Hot Wheels has so many #Dodge #Charger castings that it can be a daunting task just to keep them all straight. Heck, if you’re looking just by name/year, there are five 1970 Charger castings, but each are vastly different. In what has been commonly called the #Blown Engine Charger or the #Fast & Furious Charger, the #’70 Dodge Charger R/T is distinct to the trained eye. Sure, its probably better known for all its Fast & Furious releases in various iterations of black, but this casting was first released in the popular #Mopar #Muscle Car colors of Orange and Purple as part of the #2011 New Models.

Hot Wheels ’70 Dodge Charger R/T from the 2011 New Models (both colorways)

Aside from the orange and purple #2011 New Models releases, the #’70 Dodge Charger R/T was also released in lime green the very next year. The casting has received some pretty cool paint schemes with one of my personal favorites being the Car Culture / HW Redliners release from this year. It also served as a “dinner car” at the 28th Annual Hot Wheels Collectors Convention in 2014 to honor its designer, Brendan Vetuskey.

Brendan’s love for #Muscle Cars is no secret as he drives a ’67 Firebird himself and is in the process of building the real life, 1:1 version of his #’55 Chevy Bel Air Gasser casting. He occasionally drops by HotWheelsCollectors.com (HWC) and recently informed the collecting community that he used his original CAD drawing from this #’70 Dodge Charger R/T casting as a starting point for the design of the Off-Road ’70 Dodge Charger from this year’s Experimotors series.

RELEASE DETAILS: Metalflake Purple Body (metal). Clear Windows. Chrome Interior. Chrome 5-Spoke (5SP) Wheels. Purple Base (plastic). Made in Malaysia. Toy# T9712. Released in 2011 as #42 of 50 in the 2011 New Models.

These were the only two colorways of this #2011 New Models release of the #’70 Dodge Charger R/T. There is an extremely hard to find #Variation — unicorn to some — of the purple colorway. That variation has a flat black hood, instead of the two black stripes. I have only seen a handful of these and have never had the opportunity to buy one so I couldn’t even tell you what one would be valued at.

Aside from that, the plastic-base version of this casting — which is what was used for this #First Edition release — is grouped with a handful of other castings in that it shares the distinction of the base being color-matched to the body. This is typically done to conceal areas where the base comes up into the body, but in this case the only part that does so is part of the front fender. This is something that wasn’t even an issue with the unpainted base of the Car Culture release. The latest release of the #’70 Dodge Charger R/T is in the #Walmart Exclusive, Vintage American Muscle series, which is in stores now.

RELEASE DETAILS: Metalflake Orange Body (metal). Clear Windows. Chrome Interior. Chrome 5-Spoke (5SP) Wheels. Orange Base (plastic). Made in Malaysia. Toy# V0037. Released in 2011 as #42 of 50 in the 2011 New Models.