Hot Wheels Behind the Scenes: How one man's hot rod became a Legend

For generations of kids, a lifelong love affair with cars began by playing with Hot Wheels. And then their mothers tossed their collections at the curb, possibly including rare Hot Wheels that, like a signed Hank Aaron rookie card, can fetch up to tens of thousands of dollars today.

Childhood traumas aside, Mattel’s Hot Wheels — introduced in 1968 with the first “Custom Camaro” — are still going strong, including posting its first $1 billion in annual worldwide sales in 2021. And while a basic die-cast model still costs around $1, as they have from the beginning, Hot Wheels aren’t just for kids anymore. Mattel stages an annual Hot Wheels Legends Tour for grown-up fanatics, who compete to see full-size custom cars — with a commendable “built, not bought” judging ethos — immortalized as a Hot Wheels toy.

Lee Johnstone, a 71-year-old mechanic, hot rodder and former hairdresser’s apprentice from Bridgwater in the United Kingdom, came to the Classic Car Club of Manhattan for the unveiling of his 2021 Legends Tour winner, from under a tiny, tiny tarp: A 1:64 scale version of the remarkable 1962 Volvo P1800 Gasser that he raced to a 10.01-second, 135-mph quarter-mile at his local strip in Northhamptonshire. And it’s easy to see why Johnstone’s Volvo beat out thousands of competitors in 25 tour stops on five continents: True to Hot Wheels style, his home-built rod is outlandish yet within the realm of reason and feasibility. (Sorry, Junior, it won’t turn into a wisecracking space robot). Raising eyebrows at home and abroad, Johnstone transformed this elegant Swedish sports car into an American-style “gasser,” whose tall-stanced bodies and intimidating blowers struck fear into any street racer of the 1950s or ‘60s.

“It’s brilliant, and I’m blown away with the detailing of it,” said Johnstone of the green-painted toy that will now be packaged in plastic and stocked on toy shelves — or fine, via Amazon — around the world.

“We’re a bit overwhelmed, and we’re struggling to get our heads around it,” said Tori Johnstone, one of Lee’s three daughters, who all grew up around the drag strip and family shop.

Lee ticked off a few specs: A big-block 454 Chevy with a slight overbore and roughly 650 horsepower, dual quads (a pair of four-barrel carburetors), an inimitable GMC 71-series supercharger, GM’s durable Turbo 400 three-speed automatic transmission, a 9-inch Ford rear axle and 28-inch Hoosier slicks at the rear. The toy’s doors are stamped with the cheeky name given by Lee: “Ain’t No Saint,” a reference to the Volvo P1800 driven by Roger Moore’s pre-007 Simon Templar in the television series “The Saint.”

The Johnstone’s project now joins a “Garage of Legends,” a permanent collection of the brand’s most famous and collected designs, in both 1:64 and life-size scale. Previous Tour champions including the inaugural Tour-winning 2JetZ, The NASH (based on a ‘57 Nash Metropolitan) and a 1970 Pontiac Firebird.

Fifty-four years after that seminal Custom Camaro spun its tires, Hot Wheels is seeking anyone with “garage spirit” to compete in their Legends Tour, with entries at www.HotWheels.com/Legends.

2018 winner and New Jersey native Luis Rodriguez was on hand with that 2JetZ, an imaginative blend of rivet-bodied Bonneville Salt Flats racer, WWII fighter and (maybe) a tube-framed Ariel Atom. It’s powered by a rear-mounted, turbocharged Toyota Supra 2JZ engine that cranks out about 600 horsepower. The coolest bit? A metal vegetable steamer on the exhaust flaps open to spit flames and amp up the exhaust note. Rodriguez — a tech worker by day — designed and built 2JetZ from the ground-up, using such tools as a traditional English wheel, and a vintage lathe he found at a neighborhood yard sale.