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.
2016 has been a great year for collecting Hot Wheels and the future continues to be bright as we inch another year closer to the 50th Anniversary in 2018. Looking back at the year, there weren’t many mainline trios as good as the #BMW 2002 from the 2016 […]
For some the 2017 New Models, the Hot Wheels YouTube channel has been trying something new … something that I am quite fond of. They have been putting on a series called, “All Access” in which the designers of certain #2017 New Models explain their original thoughts behind creating […]
In today’s Hot Wheels landscape, it seems as though every line or series has some sort of #Chase piece in it — whether its produced that way or not. Even when there isn’t meant to be a chase piece, collectors/profiteers/etc. find a way to make one. This has been […]
As a kid who spent many years yearning for #Hot Wheels and #Star Wars to come together, I am definitely not taking for granted the treasure trove of Star Wars Hot Wheels released across so many different lines over the last several years. While I’ll admit, I don’t […]
If you’re a #Variation hunter in the Hot Wheels world, chances are “subtleties” are the name of your game. Variations exist in Hot Wheels collecting on all levels, from your basic planned colorway to wheel changes to even different thicknesses of the same color paint. Talk to any one […]
Sometimes, all it takes is some #Spectraflame Paint and some #Real Riders to really make an #Unlicensed Hot Wheels car stand out. Such was the case this year with the Driftsta released in the #Night Burnerz Series. The Hot Wheels #Driftsta casting quietly snuck onto the scene last […]
The Hot Wheels Car Culture line has been a huge hit with collectors thus far. Each wave has given us a new story as these 5-car series — Japan Historics, Euro Style, Trucks & Track Day — are very diverse bringing in all walks of collectors and have […]
It pains me to say, but sometimes it takes a super #Treasure Hunt release of an #Unlicensed Hot Wheels casting for collectors to take notice of it. It pains me even more to say that I dismissed the Hot Wheels Driftsta before I saw the 2016 super treasure hunt release […]
Coming off of the fresh disappointment that the 2013 New Model “raked” ’69 Dodge Charger Daytona casting was not a return of the 1996 First Edition “standard” ’70 Dodge Charger Daytona casting (which had been final run’d in 2003), many collectors chose to pass up on the 2014 […]
Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together? … OR, in this case, a makeshift Hot Wheels series comes together? To me, its one of the reasons I love Hot Wheels collecting and more specifically, collecting the #Hot Wheels Race Team. There is no numbered sequence […]
ORANGE TRACK DIECAST 