For most of us, our first car cost .69 cents—a Hot Wheels car—and that led us to the passion/obsession we carry today. Your author's favorite Hot Wheels were the Deora, the Jack Rabbit Special, and the Twin Mill, all of which were flogged on those orange slip-together tracks when my brother wasn't whacking me with them. We would spend hours lacing the orange plastic tracks together and aiming them off the fireplace mantel and through the living room, or down the stairs for maximum speed. It was car kid heaven, and I know it had a big impact on me as a youth that steered me toward a life of hot rods and car-dom.
The guy behind the Hot Wheel legend is Mr. Larry Wood, Mattel's chief designer for Hot Wheels and a car guy of the first order. Larry began his career as a designer for Ford Motor Company and in 1968 was offered the opportunity to become Mattel's chief designer for their new line of die-cast cars. Mr. Wood and his wife, Shirley, packed up their car and drove along Route 66 to California, and 50 years later he wanted to re-create the journey but needed a cool car—orange of course to match his personal hot rods and the tracks his little cars ran down—and a new supercharged Shelby GT-S, the same car you can rent from SIXT Rent-A-Car, fit the bill perfectly.
The Woods began their trip at the Chicago stop of the Hot Wheels Legend Tour in Romeoville, Illinois. They picked up the supercharged Shelby GT-S and drove to the gathering and after signing autographs and greeting fans, they began their "SIXT on 66 Tour."
"When I began planning my dream trip along Route 66, I had a few stipulations," said Wood. "First, we needed a very cool car with plenty of horsepower for the trip. And the exhaust note had to rumble so we could make an exciting entrance. Since my personal hot rods are orange, I really wanted one in that color. Most of all, the car had to be purely American, so the connection would be genuine and personal. The vehicle that really fit those parameters was the SIXT edition Shelby GT-S."
