In the late 1960s Howard Rees was tired of designing cars. He wanted to work on the Major Matt Mason action figure toy line-up. Rees had a good friend by the name of Larry R. Wood. They had worked together at Ford designing cars. When Wood found out about Hot Wheels at a party Rees was holding, Rees offered Wood the job of designing Hot Wheels. Wood agreed, and by the end of the week, Larry Wood was working at Mattel. His first design would be the Tri-Baby (1970). After 40 years, Larry retired to his garage but still consults for the brand today. He was inducted in the Diecast Hall of Fame's inaugural class of 2009 and is widely known as Mr. Hot Wheels. Wood officially retired from Hot Wheels design in 2019 and now works as a freelance artist. In 2022, he released some old never-seen-before sketches of old unreleased designs as a digital collectible in The Ones That Got Away series, and was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2023.
Some Trivia[]
Larry Wood has created some of the most well-known and unique Hot Wheels cars, including the '49 Merc, the Boyd Coddington collector set and the Ramblin' Wrecker (which originally featured Wood's phone number on its sides). He has been with Mattel/Hot Wheels team since 1969. He's originally from General Motors. His initials have been featured on some 2009 cars, such as the '41 Pickup and Hiway Hauler. Each one bears the name "Elwood". Elwood is identical to L.Wood in pronunciation. Larry Wood has made a new car series, Larry's Garage. This series features many of his popular designs, such as Dairy Delivery, Metrorail Nash Metropolitan and the infamous Bone Shaker. The car, Cabbin' Fever, bears a close resemblance to Larry Wood's truck.
1970-1979 1/64 Scale[]
1980-1989 1/64 Scale[]
1990-1999 1/64 Scale[]
2000-2009 1/64 Scale[]
2010-2019 1/64 Scale[]
Year | Casting Name | Debut Series | First Edition # | Toy Number | Photo |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2010 | '34 Ford Sedan | Hot Wheels Garage: Larry's Garage | 29/39 | T0400 | |
2010 | '51 Le Sabre Concept | Hot Wheels Garage: Larry's Garage | 18/39 | R3770 | |
2010 | '57 Chrysler 300 | Hot Wheels Garage: Larry's Garage | 25/39 | T0399 | |
2010 | '71 Mustang Mach 1 | Hot Wheels Garage: Larry's Garage | 27/39 | T0398 | |
2010 | Golden Submarine | Hot Wheels Garage: Larry's Garage | 26/39 | R3769 | |
2010 | Honky Tonk Hot Rod | HotWheelsCollectors.com Series 9 | - | R8404 | |
2011 | Blvd. Bruiser | 2011 New Models | 34/50 | T9704 | |
2012 | Altered Ego | 2012 New Models | 39/50 | V5327 | |
2013 | Mig Rig | HW Racing: HW Race Team | 109/250 | X1661 | |
2014 | Screamliner | HW Workshop: HW Garage | 204/250 | BDD15 | |
2015 | Turbine Time | HW City: HW City Works | 2/250 | CFH21 | |
2016 | Purrfect Speed | Street Beasts | 10/10 | DHP32 | |
2016 | Shark Bite | Street Beasts | 8/10 | DHP30 | |
2017 | Surf 'N Turf | Tooned | 2/10 | DTX16 | |
2018 | Steam Punk Truck | 32nd Annual Hot Wheels Collectors Convention | - | FPN09 | |
2019 | Tur-Bone Charged | Rod Squad | 1/10 | FYB42 |