Original pencil sketch

I made this piece in November 2001 to help Mattel & Hallmark understand how my customized 1964 El Camino inspired the original Hot Wheels look – and, subsequently how I translated the El Camino’s unique styling into the Custom Fleetside Pickup.

There is no “original” of this print because it’s made up of color prints from other sources:

• Upper half: partial print of my 1998 Convention rendering. The composition or layout was changed somewhat and the number “16” added to identify the actual number of cars I designed for the first (and what many Mattel people believed would be the last) group of Hot Wheels.

• Lower left: print of photo I took of my customized 1964 El Camino. This photo was taken not far from Mattel in late 1966, shortly after I began working at Mattel.

• Lower right: copy of the Custom Fleetside Pickup from Mattel’s 1968 product line catalog. It’s very apparent how the distinguishing El Camino features were applied to the Chevy Fleetside Pickup.

– Harry Bentley Bradley