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Do you have any supporting documentation or evidence for September 7th release date. This doesn't appear to be accurate.
Thus far my research indicates a release date of the first week of May , 1968.
Do you have a timeline history from when Harry Bradley was contracted for Mattel in 1966?
Have you had the opportunity to interview Harry Bradley?
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As I recall, they first came out in the summer time, one of the best summers ever!!! Set aside Matchbox, Tonka's and the Dinkies, and break out the coolest toy cars ever made...The hysteria in the neighborhood amongst us little kids was THE thing!!!
I have to agree with Ferrari512s on the release date. I have an 8MM home movie shot on my 10th birthday, it was August 68 . On the film I am receiving redlines as a present. These were NOT my first redlines. I got my first at least a month or 2 earlier. is there any way to confirm that date? It would only make sense that if the LIFE ad was in Sept and copied off of a commercial, then they had to come out earlier.
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If anyone can present definitive evidence showing the official release date was not Sept. 7th, 1968, then by all means, let's publish it!
As I mentioned above, Sep. 7, 1968 has been on Wikipedia since 2004 with no challenge.
Proving that Wikipedia's date is wrong would amount to 'Breaking News' as far as redline collecting is concerned and I'd love to have that scoop on the Toy Car Exchange forum!
I also agree with Peeping Scott that 1968 was a great summer! But I don't remember seeing any Hot Wheels until Dec. 25. :)
DW
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I did a little research. The LIFE magazine article is dated November15,1968...which moves it back more. I do however have that home movie as proof they were out earlier. It was filmed on my birthday ..... August 26th .
Take a look [url]http://oldlifemagazines.com/the-1960s-1/1968/november-15-1968-life-magazine.html[/url]
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Yes, it was Nov 15, 1968 with Dick Nixon large on the cover, not Sept '68, that was my error, it makes sense because the Mattel ad that I posted is [B]"Select the Christmas toys you want"[/B] ad. However, I do remember getting Hot Wheels for my birthday in early Sept '68, but can not confirm getting any before that, if it was earlier then Sept. 7, 1968 as Wiki has for the date......far out, right on, neato, boss....:)
I do remember the first day I saw one, but not the time of year, except it was warm day when my friend Tony showed us all his Aqua T-Bird. In 10 seconds we were all headed for the store!
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Thats kind of amazing... all of your references are hearsay. Wiki is nothing but one persons opinion who also presents no facts. Quoting Wiki for anything has no value.
Then you go on to ask that someone show evidence that its not... huh?? I think you have it backwords... its not about proving a date pulled out of a hat is wrong... show that the date you picked is correct.
There is also alot of confusion betwen when they started pitching the product publicly vs actually shipping product.
As to the real date, its something that the community has been in the process of pinning down. there is some level of documentation built up already to narrow that down. I know I have provided documentation for several of the tools which we provided to A&A diecast. Obviously castings could not have been released until after they had the tooling in their hands to run some parts.
These discussions occurred before you joined the boards here. I would suggest you review some of the discussion that have occurred here which I beleive are still posted in the Greatest Hits forum. There were some hard documented dates in there.
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September 7, 1968 is cited on numerous websites in addition to Wikipedia and is the only date I have found documented in multiple locations. Since I have checked more than one source and book on the subject, my research does not qualify as hearsay.
Furthermore, I read the old 'discussion' threads regarding the original date in the Greatest Hits forum. Other than some super pictures of Hot Wheels memorabilia, no hard dates given there disprove Sep. 7, 1968. In fact, the two most relevant posts show comic book advertisements from August and September 1968 that bolster support for Sep. 7 rather than refute it.
Contrary to your negative view of Wiki, their entries are not pulled out of hats nor are they one man's opinion. As is typical of a Wikipedia entry, the Hot Wheels article has had 500 revisions since it was first published in 2004 and there have been over 50 authors involved in its creation. That amounts to seven years of collaborative effort to get the facts straight, with an ongoing opportunity for anyone to make changes or challenge any of the information contained therein.
So, until someone disproves Sep. 7, 1968 and follows through with the effort to get the date changed everywhere, that is the date the world will continue to use as the de-facto standard.
Incidentally, the Hot Wheels date thread has not had a new post since 2006. The process of pinning it down ground to a halt about 5 years ago. However, if and when the community does "pin it down", that will be the perfect time to publish the revised date far and wide.
And of course, make sure Wikipedia gets it right.
Mattel is a Corporate Company and any official new or release dates are made on Tuesdays by all Corporations.
The date September 7th falls on a Saturday in 1968. This was the weekend for Mattel employees.
Mind you Saturdays in the 60's and 70's especially in September were great days to launch new Cartoon Shows. However to launch a new produce line, I don't think so.
Wiki just took a random day in 1968 and ran with it. Since nobody questioned this then heck, it has to be right. Let's go make or rewrite history....nobody is paying attention anyway...
The Hot Wheels line was launched in Feb '68 at NY Toy Show. Three months after this it was launched to retailers. Probably the first week in May, May 7th falls on a Corporate Tuesday.
[QUOTE=donaldww;425401]If anyone can present definitive evidence showing the official release date was not Sept. 7th, 1968, then by all means, let's publish it!
As I mentioned above, Sep. 7, 1968 has been on Wikipedia since 2004 with no challenge.
Proving that Wikipedia's date is wrong would amount to 'Breaking News' as far as redline collecting is concerned and I'd love to have that scoop on the Toy Car Exchange forum!
I also agree with Peeping Scott that 1968 was a great summer! But I don't remember seeing any Hot Wheels until Dec. 25. :)
DW[/QUOTE]