Hot Wheels Indy Cars: Ferrari 156 and Head Starter

One of the most recent Hot Wheels Tooned castings for 2017 has a nice flashback for those who remember 1960's Indy car racing, Grand Prix, and others with Head Starter.  For those who remember Hot Wheels Zoowies this is also another flashback, and for those who have the Ferrari 156 casting a nice comparison between stock and tooned.

Head Starter goes for a red plastic front body with 11 Asada racing decals and small gold front wheels.  The driver has a gold helmet and goggles on and when you move its head it bobbles around; too bad it doesn't move as much to make it wobble when moving.  Also the way the head is connected to the plastic trim means that it can easily come off when moved too much and cause a possible choking hazard.  Then the amazing part is the large engine at the rear that has eight large intake tubes, V-shaped block with valve covers, and the exhaust headers that uniform towards the front before splitting up and over the V of the engine before ending as two large central exhaust tips.  The look is menacing and all of this is made in diecast metal so that plastic front shell is not much of a weight-saver here.

The look of Head Starter reminded me of the Hot Wheels Ferrari 156 that was introduced in 2002.  This is by far one of the smallest Hot Wheels cars out there,...well ok the Go Kart is, but when it comes to fine detailings on this small scale the 156 can never be beat.  In 1961 the 156 was created to meet Formula One's new regulations that reduced engine size to 1.5 liters.  The early 156 had a shark-nose front-end that improved cooling but restricted aerodynamics so in 1963 the new aero nose was introduced (looks similar to the one on Head Starter casting).  Phil Hill is one of the famous driver's to win in the 156, though unfortunately his teammate, Wolfgang von Trips, collided with a Lotus in the 1961 Italian Grand Prix killing him and 15 spectators.  The engine is a 120 degree 1.5L DOHC V6 that produces 190 horsepower to the rear wheels by a 5-speed manual transmission.

Just to see how tiny the body is look at the lace wheels and see how they almost dwarf the size of the body.  Then look close at the details; it's incredible!  The front has that shark nose front with the beautiful cut-out of the nostrils in the metal body.  The body is red with Ferrari badges, fuel tank cap at the front, and the low windscreen.  At the rear the tail tapers off into a radiator that is part of the metal base and the clear window trim also subsitute for the intake ports on the mid-engine cover.  The rollbar is part of the interior and offers better protection than the windscreen, while the interior is all-metal and features the driver's seat and large three-spoke steering wheel.  The best part of this casting is at the rear where just ahead of the rear wheels you can see the detailed valve covers of the V6 motor, with the exhaust headers being part of the metal base.  Behind the rear wheels you can see the coil-over springs and the exhaust leading out past the rear.  All of this detailing in such a small car is incredible and probably wouldn't last the current Mattel four-part assembly rule, but man it is an incredible car and pared with the new Head Starter both have that Indy car fever look.