5 Hot Wheels Cars Worth Way More Than You Can Imagine – SlashGear

Currently, the Hot Wheels model that is worth the most money dwarfs every other car the brand has ever produced. Worth a staggering $175,000, the pink version of the 1969 rear-loading Beach Bomb is over four times as valuable as the second most expensive Hot Wheels car. There are a few reasons the price goes so high for this particular model, a VW bus, that create a perfect storm of collectibility for Hot Wheels enthusiasts. 

A lot of its value has to do with it being a prototype. It never saw an official release, and you couldn’t come across it in a toy store. Instead, a Mattel employee held onto it after it was decided the model wasn’t suitable for mass production, due to it being too narrow and top-heavy. Part of this design was to accommodate surfboards being loaded through the rear, giving it a perfect 60s beach vibe, and a look unlike any other Hot Wheels vehicle. The design was altered to mount the surfboards on the side, and add a plastic sunroof to lower the van’s center of gravity.

Only two individual cars from this line were ever made in pink, making them the rarest of the rare. Typically when it comes to Hot Wheels collectibles, any customization that wasn’t part of their original factory design will greatly diminish a model’s value, so slapping a coat of pink paint on another Beach Bomb won’t make it suddenly worth $175,000. However, other Beach Bombs with rear-loaded surf boards are still pretty rare and worth more than the average Hot Wheels toy, to say the least.