000 model, for instance, was a failed experiment. They’re mostly prototypes that were never intended for a life outside of Mattel’s corporate offices.
For 1969, Hot Wheels’ second year on the market, designers wanted to include a California-style model of the famous Volkswagen bus.
Hot Wheels’ original version of the “Beach Bomb” had lifelike proportions scaled down to 1/64 size and tiny surfboards sticking out the back window. It looked great, but the bus had serious handling issues.
The whole point of Hot Wheels was that they weren’t supposed to just look cool.
They were supposed to go fast and whip around that little orange plastic track.
But when it was blasted out of the Hot Wheels Super-Charger – a miniature garage with spinning rubber discs that slung the cars out at high speeds – the tall, narrow bus flipped over.
Some prototypes were made with heavier bottoms to try to overcome that tipping problem. Pascal’s is one of those.
About 144 prototypes of this particular model were made and only about 50 are known to survive today, said Pascal, adding that he has no plans to ever sell his.
Ultimately, Hot Wheels designers went back to the drawing board and completely redesigned the model. The version that was sold to the public in 1969 was wider and had the surfboards on the side.
Pascal’s Beach Bomber is the only pink one with the heavier weighted bottom, he said.
There is one other pink one, but that has the original lighter bottomed design.
Another “Beach Bomb” prototype, a red one, was appraised on an episode of PBS’s Antiques Roadshow in 2016 and found to be worth between US$100,000 (AUD$131,000) and US$150,000 (AUD$197,000).
Pascal’s pink one is one of four so-called rear-loader Beach Bomb prototypes he owns. All are worth at least US$25,000 (AUD$32,000) apiece, he said.
Pascal bought the pink Beach Bomb after seeing newspaper articles in 1999 about the car selling for $72,000 (AUD$94,000).
