Fast Rewind: Mazda RX-3

The Mazda RX-3 was the original bearer of the Savanna nameplate used by Mazda in the 1970s. However, the Savanna name was exclusively used in Japan and hence the import versions of these cars were named the RX-3. And yes, RX is the nomenclature used for Mazda’s Rotary powered cars.

Fast Rewind: Mazda RX-3

Hot Wheels introduced the Mazda RX-3 into the line up in 2016 with the Car Culture series Japan Historics. Designed more as a track car than your run-of-the-mill Savanna, and it looked great. Mark Jones did a great job on this one. To those already familiar with the design, the car is heavy on the flares. The rear wing isn’t humongous, but it’s not exactly subtle either. And then there’s the front air dam that is built in on the metal chassis. The car also has detailed headlights and taillights. Being from the Premium line, that level of detail is actually expected. I already have a couple of RX-3s from the Japan Historics 1 and 2 so it comes as no surprise.

Fast Rewind: Mazda RX-3

This variant is from the Fast Rewind set which dresses up the car in the livery of Dom’s Mazda RX-7 from the original The Fast and The Furious movie. Hence it dons the bright red paint and the loud livery of the generation. What’s interesting are the small details such as the 03 on the C pillar and the sponsor decals on the bonnet and the side runners. This time, they fitted it with black CBRR8SP wheels, the same wheels from the bright orange RX-3 but they were in Gray.

RX-3 versus RX-7

What else can I say, the concept of Fast Rewind is a re-imagination of the FnF cars in their older incarnations. This RX-7 turned RX-3 is a perfect personification of that idea. It’s great to have this in my collection.

Hot Wheels Originals

Hot Wheels has been making original designs for decades. I didn’t really buy them because most of the fantasy cars are simply too wild for my taste. Lately, I have grown to like some of these original designs.

Hot Wheels Night Shifter

Take the Night Shifter. At first glance, it looks like a big, burly, American muscle car with a blown engine up front and exhaust pipes running through the centre of the car. Or so I thought. Reading about it more, it turns out that the car’s fuel tanks are exposed in the trunk and the pipes feed the fuel back into the engine like old fighter planes. And that’s where the inspiration came from. It’s a custom muscle car with bits of a fighter plane thrown in. It made a big first impression on me that I got it from the pegs without thinking twice.

Hot Wheels Kafer Racer

Then there’s the Volkswagen Kafer Racer. Based on a Volkswagen Beetle (hence the name, Kafer), it is a modified VW bug with an outrageous body kit, almost GT like with its widened body, whale-tailed wing and pronounced exhaust pipes coming from the rear-mounted engine. This one is a crazy model that actually looks like it was based off a real car. The Momo livery probably helped with that.

Hot Wheels Crate Racer

The Crate Racer is another Hot Wheels original design. This truck was designed by none other than Larry Wood. Larry Wood gave us classics such as the Purple Passion, the Ferrari 348, the ’37 Bugatti, the Science Friction, and many others. I got the Crate Racer initially because I wanted to take it apart so that I could re-use the engine for a custom. I haven’t really been good at customs so I decided to keep the Crate Racer intact for now. It’s really cool to see that engine shake as you roll the truck along.

Hot Wheels has made a lot of other original designs. And as I mentioned before, I’m not really a big fan of these fantasy cars. But once in a while, there are some that catch my eye and I do my part to have fun with them.