Hako! Kenmeri! 510! 2002! 2015 Hot Wheels Heritage lineup announced...

Ever since the demise of the Boulevard line, we have been waiting for the next great Hot Wheels premium series.  It may have finally arrived.

We have talked extensively about the Boulevard series from 2012 and 2013.  It seemed that by the time Mattel had figured out how to make it successful, it was already considered a failure by the big box stores.  The 2012 lineup was way too large, way too varied, and not collector-oriented enough.

Then came the 2013 lineup, with was much smaller and full of fantastic new castings or real cars.  Models like the Jeep Wagoneer, Datsun Wagon, and Porsche 993 were huge hits.  But by the time that line had arrived, most stores had cancelled their orders, and these fantastic models were relegated to stores like Tuesday Morning and TJ Maxx.

Soon after Mattel cancelled the Boulevard line, and turned their attention to Retro Entertainment and Cool Classics, to mixed results.  Retro Entertainment continues, Cool Classics is done, and now we have the Heritage line.

It looks like Mattel has learned some lessons.  The Heritage line will come in 6 batches of 6 models, alternating between Real Riders and Redlines.  And they will be released every two months starting in May.  This appears to be the right move.  Not too many models to clog the pegs, and released far enough apart for each batch to sell.

And most importantly, the models included are collector faves.  Whether they be muscle, classic, Euro, or JDM, there will be a lot of collectors that will want them.  We at Lamley included.

The lineups:

Mix 1 (Real Riders - released May 2015): Hare Splitter Datsun Bluebird 510 Datsun 240Z Custom Chevy Greenbrier Sports Wagon (New tool!) Altered Ego 1980 Dodge Macho Power Wagon  Mix 2 (Redlines - released July 2015): ’49 Ford F1 ’55 Chevy Bel Air Gasser ’68 Dodge Dart ’70 Chevelle SS Wagon Copper Stopper Nissan Skyline HT 2000GT-X  Mix 3 (Real Riders - released September 2015): ’56 Flashsider ’71 Plymouth Satellite ’07 Chevy Silverado Off-Road BMW 2002 Ford Transit MK1 Supervan (New tool!) Porsche 917-K Mix 4 (Redlines - released November 2015): ’56 Custom Ford Pickup ’69 Mercury Cyclone ’70 Camaro Z28 ’84 Mustang SVO Bone Shaker Nissan Skyline 2000GT-R Mix 5 (Real Riders - released January 2016): ’68 Olds Cutlass Convertible ’69 Chevy Camaro Coupe Aston Martin 1963 DB5 Backwoods Bomb Neet Streeter Texas Drive ’Em Mix 6 (Redlines - released March 2016): ’64 Chevy Nova Wagon Chevy Blazer 4×4 Corvette C6R Custom ’66 GTO Wagon Long Gone Mig Rig Not a bad lineup eh?  JDM nuts like us have two redline Skylines, a 240Z, and the Datsun 510.  Euro geeks (also like us) have the BMW 2002, the Hare Splitter, and the Porsche 917.  Wagon nerds (like us) have the Plymouth Satellite, Nova, Chevelle, and GTO Wagons.  Truck heads (like us too) have the Macho Power Wagon, Texas Drive 'Em, and Silverado 4x4, and it goes on and on. It seems to us Mattel has planned this line to succeed.  We really hope we don't have to look at those last two batches and wonder if they will see the light of day.  Fingers crossed that this series does well.  We know we will be buying a few...