[Auto] This pink Hot Wheels Volkswagen Bus “Beach Bomb” is a real six-figure unicorn

[G h o s t l y.]

 

For many motoring enthusiasts, a good hobby is collecting scale miniatures, which are certainly much more accessible. Bruce Pascal, for example, has spent much of his life collecting cars - the famous 1:64 metal buggies made by Mattel. The centerpiece of his computer is a pink Hot Wheels Volkswagen Bus “Beach Bomb” prototype, and hard to believe, it costs as much as a restored original and is the most expensive Hot Wheels in the world.

In 1969, the Wolfsburg automaker partnered with Mattel to create the first Hot Wheels Volkswagen. It would be the T2 van then, with a couple of surfboards sticking out of the rear window, and only two of them painted pink to attract female buyers, little girls who might be tempted to join in on the fun; remember that, more than 50 years ago, toys were clearly segmented into different sexes, and cars were "more for boys". Initial prototypes were offered to Mattel employees.
These boasted a tall, narrow body, and had a set of removable surfboards that hung from the rear. It had a very small factory test run of approximately 200 units to test its commercial viability. They were found to be too narrow to be used with the po[CENSORED]r accessory of the time "Supercharger". Consequently, the model was redesigned by widening each side under the windows with slots to slide the surfboards on each side, and the version sold to the public.
 

Production specimens with both surfboards are valuable in their own right, but prototypes are extremely rare, as only Hot Wheels employees had access to them. Since no more copies were ever produced, these Volkswagen Bus "Beach Bomb" soon became a must-have for any collector. Ultimately, the two pink copies ended up in the hands of Pascal, whose Hot Wheels collection today includes more than 3,000 cars and more than 4,000 associated accessories.

He kept one in top condition, and sold the other to a friend and collector, and it has never been known how much he originally paid for either of them. To get them, he resorted to some rather clever means, such as advertisements in local newspapers and even looking for old Mattel employees from the late 1960s to ask if they had rare models that they would not mind selling. Upon learning of the existence of the two pink 1969 Volkswagen “Beach Bombs”, he investigated, located their owners and made them an offer to acquire them.
 

“I had already heard of [the Beach Bomb] in purple, green, red, light blue and gold. She had even heard of an unpainted model. But pink was extremely difficult to find, ”Pascal said in an interview with the YouTube channel truly in 2016 (at the end of the article). “Most of the Hot Wheels models were marketed for young children, who the brand assumed they didn't want to play with pink. They created only a few pink models to market to their female audience. "

And now, the million dollar question (or almost): How much is this Hot Wheels Volkswagen Bus "Beach Bomb" worth? "I will not say how much I bought it for, but today [in 2016] it has an estimated value of $ 150,000 (125,000 euros, approx.)," Admitted Pascal. "This model was a great victory for my collection." Provided that it is not on display in other automotive museums, this "Beach Bomb" is housed in the collector's personal museum in Maryland, in a dark plexiglass box that prevents sun damage. It would be great to see her next to “Walter”, her XXL counterpart.