Shark Week starts tonight at 8PM on the Discovery Channel and with that, leaves a whole slew of people hibernating indoors, avoiding the summer temperatures, to watch this shark-related TV marathon. Here at Diecast Motorsports we decided to get the jump on Shark Week and bring to you one of the shark-related castings that Hot Wheels makes: the Sharkruiser.

Inspired by a non-produced, Larry Wood Zowee creation, the Sharkruiser was designed by legendary Hot Wheels designer Larry Wood in 1986. This “hot rod shark car” first appeared in the 1987 Speed Demons line. The Speed Demons were Hot Wheels castings that resemble animals. Many of the castings from this line are still being released today including the Sharkruiser.

This particular Sharkruiser was included in the 2007 mainline series, Street Beast II. In this series, a couple of the vehicles included, featured rubbery-feeling paint to resemble the skin of animals. However, this slightly backfired as the paint (which is actually pretty think) caused the metal body of the Sharkruiser to rust underneath. This can been seen in the photo >> HERE. Fortunately, the Sharkruiser I obtained did not contain any visible signs of rust but it was a problem that affected a good majority of the Sharkruisers I came across.

RELEASE DETAILS: Matte Gray Body (metal). Gold Chrome Seat, Teeth & Engine. Chrome 3-Spoke (3SP) Wheels. Unpainted Metal Base. Made in Malaysia. Toy# K7581. Released in 2007 as part of the Street Beast Series II.

Even if you aren’t a Hot Wheels Collector, if you grew up in the ’80s/’90s, there is a good chance you know of the Sharkruiser casting. It was consistently being released during that time period and it was even featured in the 1997 movie, Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves.

If you would like to hear the Shark Week special done by Mark at Racegrooves (from 2013), check out this video: