Jun Imai studied at Art Center College of Design before joining Hot Wheels in 2004. From 2004, until he left Mattel in 2018, he has designed hundreds of cars for the diecast lines.
In 2012, he left diecast to lead HW Innovation and RC Design, and returned in summer 2014 as Manager of HW Diecast Design.
A few of his favorite designs include: Mad Manga, Nissan Skyline GT-X “Hakosuka”, Nissan Skyline 2000GTR “Kenmeri”, Datsun 510, ’71 Datsun Bluebird Wagon, Mazda RX-7, Toyota 2000GT, Datsun 620, BMW 2002, ’66 Dodge A100, ’69 Mustang Boss 302, ’77 Pontiac Firebird T/A, ’83 Chevy Silverado, Porsche 935/78, Porsche 911 (993) GT2, Driftsta, Datsun Fairlady 2000, Custom Datsun 240Z “Fugu Z”.
Aside from HW’s, he enjoys spending time with his family, running 5K’s, skateboarding, and tearing up L.A. streets with his modified Datsun 510 Wagon, 260ZG, and Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2.
Chances are, you’ve seen the brand-new #Mazda REPU at retail already as it was released earlier last month in the #2017 Hot Wheels “M” case assortments. To some, it may just be “another light truck”, but to others its the world’s first and only Rotary Engine Pick Up […]
How cool would it be to have a Hot Wheels replica of your real car? Especially when your real car is a unique street beast like this? Only in your dreams, right? Well, that dream became a reality this year as Hot Wheels collector, Roy de Guzman had […]
Hot Wheels has always found success with #VW castings due to their custom nature, which translates well to the brand. The most expensive Hot Wheels car ever is the infamous rear-loading, pink Beach Bomb. One of the top 5 castings of all time, as chosen by the collectors, […]
The #’70 Chevy Chevelle SS is back again for 2017 in what has become one of my favorite segments, the #Night Burnerz Series. Hot Wheels vaguely describes the lineup of cars as “Super speeders designed for night driving”, but to me, this series is the epitome of the […]
Ever think that a Hot Wheels casting was discontinued, only to have it show up again? I was under the impression that the #Mazda Furai had been discontinued. I’m not 100% sure why, but I seem to recall it was surrounded by a social media rumor that was started when the […]
The newest Hot Wheels #Pop Culture series titled, the #Women of Marvel should be hitting the big box stores here in the United States any day now as the series has already begun to show up at smaller retail outlets. With there already being several #Marvel Pop Culture […]
In what can pretty much be called the most successful #Mail-In in Hot Wheels history, the #Datsun Bluebird 510 had some collectors buying mainline cars by the thousands. Since this #2017 Collector Edition was revealed, collectors had been eagerly awaiting the promotional period that started on February 12, […]
Ah yes, the Hakosuka… wait?!?!? …What did I just say? Let me backup a little… Chances are, if you’ve been involved in collecting modern Hot Wheels as of late you’ve noticed the influx of Japanese Domestic Market vehicles. These #JDM vehicles are especially popular on all the social media sites […]
Hot Wheels store exclusives seem to be in a holding pattern as of late. The 2017 #ZAMACs have yet to hit Walmart and only the first wave of Red Edition series cars have hit Target, despite a couple from the second wave appearing on eBay close to two months […]
Chances are, you’ve seen at least one of the many “unboxing videos” done by collectors where they open up factory-sealed cases and show you whats inside. There have been so many of these and everyone seems to like them that collectors have even expanded these unboxing videos to boxes […]
ORANGE TRACK DIECAST 