When Hot Wheels Flew...

The year was 1970. Mattel had conquered the boys' toy industry with a new line of cars called "Hot Wheels" just two years ago, and they were looking to cash in on that brand in any way possible. Someone at R&D came up with a brilliant idea. "Kids love rockets and jets! Let's develope a line of Hot Wheels jets!" ...and thus, in 1971, Hot Birds were born.

Hot Birds were a line of six die cast planes meant to inspire kids' imaginations with visions of zipping through the atmosphere and beyond. They were all pure sci-fi designs, with little relation to any actual aircraft being produced at the time. I bought one:

The Hot Birds "Maching Bird"

This picture isn't the one I had as a kid. That one was purple, as I remember it. This one was picked up on eBay recently. Still, its the same model.

The planes were designed to "fly" down a string. There was a wire harness that clipped into that slot between the engines. By the way, the engine hatch also opened and the wheels retract. The cockpit doesn't open.

Hot Birds never caught on. I think that while Hot Wheels cars were exciting because they were really fast, Hot Birds just weren't. In fact, I remember them getting hung up on their string and just hopelessly hanging in mid air. Really, it was a good thing they weren't any faster. These things are a lot bigger than a Hot Wheels car and made of metal. Getting hit in the head with one of these suckers would not have been fun! They only lasted one year and then were forgotten.

Still, that means that they are pretty darn collectible now. If you go to eBay in search of one, plan on forking out just shy of fifty bucks (with shipping.) Not bad for a toy that was a flop.

Thanks for taking a flight down memory lane! Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!

The Ultimate Model Rocket Sweepstakes!

A few days ago, George Sprague sent me some old model rocketry related ads to look at. One in particular caught my eye. It was this one:

Of course I was more than a little interested. I had never heard of this giveaway before, and I wondered who won and whatever happened to the replica? Does it still exist?

Enter "The Great and Mighty Google!" Without much effort I found out the following: 1. The winner was 13 year old Portland Oregon youth, Alen Hanshew. 2. He never really had it in his back yard or anything, since he immediately donated it to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. The main issue seems to have been that there needed to be a rail dock at the delivery location, and not many houses have those (museums often do, though!). 3. Yes, it still exists, and can be visited! Here is a picture of it today:

For a more in depth look at the greatest rocketry related prize in forever, check out this link: http://comiccoverage.typepad.com/comic_coverage/2009/01/the-gemini-spacecraft-mystery-new-details.html

Until next time, fly 'em fast and high!