Wikia

In the 1970s Howard Rees was tired of designing cars. He wanted to work on the Major Matt Mason action figure toy line-up. Rees had a good friend by the name of Larry Wood. They had worked together at Ford designing cars. When Wood found out about Hot Wheels at a party Rees was holding, Rees offered Wood the job of designing Hot Wheels. Wood agreed, and by the end of the week, Larry Wood was working at Mattel. His first design would be the Tri-Baby (1970). After 40 years, Larry retired to his garage but still consults for the brand today. He was inducted in the Diecast Hall of Fame's inaugural class of 2009 and is widely known as Mr. Hot Wheels.

Some Trivia

Larry Wood has created some of the most well-known and unique Hot Wheels cars, including the '49 Merc, the Boyd Coddington collector set and the Ramblin' Wrecker (which originally featured Wood's phone number on its sides). He has been with Mattel/Hot Wheels team since 1969. He's originally from General Motors. His initials have been featured on some 2009 cars, such as the '41 Pickup and Hiway Hauler. Each one bears the name "Elwood". Elwood is identical to L.Wood in pronunciation. Larry Wood has made a new car series, Larry's Garage. This series features many of his popular designs, such as Dairy Delivery, Metrorail Nash Metropolitan and the infamous Bone Shaker. The car, Cabbin' Fever, bears a close resemblance to Larry Wood's truck.

1970-1979 1/64 Scale

Year	Casting Name	Debut Series	Toy Number
1970	Tri Baby	1970 Hot Wheels	6424
1970	Mongoose Funny Car	1970 Hot Wheels	6410
1971	Bye Focal	1971 Hot Wheels	6187
1971	Bugeye	1971 Hot Wheels	5178
1971	Classic Cord	1971 Hot Wheels	6472
1971	Grass Hopper	1971 Hot Wheels	6461
1971	Ice 'T'	1971 Hot Wheels	6184
1971	Jet Threat	1971 Hot Wheels	6179
1971	Mongoose II	1971 Hot Wheels	5954
1971	Mongoose Rail Dragster	1971 Hot Wheels	5952
1971	Mutt Mobile	1971 Hot Wheels	6185
1971	The Hood	1971 Hot Wheels	6175
1972	Funny Money	1972 Hot Wheels	6005
1972	Mercedes-Benz C-111	1972 Hot Wheels	6169
1973	Buzz Off	1973 Hot Wheels	6976
1973	Double Header	1973 Hot Wheels	5880
1973	Hiway Robber	1973 Hot Wheels	6979
1973	Mongoose	1973 Hot Wheels	6970
1974	Baja Bruiser	1974 Hot Wheels	8258
1974	Breakaway Bucket	1974 Hot Wheels	8263
1975	Aeroflash	Flying Colors	8272
1975	American Victory	1975 Hot Wheels	7662
1975	Backwoods Bomb	1975 Hot Wheels	7670
1975	Chevy Monza 2+2	1975 Hot Wheels	7671
1975	Chief's Special	1975 Hot Wheels	7665
1975	Emergency Squad	1975 Hot Wheels	7650
1975	Gremlin Grinder	1975 Hot Wheels	7652
1975	Gun Slinger	1975 Hot Wheels	7664
1975	Monte Carlo Stocker	1975 Hot Wheels	7660
1975	Mustang Stocker	1975 Hot Wheels	7644
1976	American Hauler	1976 Hot Wheels	9118
1976	American Tipper	1976 Hot Wheels	9089
1976	Aw Shoot	1976 Hot Wheels	9243
1976	Cool One	1976 Hot Wheels	9120
1976	Formula 5000	1976 Hot Wheels	9119
1976	Gun Bucket	1976 Hot Wheels	9090
1976	Inferno	1976 Hot Wheels	9186
1976	Jet Threat II	1976 Hot Wheels	8235
1976	Lowdown	1976 Hot Wheels	9185
1976	Maxi Taxi	1976 Hot Wheels	9184
1977	GMC Motorhome	Truckin' Machines 6-pack	9645
1978	'57 T-Bird	Flying Colors	2013
1978	A OK	Flying Colors	2016
1978	Baja Breaker	Flying Colors	2022
1978	Highway Patrol	Flying Colors	2019
1978	Hot Bird	Flying Colors	2014
1978	Jaguar XJS	Flying Colors	2012
1978	Lickety Six	Flying Colors	2017
1978	Packin' Pacer	Flying Colors	2015
1978	Race Bait 308	Flying Colors	2021
1978	Science Friction	Flying Colors	2018
1979	Auburn 852	Oldies But Goodies	2505
1979	Bywayman	Speedway Specials	2509
1979	Flatout 442	Speedway Specials	2506
1979	Vetty Funny	Drag Strippers	2508

