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Learn how a hot rod goes from real life to Hot Wheels Legend, plus tales of other famous Hot Wheels creations.

Oddly enough, experts believe the most valuable Hot Wheels in the world is a 1969 Volkswagen Microbus. That would be the legendary rear-loading Beach Bomb Hot Wheels car that wasn't dressed up in purple, green, red, light blue, or gold. But in pink!

If you ever see a VW Type 2 prototype Hot Wheels at a thrift store or garage sale, buy it! It could be your retirement fund.  Truthfully, you’d have to get very lucky to find one of these little gems anywhere other than an antiques auction, because the 1969 “Beach Bomb” Volkswagen bus with a miniature surfboard sticking out the back wasn’t even a production model, but a failed prototype, discarded by Mattel for its inability to keep up on Hot Wheel’s highly centrifugal track.  “I already had heard about [the Beach Bomb] in purple, green, red, light blue and gold. I even had hea...

Peoria, IL, USA 104.9 The Wolf When Mattel first released Hot Wheels in 1968, they were modeled after vehicles from General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. The “Beach Bomb” Volkswagen bus from 1969 is, supposedly, the most valuable Hot Wheels car. This could be worth as much as $150,000 if it’s in nearly perfect condition. Bruce Pascal from Washington DC is a real estate exec and toy car collector. Yep, he has this exact Hot Wheel. The toy was never sold in stores. It was used as a prototype but that’s the end of its manufacturing. There are about 144 prototypes and only 50 exist today.

You can buy most Hot Wheels cars for about a dollar at Target, Wal-Mart or pretty much any local drugstore. But for Bruce Pascal, a nearly lifelong obsession with the tiny cars has turned into a collection of mind-boggling value. Pascal, a Washington DC-area commercial real estate executive, is the owner of what is believed to be the most valuable Hot Wheels car in the world: a 1969 version of the "Beach Bomb" Volkswagen bus estimated to be worth as much as $150,000. Collectibles experts say the appraisal of the tiny car is entirely believable based on its extreme rarity and its nearly perfec...