Hot Wheels is a brand that has a lot of fondness in my heart. As a kid, I grew up playing with toy cars all the time, and Hot Wheels ones were some of the very best. Sure, you could pick up those massive packs from any supermarket, but their wheels would inevitably fall off or they'd🦂 break in some other manner within a week. Hot Wheels, however, those lasted. I bet if I were to look through some of the old stuff at my parents' house, I could still findꦬ them in decent condition, despite sitting in the basement for about 16 years.
Not all Hot Wheels are created equal though. Some of them, over the years, have been hilariously bad or weird. I'm not talking bad quality: these are all sturdily-made, I'm sure, but oh boy. The designs are "inspired," and not in a good way. For example, they made a car that is quite literally a toilet with wheels. Who would want that? Why would it exist? Similarly, why would a car with a scorpion tail exist outside of G.I. Joe? In this list, we're going to celebrate the ﷺmadness that occasionally seems to overtake Hot Wheels' design department, leading them to believe such weird cars are accepta🍒ble to put out on the shelves. From the mystifying to the ugly to the just plain bad, you'll find them all on this list. What's the worst example of a peg warmer you've ever seen? Let us know in the comments!
30 🔴 Sting Rod II: A Weird Hybrid
This car is a follow-up to the original Sting Rod, that was released all the way back in the 90s. The key difference betwee🧔n the two models is that, while the first generation model was actually a military-looking vehicle, this looks like an ordinary coupe. Yet, nonetheless, it's a coupe that manages to wield three missiles on its back, for no discernible reason. They're also molded to the body, so good luck if you want to actually launch them, or have some fun.
29 A Kaiju With Wheels, Rodzilla ✱
Another "rod," this car looks li🌳ke it was made for some obscure drag racing competition back in the 1980s then left to decay in a barn somewhere. It has a totally bizarre dragon's head on the front that does nothing to boost the car's looks, and also makes it very breakable. The head can be turned 360 degrees, w♒hich may come in useful if the driver decides to roast himself due to the shame of driving this hunk of junk.
28 Le Mans Would Refuse Pro☂toty🐬pe H-24
Designed to emulaꦕte the Le Mans cars of the 70s, this car looks okay at first glance. Then you take a closer look at it, and you realize just how weirdly designed it is. Why does it have the exhaust pipes right next to the c🃏abin, at prime ankle-burning height. What's with the weird wings and the pipes behind the driver? It just doesn't work as a sports car, and if that's what it's really trying to emulate, it really needs a redesign.
27 Troy Soldier ✨Would Be Better If It Hid Greek Soldiers
This car was only released back in 2012, and looking at it, I see why it has never been reissued. It looks like a long-forgotten and abused hot rod from the 1950s. Look at that crest. Tell me that's good looking. You're lying, if you think it is. Then there's the huge air intake below it, that ruins the car's whole look. Even worse, you could get this car in a shiny metallic gold, foℱr the ultimate in 🧔gaudy toy cars.
26 Hot💝 Seat Should Have Been Flushed 𒆙
Look at this. This is what I was talking about in the intro. It's literally a toilet on wheels. Why🌞. Who thought that this was a good idea? What kind of things were consumed at the corporate offices to make it seem like one? It was produced for a whole six years too, from 1998 to 2004. It's got a plunger that serves as a steering wheel. Hilarious. Genuinely the worst ꦦcar ever made by Hot Wheels, this should have been canned, in more ways than one.
25 ♒ Unobtanium I: I Wish Iꦛt Was
I don't really need to explain why this one is bad, do I? Its gold paint renders the whole thing incredibly ugly, to the point that I wouldn't even want this in my house for fear of it bringing some bad style juju with it. It's a shame it's so ugly, as the shape of it is actually pretty nice, and if it were in any other color, I think the chrome of the hood would work wonderfully. As it is, however, it looks like the sort of thin𝔍g a mid-level rapper would make.
24 ꧃ The Lakester Wouldn't Last Two Minutes On The Salt 𒁏Flats
This thing looks like a Beetle. I don't mean a VW Beetle. I mean an actual beetle. If this thing were to scurry out from under a r😼ock in my garden, I think the only part of it I'd find odd is the wheels. Those, I admit, would give me pause. This thing is, I guess, meant to emulate the cars that blasted across the Utah salt flats to set land speed records. It's just so ugly♓, though, that I can't imagine any kid (or adult, for that matter) picking one of these off the shelf.
23 The Whip Creamer Deserves A Flo🐟gging
What even is this car supposed to be? With its strange stance, its glass roof, and strange vents, it looks like that car Homer Simpson designed for his brother's company. This car has been produced by Hot Wheels just twice in history, once in 1970, an🌞d💃 again in 1994, and can't you just see why. Like Unobtanium, I'm not averse to its body shape, and if some more work had gone into its looks, it could have been a very cool looking car, but as it is, it's absolutely terrible.
22 ღ No Ride Beats The Snow Ridꩲe
When you think Hot Wheels, you think of cars, don't you? I know that I do. Nevertheless, in 2010, Hot Wheels decided to try their hand at making a to-scale s🐽nowmobile. Why? Who knows. What I do know is that while most snowmobiles in real life look pretty sleek, this thing looks ugly. It's too chunky, it's got༺ a bunch of unnecessary detailing that makes it look positively clunky. I'm pretty sure any skier or snowboarder who got on this thing would die of embarrassment.
21 Rail Rodder: Doc Brown, Is That You? ꦅ
Remember back at the end of Back To The Future 3, where Doc Brown shows up in his train time machine? That was pretty cool, but it was only cool by virtue of it being a time machine! And besides, I don't think anyone would have picked it over the Delorean, given the choಞice. This train is another attempt by Hot Wheels to vent𒆙ure outside what they do best, with terrible results. It's a hot rod train, and is every bit as bad as that sounds.