1980-1984 1.64 Scale

Year	Casting Name	Debut Series	Toy Number
1980	3-Window '34
1980	'63 Split Window Corvette	Hi-Rakers
1981	'37 Bugatti	1981 Hot Wheels	1696
1981	Airport Rescue	Workhorses	1699
1983	Long Shot	1983 Hot Wheels	3768
1983	Fiat Ritmo	1983 Hot Wheels	3287
1988	Alien	Speed Fleet	5026
1989	'32 Ford Delivery	1989 Hot Wheels	7672

1990-1999 1/64 Scale

Year	Casting Name	Debut Series
1990	Purple Passion	1990 Hot Wheels
1991	'59 Caddy	1991 Hot Wheels
1991	Buick Stocker	1991 Hot Wheels
1991	Ferrari 250	1991 Hot Wheels
1991	Ferrari 348	1991 Hot Wheels
1991	Ford Aerostar	1991 Hot Wheels
1992	'56 Flashsider	1992 Hot Wheels
1992	Aeroflash	1992 Hot Wheels
1992	Blimp	1992 Hot Wheels
1992	Bulldozer	1992 Hot Wheels
1992	Chevy Lumina	1992 Hot Wheels
1992	Flashfire	1992 Hot Wheels
1993	'63 Split Window Corvette	1993 Hot Wheels
1993	'93 Camaro	1993 Hot Wheels
1993	Ammo	1993 Hot Wheels
1993	Dodge Viper RT/10	1993 Hot Wheels
1993	Jaguar XJ220	1993 Hot Wheels
1993	Road Pirate	1993 Hot Wheels
1993	Swingfire	1993 Hot Wheels
1993	Treadator	1993 Hot Wheels
1993	Vector "Avtech" WX-3	1993 Hot Wheels
1994	Dragster	1994 Hot Wheels
1995	'58 Corvette	1995 Model Series aka First Editions
1995	Dodge Ram 1500	1995 Model Series aka First Editions
1995	Mercedes-Benz SL	1995 Model Series aka First Editions
1995	Power Rocket	1995 Model Series aka First Editions
1995	Side-Splitter	1995 Hot Wheels
1995	Speed Blaster	1995 Model Series aka First Editions
1995	Speed Shark	1995 Hot Wheels
1995	Speed-A-Saurus	1995 Model Series aka First Editions
1995	Spiderider	1995 Hot Wheels
1995	T-Bird Stocker	1995 Hot Wheels
1996	'82 Corvette Stingray	1996 Hot Wheels
1996	Chevy 1500	1996 First Editions
1996	Rail Rodder	1996 First Editions
1996	Street Cleaver	1996 First Editions
1997	'59 Chevy Impala	1997 First Editions
1997	Skullrider	1997 Hot Wheels
1998	'50's Buick Woody	1998 Elwoody custom Cars 2-car set

2000-2009 1/64 Scale

Year	Casting Name	Debut Series	First Edition #	Toy Number
2003	GT-03	2003 first editions	21	????
2004	'34 Ford Delivery	Auto Affinity special delivery	#4
2004	C6 Corvette	2004 First Editions	58/101
2005	Jack Hammer	Acceleracers
2006	Bone Shaker	2006 First Editions
2006	Volkswagen Beetle Convertible	Hot Wheels Classics Series 2	21/30
2007	'66 Batmobile	2007 New Models	15/36
2007	'69 Ford Mustang	2007 New Models	4/36
2007	Straight Pipes	2007 New Models	12/36
2008	Corvette Grand Sport	2008 New Models	8/40
2008	H2Go	2008 New Models	35/40
2008	Pass'n Gasser	2008 New Models
2008	Semi Fast II (W/ Phil Riehlman)	All stars #5/36	5/36
2009	Custom '66 GTO Wagon	Hot Wheels Classics Series 5
2009	Tri-Baby Too	HotWheelsCollectors.com Series 8