MINICARS: 2015 Hot Wheels Heritage line loaded with nostalgic Nissans

When we called 2014 the Year of the JNC, one of our arguments was that Hot Wheels was using every Japanese nostalgic casting in their lineup for that year. This was the personal goal of the godfather of JNC Hot Wheels, Jun Imai, but extenuating circumstances at the retail end prevented that dream from being fully realized. Popular classics like the Datsun 510 and 240Z, which weren’t in the regular line, were slated to be in the 2014 Cool Classics premium line. That didn’t happen, but fortunately, they will live on in 2015. 

The last few batches of the Cool Classics line, a throwback to the redline era, was supposed to include the Datsun 510, 240Z, Subaru BRAT and Honda S2000. Unfortunately, the line was canceled and those cars didn’t have a chance to reach the pegs in 2014. (For an explanation of why that happens, read this article). There are rumors that these will still be released, by March of 2015, but we cannot confirm.

However, for 2015, Cool Classics is being succeeded by a new premium Heritage line, which will include not only the absent-from-2014 Datsun favorites, the 510, 240Z, but also returning champions the hakosuka and kenmeri Skylines. The colorways appear to be much more realistic in this series as compared to the Cool Classics, which were beholden to the Spectraflame colors of the original redlines. This 510, for example, looks like it could have been a privateer SCCA racer back in the day. The 240Z, which Redline Club members can see, looks like a Bonneville Salt Flat speed trial car, complete with Mooneyes discs.

You can see the rest of the Heritage lineup at the official Hot Wheels website.