Hot Wheels Truckin': '52 Chevy Pickup, LaTroca , '62 Chevy Pickup, and Backwoods Bomb

Three trucks with three different personality, all are the essential classic of a Hot Wheels pickup truck.

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'52 Chevy and LaTroca

The first one was released in 2008's Hot Wheels Classic line as a cleaner version of the LaTroca.  LaTroca was released in 2001 as a homage to the lowrider look.  It has the lower stance, gold lace wheels, gold front and rear windows, and windshield shade, detailed front grille with headlight surrounds, Chevy badges at the front and sides of the hood, running boards in gold, rear fender skirts, and a tailgate with the Hot Wheels logo.  The bed: useful.  The interior: nonexistent.  It was a cool-looking truck that came in countless variations, including the (my favorite) primer lavendar with no graphics, metallic green with flames or white with red flames, or the work-truck like rust-colored with faded delivery badges.  Aside from the metallic red 2001 and lavendar 2002, the rest came around 2007-2009.

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For those who want a stock '52 Chevy, Hot Wheels then cleaned out the LaTroca for the stock version, minus the front and rear bumpers, window shade, rear fender skirts, and Hot Wheels logo on the tailgate.  I still think the bumpers are needed since it looks kinda odd without them.  The bed is still there, the interior still missing, and why is there a gascap on each side???  The green with Chevy parts and service door logos look classy, as does the whiteline tires on the 5-spoke and the metal base.  After a brief 2011 TH run, the '52 Chevy comes to the mainline for 2015 in a striking red with yellow and black striping, detailed gas caps (really!?!) and clear windows (really!?!).  It looks great, but in my opinion this casting deserved better than a sloppy job with the details.  Both are powered by the I-6 and 3-speed manual.

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Surfing the 1962 Chevy

On the other end, Hot Wheels has capped the market so far with the only release of a 1962 truck.  The catch is its a lowered custom with a raked rear end, smooth front and rear bumpers, and a surfboard in the rear that hangs out over the tailgate and is removable.  Some variations, however, do not include the surfboard.  The stance looks great, the blocky styling as well though i'm unsure of the dual center foglights below the chrome grill.  The details of the body, from the hood to the side trim, to the roof post, are all excellent and spot on with the real truck.  Out back the taillights are joined by a tailgate with the stamped bowtie.  Once the surfboard is removed, the cargo area is ready for hauling, while the interior with the detailed dashboard and bench seat looks ready to carry three people.  The base shows off mostly the exhaust system as it exits the sides in chrome trim.  Nice.  The engine is a small-block V8 with 3-speed automatic transmission.  The first release was a lame purple, but the metallic blue and the black with blacked-out wheels from the 2008 release are much better, and they now join the best of them all for 2015:  Yellow with white roof, yellow, orange, and brown graphics, and the return of the surfboard! It's clean and looks great with this casting, definitely one of the best recolors of this casting by far!

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Camping in the woods

One of the star return classic castings in the 2012 Hot Ones, though it was introduced in the 1970's, was the Backwoods Bomb.  Since that release it has only made a few recolors (kind of similar to the Dodge Rampage variation path), and the latest since the Hot Ones is this Wal-Mart-only Road Trippin' release in orange with blue camper, blue and yellow graphics that have cactus's and the Turquoise Trail on the sides, referring to the similar location in the southwestern part of the United States.  Backwoods Bomb is generic, but is based on a family introduced in 1975 that shares front-end styling with the Super Van, Rescue Ranger, and entire tool with the Ramblin' Wrecker, but in truth it looks more like a Dodge B-series Van from the 1970's.  The front has that similar grille with the round headlights and inner signal lights, the square hood and cab, then things change at the rear where a plastic camper shell is placed onto the wrecker body to give it the camper look.  The camper has some nice detailing from the ribbed panels to the rear door with light, but the top does come off easily, and the interior has the central dome from the wrecker that looks more like the dining table.  Where's the bed?.  The interior is simple dash and bench, nothing much, while the metal base shows off the custom dual exhaust.  If it was me I would like to see a more detailed camper with a detailed area under the camper shell and a secure camper top, but still nothing can come to the coolness of a camping truck made simply out of a tow truck!

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