Hot Wheels: Ultimate Bling Thing?
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I was a Matchbox kid. I loved those beautifully detailed cars from Lesney and the cute little boxes they came in. I was smart enough to save most of those boxes (and the cars, too) and never set my Matchbox cars on fire, as many of my friends did. I loved cars too much to do that, even little scale ones that cost only 55 cents when my mom began buying them for me. By the time I was earning money and buying my own, they'd gone up to around 80 cents, but I digress.
Then, an aunt or an uncle or someone gave me my first Hot Wheels. They weren't as nicely finished as the Matchboxes were, but were painted groovy '60s colors, and some had an oversized supercharger sticking through the hood. But Hot Wheels' real appeal, of course, was that the slick black plastic tires looked like they were mounted on cool mag wheels, and man, did they spin around fast and for a long time. You could slide the cars across the floor (or race them on the bright orange plastic track you could buy) so much faster than a Matchbox. I used to oil the wheels and swap them around to get my favorite car to go faster than my buddy's. Yes, I blueprinted and race-prepped my Hot Wheels, but again, I digress.
In February 2008, in celebration of the company's 40th anniversary and the construction of the 4,000,000,000th (that's four billionth) Hot Wheels toy, Mattel and Beverly Hills jeweler Jason Arasheben have created what has to be the ultimate Hot Wheels toy (and the brand name is never written in the singular, by the way -- there is no such thing as a "Hot Wheel"), although it seems strange to call it that.
This one is the proper 1/64th scale, but it is crafted of 18K white and yellow gold, and carries 22.94 carats worth of diamonds, colored diamonds, and rubies. You read right: just a point or two south of 23 carats of diamonds and gems, some 2700 in all, in a variety of cuts. This star-studded Hot Wheels is stored in its own special carrying case -- duh -- adorned in another 40 bezel-set diamonds.
The little bling thing isn't crafted in the likeness of any one car model, but if anything it sorta kinda looks like a gen-one Firebird. It was originally unveiled at a major toy show by Nick Lachey (the lucky boy toy singer who used to be Mr. Jessica Simpson). The Jason of Beverly Hills Hot Wheels anniversary car is going to be auctioned by Bonhams this Saturday at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles and the Inland Empire.
Does anyone really need such an extravagant bauble? No, but then a Porsche GT3 isn't required for human survival either. For those who've got to have the ultimate Hot Wheels, here's your chance. What will it go for? Who knows, but presale estimates floated by the auction house indicate that $20,000 shouldn't be a big surprise.
I guess your sig other could always wear it on a chain. Or someone could use it as a belt buckle. Having another one cast up and wear them as earrings? Ouch.
By the way, the little solid-gold wheels do, in fact, turn. Not as well as the ones on my original Hot Wheels Dodge Deora, perhaps. But I digress...
Bonhams' California Classic: A Sale of Important Motorcars, Motorcycles, and Memorabilia (Sale 16122)
October 25, 2008, beginning at 10:00 a.m.
The Petersen Automotive Museum, 6060 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, California
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