 |
| Find the HW Honda Odyssey at Wheel Collectors... |
Who would have thunk?
Hot Wheels is on a roll. Actually on several rolls. JDM of course, and that sweet Car Culture series, even that Sto & Go at Target. Oh, and BMW's. And a lot of other stuff too. But how about those vans?
Vans have always been cool. Well, I take that back. Van should have always been cool. Minivans really REALLY tried to make vans uncool, until some creative folks even figured out how to make those cool.
Let's start with how uncool minivans can be. Van used to be shaggadelic, full of awesome accessories and amazing murals painted on the side. They did everything. You could live in them. Down by the river. But then they got mini. And not like Austin Mini Vans, because those were supercool. They got boring. They created a new term, "soccer mom". Families ditched the wagons (also always cool) and got the minivans. Grocery getters are cool, soccer haulers are not.
After a bit of time some carmakers figured they could focus a little more on looks and still add all the function of the minivan, which is undeniably great. Some minivans got a little cooler. Some standouts emerged.
There are some nice minivans out there, but Honda definitely makes the coolest. It definitely isn't a head-turner in some cases, but it is by far the best looking. The newest Odysseys have a great silhouette, and an even better front end and grill, and we are seeing similar looks from other carmakers. It is that style that has finally caught folk's attention, and now we see some eye-popping vehicles like those from @vankulture and @bisimoto.
And those cool cars begat this, the brand new Hot Wheels Honda Odyssey:
It isn't the first Hot Wheels minivan. That title goes to the Dodge Caravan - I think. But on the surface this is a surprising choice. Dig a little deeper and it most definitely is not. First off, this is another Jun Imai design, and if you follow him on his IG feed he owns one of these. Jun owning a certain car greatly ups its chances of being replicated as a Hot Wheels car, as we have learned over the last few years. And that is a good thing, considering the Datsun Wagon and Kaido Z are among collector's faves the last few years.
Besides that, these vans definitely have a scene all to themselves. Jun highlights that with the look of this one. He explained a lot of that to Japanese Nostalgic Car readers, including its fantastic homage to the Honda City Turbo, so we will not rehash it all here.
 |
| Photo credit: Japanese Nostalgic Car, Honda |
Of course, if you like stock, Jun provided a glimpse of that with this one-off he did for Bisimoto:
Maybe we a similar looking stock deco soon. We have time.
Anyway, how about those vans? And from Hot Wheels nonetheless.
My favorite Super TH last year was a van:
And my favorite Hot Wheels model last year was also a van:
And this Odyssey stacks up nicely with both of them. I have all but crowned the BMW 3.0 CLS as my champ this year, but this Odyssey is a ton closer than I thought it would:
Honda is been getting some great play as well at Hot Wheels, whether Honda or Acura, and mostly from Ryu Asada. But it is Ryu's creation from his time at Matchbox that comes more to mind when looking at the Odyssey. Odyssey - Ridgeline, Ridgeline - Odyssey.
So Winner Winner Chicken Dinner. I'm a van...er...fan.
(Find the HW Honda Odyssey at Wheel Collectors...
