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Hot Wheels Olds 442 (1971)
The Olds 442 is the car redline collectors chase for scarcity: low production numbers and the quality of its modeling made it one of the most popular castings of 1971. It was made only in the US, with a white interior on production cars.
Magenta and yellow are the common colors. A red car with a dark interior, believed to be first run or preproduction, is estimated at as many as 144 made with about 25 known. Purple is the big one: only a few are known, and it ranks among the most valuable production Hot Wheels cars. A dark interior on anything other than red deserves a hard look.
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Hot Wheels Sweet 16 (1973)
Not to be confused with the first-year Sweet Sixteen, the Sweet 16 is a 1973 Hong Kong casting named for its long 16-cylinder engine. It stands for the year Spectraflame ended and enamel house paints took over, and it was one of only three new castings released that year.
A toy industry slump kept 1973 runs small, and enamel chips easily, so clean examples are scarce. The Sweet 16 was made only that year, always with a black interior and no glass, and the trunk opens to show a spare redline wheel. Pink, orange and plum are the rare colors. Mattel's 30th anniversary reproduction has a base not marked Hong Kong and a removable interior.
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Hot Wheels Road King Truck (1974)
The Road King Truck is the redline you could not buy on its own: it came only in the 1974 Mountain Mining set, so hunting one means hunting a play set or its loose parts. It was made in Hong Kong in yellow with a black interior.
Its trap is the trailer. All of the trailer's plastic parts have been reproduced, so a complete-looking rig may be partly new. Check each plastic part against known originals before paying for a full truck and trailer.
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Hot Wheels Rodger Dodger (1974)
The Rodger Dodger arrived in 1974, the year tampo printing came to Hot Wheels and Mattel coined Flying Colors to make its enamel paints more appealing. It shows the late redline look well: bold color, printed graphics and a Hong Kong base derived from the 1973 Show Off casting.
Plum is the standard color. Blue is an alternate color, and arguably the rarest of the alternates, while a white interior is very rare and desirable. Early releases have capped rear wheels and metal bases, later ones chromed plastic bases. A gold chrome version followed in 1977.
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Hot Wheels '57 Chevy (1977)
The '57 Chevy closes the era: it came out in 1977, the year Mattel phased out the red stripe, and that was its only redline year. The casting has been reissued many times since, which makes the original worth learning to spot.
A true redline '57 Chevy was made only in Hong Kong, in red with yellow striping and a black interior. By 1978 it had moved to blackwall wheels, so the red-striped tires and the Hong Kong base are what separate a 1977 redline from the many later cars.
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