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Spectrafame Color Guide

Description[]

Spectraflame is the name used by Mattel for the metallic finishes sported by their original "Hot Wheels" cars in 1968 through 1972 and also on Super Treasure Hunts. The finish was not the standard paint used on normal cars, but rather a transparent lacquer applied over a polished zinc plated casting.  This resulted in a surprisingly realistic metallic effect, similar to the appearance of real cars. In 1955, Mel Pinoli laid what is known as the first Candy Apple paint job. The car was a 1950 Chevrolet belonging to Ted Leventhal.

In 1973, due to the study of lead in paint and its effects on humans, the original Spectraflame (candy-apple paint) was banned from manufacturing. The original Spectraflame was retired and replaced by a metallic enamel.  More recently, Mattel began using a new paint process for their special edition cars.  While it is not the same candy-apple paint, they continue to use the trademark Spectraflame to identify it.  The new manufacturing process involves a shiny vacuum-metalized finish covered in a semi-transparent, water-based lacquer.  This may change in the future due to the expense of vacuum metalizing the cars.  An alternate method involves coating the cars with a metal liquid and then applying a pigmented translucent paint.

Most of the Spectraflame color names are self-explanatory, but a few are counter-intuitive.  Antifreeze was described as a "lime green" color in addition to the later color that was also designated Lime Green.  There was also a light pink color named Lavender whose name was later changed to Salmon.

The colors would evolve as the toy line continued.  This may be due to different manufacturers or changes in the paint mix.  It can be demonstrated that the early colors from 1968-69 are significantly different from releases seen in 1970-72.  By this point, later colors were being introduced and some were no longer being used at all.  As a result, there are castings that are nearly impossible to find in specific colors.  Examples of these are the 1968 Custom Camaro in Magenta, or the 1971 Evil Weevil in Hot Pink.

Spectraflame types[]

Name Notes Photo
Black 68Cougar Classic1 Black
White DeoraIINFTGarageLoose
Light Grey 66277587 2351137255153715 1839569230572290048 o
Dark Grey TV Series Batmobile id
Brown 1968 TBIRD Copper-Lt brown US dark Int
Brown 2
"Copper"
USABeatnikBanditCopper
Olive 1968 Silouette US Olive WHite Inte
Green Beatnik Bandit GrnR
Green 2
”Apple”
1968 Silouette US Apple Green White Int
Green 3
”Antifreeze”
Twin Mill Anti
Lime Porsche 917 1970 Lime
Aqua Twinmill
Aqua 2 Dark aqua or green beatnik bandit
Blue Custom Barracuda USA blue 1968 white Int
Light Blue Torero
Blue 3
“Ice”
Customfleetside
Purple Cuda Purple on Purple
Lavender
”Hot Pink”
1970-Porsche917-Pink
Lavender 2
”Magenta”
Cmustang US creamy pink
Lavender 3
“Watermelon”
Cmustang Store display Watermelon
Lavender 4
“Rose”
Vw Rose US
Red Vw red US
Orange CmustangORgRibbedRear
Gold
"Yellow"
Yellow Jet Threat wiki
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