Talk about an ultra-cool take on a classic car… the #Dwayne Vance Designed #Custom ’68 Camaro is now hitting the pegs where Hot Wheels are sold worldwide and it’s the epitome of the Hot Wheels brand. The refreshing fact is — now that we’ve seen a new #Camaro in the Hot Wheels lineup for the umpteenth time — we haven’t seen anything like this before!

Dwayne’s take on the classic, late ’60s Camaro is pure art. He blended what I call, “futuristic grunge”, with a classic American car design — he even opted to do the deco himself to complete the look!

This is one of those Hot Wheels designs that I seem to find a new detail in every time I look at it. The front end is extremely-detailed. The black-chrome interior piece it is a part of certainly helps give depth and detail to the radiator hose, steel bumper, recessed grille with air intake, and those iconic round #Camaro headlights. The black front-splitter — which is part of the base — contrasts nicely and gives the front-end a clean color break. The hood bulge is so thick from the protruding engine, that is again, offers and excellent color break opportunity, giving this casting even more depth.

Just beyond the front wheel well is the side exhaust that extends beyond the car’s outer-shell. Even the shape of the exhaust pipe is interesting and begs the questions: Why is it shaped this way? Is it some sort of futuristic exhaust design? Since Dwayne designed the graphics as well, he made sure to carry over the after-effect of the exhaust wearing away the side graphics.

Let’s talk about those graphics. At Hot Wheels, you have casting designers and graphic designers. Often, with a #First Edition release, the casting designer will have a say in, or design, the graphics — providing a very cohesive look for a vehicle’s first release. There are some collectors who will only collect the first release of a new model because of this. In my nearly 30 years of Hot Wheels collecting, the new #Custom ’68 Camaro ranks among the best I’ve ever seen in terms of overall cohesiveness from casting design to end product.

The wasteland style graphics look very Mad Max. The skull logo in the yellow roundel makes you wonder if this is part of a team — or perhaps the start of another collection of Hot Wheels cars. I asked Dwayne about these markings and he said. “The skull on there is from my screaming Skullz gang. It’s a short story I wrote.” The Asian characters on the side are Kanji (Japanese & Chinese) and read as “speed/velocity” per Dwayne, providing a setting for this vehicle’s story. Just in front of those is the nod to Dwayne himself with his initials, “DV” branding his creation.

The trunk lid features two shark fin spoilers/diffusers that are also part of the interior piece — offering another key color break and a conversation-starting detail.

This very well could be a movie car as the car looks to be an extensions of a character with a vibrant story. Perhaps the character is actually Dwayne himself? I spoke to him about his design. He stated. “Yea, this was a really fun one for me. Totally my style all over it.” It appears that not every collector has emoted positively towards it though as he also added, “I think overall, people will dig it. Only one guy said I should be fired for this design.”

I’m not sure who that one guy is, but man, clearly this is not his style. I guess there are the purists out there that love a stock restoration — and that’s fine when it comes to the true automotive world. This is Hot Wheels however, and THIS is the type of design that sets the brand apart. We have seen so many authentic recreations of every generation of #Camaro that this design is truly a breath of fresh air. I am truly excited to see where this casting goes from here as I can already tell that this is the start of a new casting collection for me!

Kudos to Dwayne for designing something different and making it his own. It is always great to see a creative casting and deco design that is an extension of the designer’s personality.