The ’38 Dodge Airflow was produced in the time of Art Deco and it surely shows the time with its smooth lines and charismatic features. But this tanker had a very practical use in its time. Delivering gas. The Henry Ford Museum (Dearborn, Mich.), where one of these is displayed as part of an exhibit, says that:

This streamlined tank truck connected local Texaco service stations to a larger national distribution network. Each of America’s competing oil companies had a branded fleet of trucks that took gasoline from refineries to its retail service stations. Even independently operated stations had to buy gasoline from a big oil company’s refinery. This truck’s capacity is 1175 gallons.

While the Hot Wheels version of the Dodge Airflow is low and sleek, it doesn’t carry those vintage oil company logos *sigh* but its nature to serve as a billboard for those brands, made it a perfect candidate to be released in the Hot Wheels Pop Culture / Nostalgic Brands line. Its first release was in 2012 in the DC Comics segment of the Pop Culture line. It featured Supergirl graphics. While collectors would have gone nuts for a vintage Sinclair or Texaco scheme, the “Supergirl” Airflow was still pretty hard to find. The next release featured graphics of Dr. Leonard McCoy from Star Trek…a very forgetful release that seemed to be plentiful. The last release (shown below), features the likes of vintage Captain America. While he looks great on the side of this truck, it still leaves collectors clamoring for a vintage oil design on the side of this beautiful truck. Only time will tell if Hot Wheels will do us the honor of doing so. For now, the ’38 Dodge Airflow continues to serve as a billboard to the Pop Culture releases.

RELEASE DETAILS: Red & White Enamel Body (metal). Light-Blue Tint Windows. White Interior. Silver Real Rider Moon Disc (RRMD) Wheels w/ White Stripe. Unpainted Metal Base. Made in Thailand. Toy# CFP59. Released in 2015 as part of the Marvel series in the Pop Culture line.