Red Baron

From Hot Wheels Wiki

Contents 1 Description 2 Versions 3 Photo Gallery 4 The Full Size Red Baron

Description

Red Baron was a car in the 1970 Hot Wheels series.

The story behind this casting is complex - in 1968 (possibly due to the popularity of the "Peanuts" cartoon character Snoopy's imaginary battles with the Red Baron) Monogram introduced a model kit of a stylized hot-rod incorporating a WWI German infantry helmet (Pickelhaube) and an Iron Cross motif on the radiator. In 1969, Chuck Miller built a working life-size version of the car, and the Hot Wheels casting appeared in 1970. Interestingly, although the Hot Wheels version has fenders (UK: mudguards), neither the Monogram kit nor Miller's car has them.

For a short time, Mattel owned Monogram, and the Hot Wheels "Red Baron" was included as a bonus in some model kit boxes.

Versions

The Red Baron has come out in the following versions:

Col #	Year	Series	Color	Tampo	Base Color	Interior Color	Wheel Type	Toy #	Country	Notes / Variations	Photo
	1970	1970 Hot Wheels	Spectraflame Red	Black Iron Cross on sides of helmet	Unpainted / Metal	White	RL	6400	Hong Kong
	1974	1974 Hot Wheels	Red		Unpainted / Metal	Black	RL	6964	Homg Kong	blunt helmet point
	1977	1977 Hot Wheels	Red		Unpainted / Metal	Black	BW	6964	Hong Kong
	1993	25th Anniversary	Metalflake Red		Unpainted / Metal	Black	RL	5700	China
	1994	FAO Schwarz Gold Series Collection	Metalflake Bluish-Green	tiny White Hot Wheels Logo	Unpainted / Metal	White	RL Gold	5700	China	Limited to 3000
	1999	Toy Story Game	Metalflake Red	tiny White Hot Wheels Logo	Unpainted / Metal	White	RL		China
N/A	2008	Since '68	Black			Red	Red Line BW	L2840	Thailand
M3662	2008	Hot Wheels Classics Series 4 w/ Button	Spectraflame Red	Black and White Iron Cross on sides of helmet	Unpainted Metal	Gray	Red Line BW	8/15	Thailand
	2009	2009 Fright Cars	Metallic Black / Satin Black helmet	White, Orange flaming skulls, HW pumpkin logo on sides of helmet	Unpainted Metal	Orange	Orange Chrome 5SP		Thailand	Wal-mart Exclusive

Photo Gallery

2009 Halloween version still in package

The Full Size Red Baron

• Reversing the usual procedure of developing plastic models from full size vehicles, the Red Baron show car was inspired by the Tom Daniel's Monogram model kit of the same name. Commissioned to custom car builder Chuck Miller by the Show Car Division of the ISCA. It was unveiled at the Detroit Autorama in January 1969. The Red Baron was originally designed by Tom Daniel for Monogram Models, and converting the design to full scale was much easier to design than build. For instance, Daniel incorporated a 1914 Mercedes aircraft engine to power his Red Baron. However, due to its improper scale, (hey, Daniel is an artist, not a car builder!) Miller had to improvise, powering his Red Baron with a Pontiac overhead-cam, 6-cylinder.

• One other non-cost-effective situation were the custom wheels conceived by Tom Daniel: Miller was forced to replicate these by using Sheet Metal. He cut them to resemble the wheels in the model kit, painted them black, and attached them to chromed steel wheels. The hand-formed, all steel body, equipped with replicated machine guns, sits atop a custom built frame and is topped off with a large fiberglass German WWI helmet. This is where another problem arose for Miller. Although Daniels' kit featured a chrome plated helmet, Miller was unable to achieve this with his car. Unfortunately, there were no companies at the time that had large enough plating equipment. Miller was forced to settle for a silver metal flake paint job instead.

• The Photo and information for the full scale Red Baron is sourced from the book "Showtime" by Michael Sheridan and Sam Bushala