Red and green typically don’t look good together on ANY car as the colors remind many of the Christmas season. However, this release manages to win in the vintage racing category as it combines a vintage brand in Castrol Motoroil with a vintage rally car in the #’70 Ford Escort RS1600. The pairing is great as it represents the 2016 HW Speed Graphics Series great — a series of cars that wear real sponsor graphics!

Sure we’ve seen automotive sponsor based series before in the premium Hot Wheels Slick Rides and the mainline HW Performance Series, but with the new name of “HW Speed Graphics” came a new level of expectation as the sponsors, graphics work and cars are amazing! Some of the cars in this series could of been sold at a premium, but shhhhh, don’t tell Mattel that.

While it may be hard for some to choose a favorite from this series, it wasn’t hard for me because as soon as I laid eyes on this ’70 Ford Escort RS1600, I knew I had to have it. While I am partial to red cars — every 1:1 car I have every owned has been red — I highly despise green graphics or accents for the aforementioned reason above. For some reason though, the Castrol graphics couldn’t be more appealing. Kudos to the graphic designer that pulled this color combo off. My only slight against the release is the chrome interior. I do realize the interior piece is one in the same as the front and rear bumper so to have a colored interior would mean the bumpers would have to match.

Overall, collectors are quite fond of the Hot Wheels #’70 Ford Escort RS1600 casting. This is the third appearance of it after two colorways last year in its inaugural series debut in the 2015 HW Workshop / Garage Series. The blue version was a licensed replica of the one used in Fast & Furious 6 and did not last long on the pegs. The white version hung around a little longer as it was much easier to find. This 2016 red version just came out but its still not easy to find as I am not the only collector it resonates with. Hopefully you are able to find it and add it to your collection soon — happy hunting!

RELEASE DETAILS: Red Body (metal). Tinted Windows. Chrome Interior. White 5-Spoke (5SP) Wheels. Red Base (plastic). Made in Malaysia. Toy# DHP97. Released in 2016 as #10 of 10 in the HW Speed Graphics Series.

UPDATED 12/25/2016 — Finally got around to adding the white colorway to this article.

RELEASE DETAILS: White Body (metal). Tinted Windows. Chrome Interior. Chrome 5-Spoke (5SP) Wheels. White Base (plastic). Made in Malaysia. Toy# DHX59. Released in 2016 as #10 of 10 in the HW Speed Graphics Series.