The annual #sELECTIONs voting kicks off today for the Red Line Club (RLC) on HotWheelsCollectors.com (HWC) today. For those that don’t know, the sELECTIONs are a chance for the RLC members to essentially design a Hot Wheels release as a collective group. Through a series of polls that typically involve casting, color and wheels; the members pick their favorites, and the popular vote wins out. From there, Hot Wheels Graphic Designer, Steve Vandervate works his magic and completes the look.
Over the years we eventually went from having four #sELECTIONs vehicles a year, to now only one. However, back in 2014, we still had two sELECTIONs for the year. The #’77 Pontiac Firebird Funny Car you see below was the second of the two cars (in terms of voting), as collectors received this one first because production delays had a larger effect on the first car — the Custom AMX — which ultimately didn’t ship until 2017!
Hot Wheels ’77 Pontiac Firebird Funny Car from the 2014 RLC sELECTIONs Series (top-right view)
Fortunately, for #Hot Wheels Race Team fanatics like myself, it didn’t take nearly as long to receive the 2014 RLC sELECTIONs #’77 Pontiac Firebird Funny Car.
In this second installment of the 2014 #sELECTIONs polls, the #’77 Pontiac Firebird Funny Car took out collector favorites: Light My Firebird, King Kuda and the ’87 Toyota Pickup. The #Dragstrip Demons Real Riders (mag) heavily beat the dish set of wheels from that line 65% to 35%. In the third poll, collectors got to select which livery/theme they wanted on the car and the one marked “HWCVan Original Design” routed the other eight liveries which were all automotive companies — obtaining 51% of the overall votes! Van, ultimately created this awesome #Hot Wheels Race Team design that features a spectraflame blue body and a large phoenix on the hood.
This 2014 RLC #sELECTIONs #’77 Pontiac Firebird Funny Car is a great example of how awesome this Red Line Club perk really is. I can remember when this bracket first started, the consensus seemed to be that the #’87 Toyota Truck was going to run away with the popular vote, however, after three rounds of voting for the casting, it was this #Funny Car that emerged victorious.
It is worth noting that this release was produced in the “mirrorized-spectraflame” era of #Spectraflame Paint, which is now seen as inferior to the hand-polish chrome spectraflame bodies that releases before and after had. This was a very short stint in the grand scheme of things, but if you are ever curious if a HWC/RLC release has it, you can check the base as these were manufactured in Malaysia.
Hopefully this article serves as a little added incentive to get over to HWC and vote for the 2018 RLC sELECTIONs vehicle. These always come out great as Van does a spectacular job on them, however, most collectors feel like the journey is the true reward, having taken part in the design of an actual #HWC/#RLC release. This year’s lineup features eight castings, each of which were chosen by HWC/Mattel employees. It will be interesting to see whose casting prevails — and when it does… will it come out as nice as the #’77 Pontiac Firebird Funny Car did in 2014???
RELEASE DETAILS: Spectraflame Blue Body (metal). Clear Windows. Chrome Roll Cage. Gray Prop. Chrome Drag Strip Demons Wheels w/ Goodyear tampo on rear. Chrome Base (metal). Made in Malaysia. Toy# BLR32. Released in 2014 as #2 of 2 in the RLC sELECTIONs Series (Limited to 3,840 pieces).
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ORANGE TRACK DIECAST 
Great article, Brad, and it shows how amazing Van is at his craft.