Photo / Supplied
The Hot Wheels Legends Tour is the world’s largest travelling car show, which sees thousands of Hot Wheels fans competing to have their custom car reimagined as a 1:64th scale Hot Wheels® Die-Cast toy and sold around the world.
Last year, the Southern Hemisphere’s epic custom car culture was thrust onto the global stage via a two-part virtual Hot Wheels™ Legends Tour pit-stop.
This year the Hot Wheels™ Legends Tour happened virtually, with one Australian and one New Zealander chosen by a series of auto-specialists to compete in the Hot Wheels™ Legends Tour global semi-finals.
The event was live-streamed on Hot Wheels’ Facebook page last week, the replay is above. Karl Goodall from Mt Maunganui, NZ, was announced the winner with his custom-built “One Buggy Mud Muncher Raptor”. This Buggy has a rotary engine and was completely hand-built.
The Mud Muncher Raptor was in the top 3 best cars for 4 out of the 6 judges.
Some of the other finalists included Steve Ellicott with his 1974 Mazda 808 Wagon from South Auckland and Kaidyn Clark with his 1977 Nissan S14 from the Waikato District
Interestingly the Nissan Skyline GT-R (R32) Limited Edition Die-Cast promo Hot Wheels car which was presented at the start of this year’s NZ event, sold out in a record 7 minutes.
Since launching in 2018 to celebrate Hot Wheels 50th Anniversary, the Hot Wheels™ Legends Tour has grown from an American-based series of local Walmart events across the United States to the world’s largest travelling car show. Bringing in builders and automotive fans through both virtual and live events that now spans 14 countries and 5 continents.
It has also become known for the high-profile car designers, race car drivers and personalities that get involved to participate in their region’s judging panel. Judges deliberated on all vehicle entrants and finalists on the criteria of creativity, authenticity, and garage spirit.
Keyword: Winner of the 2022 NZ Hot Wheels Legends tour announced!