Imagine if your actual car, the one you’ve owned, built, maintained and cleaned for over a decade was immortalized in Hot Wheels form. How would you feel? Roy De Guzman knows exactly how it feels, because it happened to him, and he describes it thusly: “In a word, astonished.”
Many of you will know Roy’s car as the blue-on-white Hakosuka of the Wild Cards. He bought his car 12 years ago, long before widespread interest in classic Skylines, making him one of the very first American Hako owners. We’ve known Roy for 10 of those years, having met him when we photographed his car for a print feature before it adopted its kaido racer look, and we can say that the Hot Wheels-ization of a real car owned by someone we know couldn’t have happened to a more deserving guy.
What’s more, Roy bought the car in Japan when he was serving his country as a weapons instructor for the US military — an amazing story in itself that you can read about in the magazine — making him one of the very few individuals who have owned their Skyline, as in having paperwork in their name connected to the car, in both Japan and their home country.
The story begins farther back, though. “As a child, Hot Wheels was always my most cherished toy. My parents didn’t have enough money to buy me Optimus Prime or Voltron,” Roy tells us, still somewhat in disbelief. “Now, my car is a Hot Wheels.”
The genesis of the project started at the JNC booth at JCCS 2015, and it’s taken about a year and a half for it to come to fruition. That’s a typical Hot Wheels development cycle, and there are many steps along the way, from signing a licensor’s contract to approving the graphic design. “Is this really happening?” Roy kept asking himself throughout the process. And about a week ago, when he finally got the finished product in hand, he had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.
There’s a deeper reason as to why this car is so important to Roy. “I dropped out of college,” Roy explained, “But my major was fine arts with a specialty in advertising. I always look back and wonder why I never finished.” In 2015, Roy decided to put kaido racer graphics on his Hakosuka, a livery he created himself.
“To see something that I designed be accepted by a company like Mattel, and to know that it’s going to be sold globally, that some kid 4,000 miles away is going to be playing with it — that’s pretty awesome,” Roy beamed.
A little over a week ago, the UPS truck brought Roy a brown cardboard box from Malaysia, where Hot Wheels are made. It was a box of miniature versions of his car, a “thank you” from Mattel. “The first time I held the toy in my hand,” Roy says, “It was like an unfulfilled dream had come full circle. It’s truly an honor.” It’s been a wild journey for Roy and his Hako, and we’re sure there is still more to come.
For a complete list of JNC inkan’d Hot Wheels, see the list below.
- Nissan Skyline GT-X hakosuka (2011, white/green with red JNC inkan)
- Mazda RX-7 (2012, black/gold/red with gold JNC inkan)
- Mazda RX-7 (2012, blue/white/orange with orange JNC inkan)
- Mazda RX-7 (2012, white/gold/red with red JNC inkan) — Kroger’s/Ralph’s exclusive
- Toyota AE86 Corolla (2013, black/white with black JNC inkan)
- Toyota AE86 Corolla (2013, white/black with black JNC inkan)
- Toyota Celica 1970 (2013, red/black with black JNC inkan)
- Mazda RX-7 (2013, silver/blue with blue JNC inkan) — Treasure Hunt
- Datsun 620 (2014, orange with black JNC inkan)
- Datsun 620 (2014, blue with black JNC inkan) — KDay exclusive
- Datsun 620 (2014, red with black JNC inkan)
- Datsun 510 wagon (2014, red/white with blue JNC inkan)
- Datsun 510 wagon (2014, dark spectraflame red/white with blue JNC inkan) — Super Treasure Hunt
- Datsun 240Z (2015, black/blue/gold with blue JNC inkan)
- Datsun 510 wagon (2015, yellow with dark blue JNC inkan)
- Datsun 240Z (2015, white/blue/red with blue JNC inkan)
- Datsun 510 wagon (2015, black with black JNC inkan) — KDay exclusive
- Nissan Fairlady Z (2016, blue/black with white JNC inkan)
- Nissan Skyline GT-X hakosuka (2016, white/blue with red JNC inkan) — Japan Historics premium
- Mazda RX-3 (2016, purple with red JNC inkan) — Japan Historics premium
- Datsun 510 wagon (2016, black with red JNC inkan) — Japan Historics premium
- Toyota 2000GT (2016, yellow/green with red JNC inkan) — Japan Historics premium
- Nissan Skyline GT-R kenmeri (2016, white/black with red JNC inkan) — Japan Historics premium
- Datsun 620 (2016, turquoise with gold JNC inkan) — Car Culture Trucks premium
- Nissan Fairlady 2000 (2017, yellow with maroon JNC inkan)
- Nissan Fairlady 2000 (2017, green with black JNC inkan)
- Datsun Bluebird 510 (2016, maroon/black with red JNC inkan) — Car Culture Track Day premium
- Datsun 620 (2017, white with blue/yellow GReddy livery Hand blue JNC inkan)
- Nissan Skyline GT-X hakosuka (2017, white/blue with red JNC inkan)
- Datsun 510 wagon (2017, blue/white/orange with blue JNC inkan)
- Nissan Fairlady Z (2017, black/red/”Advan” with white JNC inkan)
- Nissan Fairlady Z (2017, black/red/”Advan” with white JNC inkan) — Super Treasure Hunt
*sigh* still waiting for mine to be made… ;P
You mean the Toyotastang? All in good time. I wait patiently with mine as well.
Fantastic story. Your car is now memorialized for generations of hot wheels collectors to come. And you get the only 1:1 version. Congratulations!
WAY cool. Great story. Congrats to you, Mr. De Guzman, on the hot wheels model AND on the original design and execution. Ever since seeing an early GT-R at the NOPI Nationals in Atlanta about 16 years ago I have been a big fan. Yours is about the coolest modified example I have seen.
Mazda, Nissan/Datsun, Toyota, well represented. Where are the Mitsubishis, Subarus, and Hondas?
Now when can we get an X32 or X36 Toyota.
Lloyd Letherman’s sedan would be super cool in hot wheels form.
And I’d gladly give up my wagon for a bit to be made into a hot wheels 😉
Congrats to my fellow Wild Cards crew member Roy! This is a huge achievement brotha!
That new Nissan skyline h/t 2000GT-X coming out is awesome. I will be on the hunt for this one thumbs up.
I’m hoping Jun and the Gang will make an RA40 coupe!!
I’ll second that!!
Is there a word missing here?
What’s more, Roy bought the car in Japan when he was serving his country as a ???? — an amazing story in itself that you can read about in the magazine — making him one of the very few individuals who have owned their Skyline, as in having paperwork in their name connected to the car, in both Japan and their home country.
Sorry, corrected!
Definitely will be on the lookout
I think that kinda happened to me. I built a LeMons racer that’s a replica of Homer Simpson’s dream car. It became a hit on the internet and got me some fame. Shortly after that, Hot Wheels released a model of one, and the number in the series happens to be the same racing number I use. I can’t help but think it’s not a coincidence.
Let’s hope I can convince them at the factory here to make a cordia like mine lol(I live relatively near the factory here in Malaysia!)
Not up to the factory, it’s up to the design team