MINICARS: Hot Wheels X JNC Toyota AE86 Corolla

The beans have been spilled. Those of you who came by the Japanese Nostalgic Car booth at JCCS on Saturday were treated to a very special surprise — the Hot Wheels Toyota Corolla AE86 new for 2013. We are very proud to once again have our JNC inkan on the car, along with our friends at the JCCS!

The AE86 has been lurking in the Hot Wheels lineup since its debut in 2006 with various colors and graphics, but we are extremely proud that our logo will appear on a proper panda-schemed hachiroku. In case you’re wondering, the katakana on the side says “Hot Wheels,” not “Fujiwara Tofu Shop.”

When it first came out die-hard Hot Wheels collectors, whom back then heavily favored muscle cars, cried foul at Mattel for including a lowly Corolla in their beloved toy brand. Since 2006, however, nostalgics have been growing in popularity by leaps and bounds and thus have become accepted and “legitimized” in the mainstream auto industry.

The AE86 was one of Jun Imai’s earliest designs after starting at Mattel. It was a labor of love for him to fight for its inclusion, and we’re happy that he did. As you know by now, Jun has been the champion of many other nostalgics like the Datsun 510, hakosuka and kenmeri Skylines, Mazda RX-7Mad Manga, and now the 1970 Toyota Celica.

With the addition of this AE86, our JNC inkan now appears on Toyota, Nissan and Mazda cars! Once again, we thank Jun and the Mattel team who have been nothing but a pleasure to work with. The AE86 will appear in the HW City lineup for 2013 and should start showing up on shelves towards the end of 2012.

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29 Responses to MINICARS: Hot Wheels X JNC Toyota AE86 Corolla

  1. cesariojpn says:

    The Panda Scheme is kinda…greyish.

  2. Jared says:

    Cool! Love the japanene writing on the door, those wheels mixed with the bolt on flares..different, Ha Ha the head light covers made me laugh. thanks Hot Wheels.

  3. Nigel says:

    Awesome, on a whole new level. Thank you Jun.
    (Just need to find one, the search is part of the fun).

  4. rich says:

    is it possible to talk to your friends at hotwheels and have them make a “j-tin” ten pack, like they do for the other manufactures .

  5. John says:

    I m glad that Hot Wheels will have this AE86 in their 2013 line up, but as JDM fan, i would hope that it comes with right hand steering wheel also? No?

  6. J.A.C.K says:

    Oooh! I’m happy we have a jnc x ae86 but the “white” seems a little off? Possibly because prototype? Why are the A, B, and C pillars black? Either way, I’m still getting this!!! Dammit as if I didn’t spend enough time hunting for the other Jnc collabos already…

  7. PowerTryp says:

    Awesome! This past weekend I just managed to pick up the hachi in the fourth picture.

  8. ra21benj says:

    I saw this at JCCS and it looked black and white. Jun was able to sign my Hot Wheels Imai AE86 at the show. What does the characters on the the door say? I know it’s not Fujiwara Tofu Shop.

    Can’t wait to get this and the1970 Celica!

  9. Kaydubbs says:

    The local Walmart will be out of stock after I find this.

  10. jivecom says:

    This is gonna be my second AE86, after i got that sweet one in the 4th pic there. I love the TRDishness of the livery on that one. This one is better though because it has the inkan

    this reminds me. When that black/gold RX7 was first announced, you also announced the brilliant black/gold inkan (which I bought immediately for when I buy a black nostalgic). This car’s inkan is black and white, so does that mean you might make a black and white sticker for our real cars?

    • Ben says:

      We’re not sure yet but if there is demand we will!

      • jivecom says:

        Well I’d love to have a lot of different colours for them but I also understand that you can easily have too many colours for something like this, and kind of take away the significance of the original red one

      • Ben says:

        That’s exactly what we were thinking. Plus black & white seems a little dull compared to the other colors. It works on this car because the whole car is a panda theme, but there aren’t that many cars in real life that are only black & white.

        • jivecom says:

          yeah true. and it’s not like the classic red inkan is necessarily bad looking on any car… just forget I ever brought this up, now that I’m imagining black/white inkans on cars it really does look dull, unless you’re trying to keep all your stickers white on a black car. but, like my mom always said, if you’re colour coordinating your stickers then you have too many stickers

  11. Toyotageek says:

    Wow, what did I miss on Saturday?! I think I gotta give up volunteering. LOL

    Big round of kudos to Jun & Mattel for continuing to bring us all this J-tin love. Even though this will be just a repaint, it’s a cool one and definately on my “to get” list.

    And a big round of congrats to JNC for getting another car with their inkan, and a bonus congrats for JCCS finally being recognized too! Now how do I get them to do a Tgeek version? ;oP

  12. kelly greendige says:

    All right man whats up with all this Hot wheels stuff. I wanna see the JNC pics from this year man.

  13. geekymann says:

    Omaagaaaah! This is gonna be super wanted on the list!!

  14. jB says:

    Whats with the white rx7 in the background? Black and Blue yes. White? no,,,,, yes?
    Great to see more LOVE coming our way.
    When can we expect the Celica to be on the hooks?
    Did somebody mention a white FB?

  15. Kevin Truong says:

    Another awesome piece coming down the pipeline!

  16. darin smith says:

    Happy Birthday Hot wheels!. As first a kid playing, buyer for gifts, collector, and a dealer for the past few years in Bham. Al.,I Thank You!. From Mr. Elliot Handlers vision to Harry Bradley’s development to Larry Wood’s dedication and legends like Daniels, Rees, Gilford,Roth, Cushenberry,Alexander Bros., Jeffries Tam, and others who not only change the face of toy industry but Automotive as well as car culture from ‘Cali Cool’ to Pioneers and Innovators around the world who inspire and help us reflect on late Icons like Barris,Shelby,Elde brock,Gurney and others, again Thanks-Smith’ Hot wheels guy’.

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