Changes: Bye-Focal

Revision as of 15:38, 12 February 2020

Description

The Bye-Focal is a Hot Wheels casting designed by Larry Wood which debuted in the 1971 Hot Wheels range of vehicles. It is based on a '70 Dodge Challenger with some serious vision. Featuring two Injected V-8's under glass on an elongated front clip, and a stubby shortened rear end. The Bye Focal is a fairly hard to find and desirable casting overall.

All Bye-Focals were manufactured in Hong Kong and featured blue-tint glass and 'Capped' Redline wheels. Mostly produced with a clear blue hood, some can be found with a clear hood. Some can be found with a hard to find variation where the injectors on the engine are missing. Decals featuring a pair of glasses with "Bye-Focal" written on it are factory-applied on the driver's side, with an extra optional sticker to be applied by the user, also included in the package was a plastic 'collectors button'.

It was painted in various Spectraflame colors, of which Purple is the hardest to find and is regarded as one of the rarest of all Redline Hot Wheels from the Spectraflame Era (1968-1972). Due to shade differences in the Spectraflame painting process, the existence of a Spectraflame Olive version receives skepticism by collectors and is generally believed to be merely a regular Spectraflame Yellow which has 'Toned' (dulling of the metal) rather than a completely separate color.

The Bye-Focal is known to have issues with a metal fatigue called 'Crumbling' where the body or chassis develops cracks and literally crumbles into pieces.

In 1973, the Bye Focal was released without the clear hood and renamed the Show-Off.

In 2003, the Bye-Focal was re-tooled for the HotWheelsCollectors.com Series 2 Super Chromes.

Original Versions

The Bye-Focal has come out in the following 1/64 scale versions, :

Year	Series	Color	Sticker	Base Color / Type	Window Color	Interior Color	Wheel Type	cast #	Country	Notes / Variations
1971	Hot Wheels	Spectraflame Blue	'Bye Focal'	Unpainted / Metal	Blue Tint	Gray or Black	Capped RL	6187	Hong Kong
1971	Hot Wheels	Spectraflame Light Blue	'Bye Focal'	Unpainted / Metal	Blue Tint	Gray or Black	Capped RL	6187	Hong Kong	Rare
1971	Hot Wheels	Spectraflame Aqua	'Bye Focal'	Unpainted / Metal	Blue Tint	Gray or Black	Capped RL	6187	Hong Kong
1971	Hot Wheels	Spectraflame Green	'Bye Focal'	Unpainted / Metal	Blue Tint	Gray or Black	Capped RL	6187	Hong Kong	Hard to Find
1971	Hot Wheels	Spectraflame Light 'Apple' Green	'Bye Focal'	Unpainted / Metal	Blue Tint	Gray or Black	Capped RL	6187	Hong Kong
1971	Hot Wheels	Spectraflame Yellow	'Bye Focal'	Unpainted / Metal	Blue Tint	Gray or Black	Capped RL	6187	Hong Kong	Rare
1971	Hot Wheels	Spectraflame Red	'Bye Focal'	Unpainted / Metal	Blue Tint	Gray or Black	Capped RL	6187	Hong Kong	Rare
1971	Hot Wheels	Spectraflame Magenta	'Bye Focal'	Unpainted / Metal	Blue Tint	Gray or Black	Capped RL	6187	Hong Kong
1971	Hot Wheels	Spectraflame Purple	'Bye Focal'	Unpainted / Metal	Blue Tint	Gray or Black	Capped RL	6187	Hong Kong	Extremely Rare

No Injector Versions

The Bye-Focal has come out in the following 1/64 scale versions, :

Year	Series	Color	Sticker	Base Color / Type	Window Color	Interior Color	Wheel Type	cast #	Country	Notes / Variations
1971	Hot Wheels	Spectraflame Green	'Bye Focal'	Unpainted / Metal	Blue Tint	Dark Gray	Capped RL	6187	Hong Kong
1971	Hot Wheels	Spectraflame Blue	'Bye Focal'	Unpainted / Metal	Blue Tint	Dark Gray	Capped RL	6187	Hong Kong	Hard to Find
1971	Hot Wheels	Spectraflame Magenta	'Bye Focal'	Unpainted / Metal	Blue Tint	Dark Gray	Capped RL	6187	Hong Kong	Hard to Find
1971	Hot Wheels	Spectraflame Aqua	'Bye Focal'	Unpainted / Metal	Blue Tint	Dark Gray	Capped RL	6187	Hong Kong	Hard to Find
1971	Hot Wheels	Spectraflame Red	'Bye Focal'	Unpainted / Metal	Blue Tint	Dark Gray	Capped RL	6187	Hong Kong	Extremely Rare

Retooled Versions

Col #	Year	Series	Color / Tampo	Base Color / Type	Window Color	Interior Color	Wheel Type	Toy #	Country	Notes / Variations
4/4	2003	HotWheelsCollectors.com Series 2 - Super Chromes	Chrome	Chrome / Metal	Tinted (Blue)	White	RL4	B2199	China	12,500 Produced
	2005	5th Annual Hot Wheels Nationals Convention - RLC Party	Spectraflame Pink	Chrome / Metal	Tinted (Blue)	White	RL4	H9272	China
3b/4	2007	2007 RLC sELECTIONs Series #3b	Spectraflame Light Blue	Chrome / Metal	Tinted	White	Red Line RR5SP	L2112	China	7,716 Produced