Hot Wheels 1962 Chevrolet Bel-Air

One of my favorite Hot Wheels castings since its introduction in 2003 was the 1962 Bel-Air.  At first I did not pay too much attention to the bubble top coupe with the 409 motor that was popular with drag racing.  It was this fantastic and beautifully done casting that appeared in red with red interior and 5-spoke mag wheels with rubber tires from Hot Wheels that caught my attention when it was in the 2003 Auto Affinity line.  Since then I have enjoyed most of the variations, especially when they arrived in the mainline in 2008.  Somehow I must've passed over the Classics version for some reason, so when I found the green and blue one recently online I decided to grab them.

The Bel-Air was the lesser end of the Chevrolet line now sharing styling cues with the Impala.  The difference:  Aside from content the taillights are two instead of three at the rear.  The bubble top from the Impala can be ordered on the Bel-Air, as well as the 409 CID V8 with 350 horsepower to a 4-speed manual transmission.  The lighter weight of the bubble top and the large 409 motor made it famous on the drag strip and as a title song "409" in the music industry.

I still have the red version from the 2003 line in its package (not pictured here), but with others you can see how nicely done this casting was.  The front has a large eggcrate grille with quad headlights now recessed in their own housing and not part of the grille like the 1961 models.  The lower bumper has a more straight across look as well.  On the sides the bodylines are more subtle and clean even without the side stripe like the 1961, yet you can still see the image of it on the body stampings.  The roofline has that curved look and thin pillars, nicely done for a difficult task to mold in this scale size.  At the rear the long trunk is adorned by a V-shaped decklid with dual taillights that stick out of the body.  The car also has that pro-rod stance with the lowered look, modern wheel, and modern accessories inside.  The base has excellent details starting with the X-brace frame and then leading to the engine and transmission up front, the exhaust system, front control arms, and rear fuel tank.  Without that excessive information on modern Mattel cars they were free back then to make the most out of details on the base (and probably the reason why this car has not come back recently).

The interior is beautifully done and packed with details; Mattel knows it because most of these interior's are in brigher colors.  The front and rear bench seats have the detailed pattern, as well as the door panels with the detailed ribbed pattern.  The front has a large 2-spoke steering wheel that is nice and deep and sticks far out from the dashboard.  The dashboard retains the simple layout of the 1961 model and Hot Wheels did a great job with detailing the controls and the shifter on the floor.  In 2008 it made a return to the mainline with the white with white interior and blue side stripe, looking good on PR5 wheels.  The recolors that year was the K-mart-only black and a green with black interior.  That same year it was also in the Classics line where it received the metal base for the first time, crisping up details even more.  The 5-spokes with white line tires look even better on this car, while the side stripes and hood and trunk stripe are simple and flow well with the car.  Even the Bel-Air name is visible on the rear sections of the side stripes.  It's pretty easy to see why I liked this casting and in turn favored my love for the 1962 Chevrolet body style; in fact, in the same year the Hot Wheels 1962 appeared in the Mainline I also managed to find two more 1962's by Maisto: a 1:18 Bel-Air 409 coupe and a 1:64 Biscayne wagon, both in blue (i'll review those two at a later date).