Hot Wheels Chevrolet Phone Truck and Oshkosh Snow Plow

Hot Wheels used to create some nifty commercial trucks and equipment in the 1980’s before Mattel bought Matchbox and before Hot Wheels would be considered a cool car company only concerned about making cool cars and trucks.  Case in point is the Phone Truck and Oshkosh snow plow that both are all made of metal and have functioning parts.

Chevrolet Phone Truck

The phone truck is a common utility vehicle for diecast companies who need an excuse to make a working boom without resorting to a fire truck.  Though Matchbox has made more of these utility trucks this Hot Wheels phone truck seems to be the only one and for a brief time in the 1980’s.  More so is the fact that the truck is generic even though it looks a lot like a Chevrolet K3500 crew cab with a utility bed.  The C/K pickups continued in the 1980’s with the same boxy look from the 1970’s though this time the split headlight look was starting to become more evident as the new face of Chevy Trucks for years to come.  The interior has plenty of room for six people in this crew cab model with the driver-oriented dashboard layout still remaining.  The engines are either the 7.4L V8 or a diesel, with the gas motor being the most popular at the time producing 350 horsepower through a 5-speed manual or a three-speed automatic transmission to the dual rear wheels standard on the 3500 models.  Despite the lifted height this phone truck does not have four-wheel drive, though it does have a cool dual exhaust system.

The familiar Chevy look is up front with the metal grille with integrated split headlights, a nice mesh pattern inside the grille, and a lower bumper with plate area.  The basic wheels sport tall sidewalls for the tires, while the sides show off the crew cab look with four storage areas per side for the utility bed.  The roof has detailed horns, clearance lights, and a rotating warning light, while the rear has detailed equipment in the bed that includes orange cones, a shovel, and an axe pick next to the rotating boom.  The boom is yellow and rotates 360 degrees and raises up with the bucket that has a worker ready to go with a vest and hard had, though the downside is that the bucket gets in the way of the front windshield when lowered.  The interior has front and rear bench seats and a dashboard all part of the same clear plastic as the windows, while the metal base adds heft to the model and shows off the basic drivetrain layout and dual exhausts.  This is one of the few rare heavy Hot Wheels trucks of the 1980’s and it’s not even a tractor trailer cab.

Oshkosh Snow Plow

There are models out there with snow plows ranging from simple pickups to dump trucks and then there’s this massive Oshkosh truck that is designed for the heavy-duty winters of the north.  The Oshkosh corporation based in Wisconsin and produces heavy-duty trucks for commercial and defense use, especially for the military as they are the tool of choice for hauling tanks and equipment and today to transport troops safely across enemy lines.  This snow plow is based on the M911 tractor and looks like a typical tractor cab but with a front hood that extends past the front axle and smaller fenders to allow for better approach angles for the front wheels.  Six-wheel drive was available and so is a rear fifth-wheel hitch for hauling tanks on a flatbed trailer, though during Desert Storm in the 1990’s the trucks had a hard time handling loads that exceed 60 tons.  The engine is a 6.5L turbodiesel V-12 that produces 430 horsepower through a 5-speed automatic transmission.

Instead of using it for military use Hot Wheels commissioned the M911 to do heavy duty snow plow and affixed a V-shaped dump bed where salt or sand can rest and exit through a spreader at the rear.  Like the phone truck it is all metal, though later versions redesigned the cab area to be plastic and yes thanks to child safety advocates the removable snow plow blade was removed from the truck at the turn of the century.  This big orange beast starts up front with the square extended nose featuring a detailed grille, external round headlights that sit lower to the ground, and a large mouth that is also the slot where the two tabs in the plow snap into place.  That plow is a V-shaped design with small wheel tabs on the bottom and the ability to adjust to slight terrain differences; when not in use or in the package the plow rests inside the bed area.  The cab area flows with the hood and contains no windows, a detailed interior, a rooftop horn and lights, and large front fender s that also act as steps to access the cab.  The truck sits tall with large construction wheels with matching orange color, large rear fenders that straddle the V-shaped bed, an exhaust stack, and fuel tanks with the left side just behind the cab and the right side just below the cab eliminating steps to access the cab just like the left side.  With tall ground clearance and metal base that adds heft to this truck this is one unstoppable snow plow that no other diecast manufacturer can beat, and it’s all based on a real truck.  Now that’s cool!