Hot Wheels 1988 Nissan Hardbody pickup

Nissan/Datsun was the first Japanese automaker to sell a small pickup and since then has enjoyed the success as well as growing competition so for 1988 a new Nissan pickup was released and given a new name in the U.S.: the Hardbody.

The Hardbody got its name for the boxy and aggressive exterior styling and the double-walled cargo bed, yet in other countries it was still called the Navara and offered a model with a smaller hood and fenders that do not bulge. The Hardbody also released the first SUV for Nissan in the U.S., the smaller Pathfinder, in 1986 as well. While the truck was successful competition was growing more and when the next generation truck came out the styling lost some of the Hardbody look prompting a new name in the U.S. called the Frontier. For Hot Wheels they came out with the Hardbody in king cab 4x4 form with a taller, lifted stance and a more baja-ready look. The front has that square-style hoodline with three hood vents at the edge, square headlights with cross guards, signal lights to the sides, and attached to the bumper and just ahead of the grille is the bumper guard with winch. The side profile shows the correct layout of the Hardbody with the king cab windows properly curving up slightly on the roof, and also note the slight flare of the fenders.

At the rear is the tri-taillights and a smooth rollpan to replace the rear bumper, while inside of the bed is a rollbar with lights and for some reason a big supercharged V8 in the bed; problem is the powertrain design on the base shows a front-engine, rear-wheel drive with transfer case to the front axle and no sign of the engine in the bed making any work. Is it for cargo? Who knows. If you want one without the engine in the bed Hot Wheels has one but the bad news is that the ones who do are the smaller micro wheels, so be aware of that whenever you run across an online auction of one without the engine in the bed. (of course, there are playworn examples where the engine has been ripped out of the bed but that’s another issue.) The interior offers two front seats, floor shifter, and a dashboard with no details, while the rear cab has not much and it does offer jump seats mounted on the inner doors, but they are small and not comfortable on long trips. The blue one is one of my favorite and is from the 1997 Blue Streak series and it is the most clean version of this truck that you can get aside from the large Hot Wheels logo on the hood, while the blue one with Nissan racing graphics has the most realistic racing deco of them all and the red version is another nice one. With JDM models being popular it would be nice to see a return of this casting, without the engine in the bed, of course, and it would be another instant hit with collectors.

Specifications:

Engine: 3.0L SOHC V6 134 hp.
Transmission: 5-speed manual
0-60 mph: 10.5 sec. est.
Real vehicle price: $20,000 est. 1986

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Update 1/18/20: A few new additions to the Hot Wheels Hardbody collection starts with the first two versions of the casting introduced in 1988: White with red bed area and Nissan 4x4 on the hood and sides, later changed to an all-white bed with continuing blue stripe on the sides. A few interesting things to note about these two that I got recently: One, I was surprised to see a metal base on these two as I always thought the Hardbody 4x4 had a plastic base from the beginning. This metal base only lasted for these two versions as later variants have plastic bases. Two is the fact that I found these models with the engine in the bed missing and it's for the good as it gives the truck a normal look considering the driveline details on the base suggest the engine is up front under the hood as normal. Was this engine supposed to power the truck, or was it extra cargo it was hauling? Who knows, but it looks good and I used a filler panel to hide the hole where the engine mounted.

On the other side is a new Hardbody casting introduced in the Car Culture line for 2019, the custom 1995 Nissan Hardbody regular cab lowrider. Painted in teal it has a very 90's graphic deco on the sides that looks very familiar: it was used on the Mini truck casting from 1990. The front-end has the new grille design with lack of three slots on the front edge of the hood, slightly flared fenders on the sides, and detailed taillights with a smooth rollpan where the bumper used to be. The bed area has a cutout recess for the air suspension, but unlike past attempts by Hot Wheels at least they kept the fenderwell covers in the bed, while the interior is in purple has has two front seats with a nitros tank saddled between the front seats. Dashboard does not show much and the passenger side window is rolled in the down position while the driver's side is rolled up. This two-wheel drive truck is powered by a 2.4L SOHC I-4 producing 109 hp. through a four speed automatic transmission, and while the lowered look gives it better handling it comes at a cost: the base scrapes against the ground, even on flat surfaces! No other lowrider has experienced this scraping issue before. Still a very cool truck and a different approach from the 4x4 issue before.

Specifications: