The History of McDonalds Happy Meal Diecast Cars  
Although McDonalds had tried children's promotions since 1961 with generic
McDonalds related paper items and small cheap plastic toys, the Happy Meal
concept of a monthly series of themed toys did not officially begin nationwide
until 1979 with the Circus Wagon promo.  Collecting McDonalds and other
fast food premiums was well established by this time, so a large variety of early
items have been preserved.  Fast food toy collecting has become big
business.  Up until the time that McDonalds began to offer Beanie Babies, the
Hot Wheels/Barbies promos were the most popular of all the Happy Meals.
 
Getting Happy Meal premiums, boxes and sacks is easy, just order a Happy
Meal.  Collecting of the promotional/advertising items is more difficult.  Since
they are in limited supply at each store, usually the first person to ask for them
gets them after the promo is finished.  These include the posters, displays,
translites, cardboard hanging and standing announcements, crew cards,
tray liners, drink cups, boxes, and fries bags and boxes. Knowing the store
manager is recommended for the dedicated collector.  Originally, these
Happy Meal promos were devised to lure kids into the restaurants, along with
their parents, with the intent of selling food products.  Recently, however, the
toys have become more desirable than the food, and the toys have become
more of a profit generator than the food.
 
The hunt for the toys is now what brings people into the stores.  Some types of
toys have created frenzies of customers actually traveling to many
McDonalds stores throughout the country just to complete their collection.
The toys offered in overseas restaurants have become highly desirable, as
quite often they are of different designs than the US toys.  Most of the early
Happy Meal boxes/bags are valued at much more than the actual toys,
since most were thrown away.   Other restaurants also have had diecast
promos of some sort, but since this paper is related to the McDonalds diecast
car promos only, I will only refer to items of that theme.  Please see my actual
checklist for each individual car of each set/year offering.
 
The first McDonalds Happy Meal promo featuring diecast cars came out in
1983 and was of a Hot Wheels theme.  Since then, several yearly promos
related to or containing diecast cars have been available.  These included
Hot Wheels, Matchbox, Stomper, Tonka, and Bigfoot.  The Hot Wheels promos
were shared with Barbies so that girls would also have a toy available during
the same month. Other Hot Wheels items were also offered in other Toy and
Christmas themed Happy Meals.  As in any other type of collectible, rarity and
demand determine the value. Any collectible is only worth what someone will
pay for it.  A true collector does not worry about value; the value is in the
enjoyment of the hunt for the items and displaying/studying them.  Collect
what you like, and the value will be priceless…..
 
The 1983 “Hot Wheels” issue ran on the East and West coasts with some cars
particular to each coast and some common cars.  There were 23 different
cars and a special wheel shaped box with a purple/silver Cadillac Seville as a
crew gift to advertise the “McDonalds Hot Wheels Racing Team”. The cars
were issued on cards without any McDonalds logo, but marked with “McD”
and “project numbers”.  All had BW or GHO wheels.
 
In 1986, “Stomper” Mini 4x4 Push-Alongs, by Schaper Manufacturing, were
issued as Happy Meal premiums.    They came in 8 different body styles with 2
colors of each. They featured independent suspensions and non powered
white plastic wheels with black rubber tires. These were different than the
battery powered Stompers for sale in stores. Four different Under 3 models,
with single piece wheel and tire construction, were available and one Special
Offer vehicle was available for purchase via mail order with 3 Proofs of
Purchase and $2.49.  This was a larger, battery powered, 3 speed vehicle with
working headlights.  Thus 21 different vehicles are listed.
 
1987 saw the Ford “Bigfoot” Happy Meal.   These were issued as 4 Monster
Trucks (with 1” wheels) and 4 Super Monster Trucks (with 1.3” wheels).   One
truck of each was issued as a girls model with a “Ms. Bigfoot” logo and in
different colors.  Some vehicles issued had no McDonald’s identification (the
big “M”).  This created 16 different varieties.  All cars came in clear poly bags.
 
 In 1988, the first and only, McDonald’s “Matchbox” Super GT diecast car
Happy Meal came out.  Each car came in a clear poly bag. The bottom of
each car had a model number and “Made in China, Super GT, 1985”.  The
model numbers appear as “BR 7/8” and other number pairs up thru “BR
37/38”, with different colors, numbers, and stripes from different areas of the
country.  Four of the twelve numbered pairs appear twice as different colors.
Thus a total of 16 different varieties exist. These cars were not exclusive to
McDonalds, and were also sold in retail stores.
 
During 1988, a  “Hot Wheels” Happy meal was also introduced. All 12 cars,
seven different designs with 5 of them in 2 different colors, came in a blister
pack and marked with a “1988” logo and were identical to those sold in retail
stores.  The 2 designs that are not listed as the same model are actually the
same car only painted differently.  One is a black/white Police car and the
other is a red Fire Chief car.
 
1990 was the first year that the “Hot Wheels/Barbie” combination Happy Meal
was offered.  This appealed to both boys and girls. Four different cars were
available in poly bags. These were also the same ones sold in retail stores on
blister cards.
 
The 1991 “Barbie/Hot Wheels” Happy Meal was the first national Happy Meal
to have 16 different   premium toys.  The 4 different designs, in 2 different color
varieties, of “California Custom Series” cars, were packaged in poly bags with
a $2 Hot Wheel coupon and were the same available in retail stores.  The
Under-3 premium was a hollow plastic Tool Set of wrench and hammer.  This
made up 9 different HW items.
 
Something different came out in 1992 for the “Hot Wheels/Barbie” Happy
Meal.  The vehicles were not real diecast models.  The cars were new
“Mini-Streex”, and came in 4 different designs of 2 colors each, with one
Under-3 item.  Thus 9 different items were available.  Each Mini-Streex car
came with its own vehicle launcher pump and had no wheels.  Only the U-3
item had wheels, but no launcher pump.
 
1992 also had the first Tonka toy cars in a “Cabbage Patch/Tonka” girl/boy
Happy Meal.  Five different heavy-duty mini Tonka utility vehicles, with moving
parts and wheels, and one U-3 one piece plastic molded dump truck with
“China” printed on bottom were available. Thus 6 items are collectibles.
 
In 1993, 8 different diecast “Hot Wheels/Barbies” again were available. This
year 3 McDonalds and 3 Hot Wheels racing team colors were shown on
exclusive to McDonalds HW cars.  The green “Quaker State” racing car used
here had the numbers 26: the real NASCAR racer had numbers 62.  Why the
numbers were reversed is a mystery.  There was a yellow #88 Duracell racer
also.  The U-3 Tool Set, same as 1991, was again available, but in different
colors.
 
During this year, a Christmas time Totally Toy Happy Meal contained 4 more
Hot Wheels Attack Pak items.  Two were Keyforce vehicles, one was a Shark
Cruiser, and one was a green 1957 Chevy with alligator tampos.  So, for this
year there were 13 different HW items available.
 
1994 had the second Tonka toy cars in another “Cabbage Patch/Tonka”
girl/boy Happy Meal.  This time, four different heavy-duty mini Tonka utility
vehicles, with moving parts and wheels, and one U-3 one piece plastic
molded dump truck with “China” and “Chine” printed on bottom were
available. Thus 5 Tonka items are collectibles.
 
1994 also had another “Hot Wheels/Barbie” Happy Meal promo.  This year,
there were 8 different exclusive car designs and 1 U-3 Mini-Streex Fast Forward
vehicle with wheels.  Some of the cars were animal and futuristic styles.
During the year, another Happy Meal, the McDonalds Birthday Train offering
contained another Hot Wheels item.  This was a small racetrack on rollers.  As
the toy was rolled, the car actually rotated around the track.   So for this year
there are 10 HW collectible items.
 
1995 was another big year for Hot Wheels items.  8 individual
“Barbie/Hot Wheels” Happy Meal cars, 4 Attack Pak vehicles with opening
mouths, 2 race cars with jump ramps, and 1 HW North Pole Explorer toy
vehicle.  The ramp cars were a repeat of the 1993 green Alligator tampo car
and a new red 57 Chevy.  Each was enclosed in a baggy with a blue jump
ramp. This makes 15 items for this year.
 
In 1996, the “Hot Wheels/Barbie” Happy Meal promo contained 5 unique
vehicles and 1 Under-3 toy.  The U3 toy was a rubber Squeezer Steering Wheel
shape about 4 inches in diameter and 1 inch thick.  The cars were patterned
after the real HW series cars, such as the Hot Hubs, Dark Riders, Roarin Rods,
and Krackle cars.
 
The 1997 “Hot Wheels/Barbies” offerings were of the exclusive Emergency
Vehicle motif.  Five all plastic vehicles.  By this year, the familiar U3 series toys
were no longer offered.  McDonalds had changed over to more generic Fisher
Price U3 toys. These were available all year long.
 
1998 again produced the McDonald’s Racing Team motif on the
“Hot Wheels/Barbies” Happy Meal toys.  Four different NASCAR Racer styles
showing Ronald, MacTonite, HW, and the NASCAR 50th Anniversary paint
schemes were available.  These were the first models that had self adhesive
stickers to be applied.
 
By 1999, newer modernized HW cars were offered in the “Barbie/Hot Wheels”
Happy Meal.  Eight models in bright metal flake colors with names like Street
Raptor, Barracuda, Piranha, Surf Boarder, and Led Sled caught the attention
of collectors.
 
With the dawn of a new millennium, came the special Y2K
“Barbie/Hot Wheels” Happy Meal collection.  Five current
NASCAR/GRANDPRIX racing car models with their futuristic versions and an
extra purchase cardboard storage box/garage/ramp were available.  These
sleek models all had the self adhesive stickers to apply.  A total of 11 items are
collectible.
 
In 2000, the only year of double issue “Hot Wheels/Barbie” Happy Meals, 16
different items were available.  These included sports, racing and Formula 1
cars, airplanes, bikes, binoculars, stopwatches, key chains and a car launcher.
This was quite a collection to acquire and a considerable amount of time and
money to spend purchasing Happy Meals to obtain all of the items.
 
As I said before, the marketing is now focused on creating demand for the
toys, not the food.  That is what brings customers into the restaurants.  The
hope is that once inside the store, you will buy other food also.  During some
promos, you can buy just the toys alone with some other purchase, but usually
the price for the toy alone is too high and the best deal is to buy the Happy
Meal and eat it.  Hey, how about helping the homeless by giving them the
food and keeping the toy.
 
 For some of the older issues, the only real way to know if you have an actual
Happy Meal car is if it is still in the baggy.  As more time goes by, the harder it is
to find bagged cars.  On the newer issues of today, the cars are actually
marked “Manufactured for McD”, and some wheels are of different styles.  This
makes identifying them somewhat easier.  Make sure you check out my
checklist pages for style and wheel listings.  I will soon post other listings of the
non-Hot Wheels cars and other manufacturers of McDonald’s motif retail
diecast items and McDonald’s diecast advertising items.  Maybe even listings
of other fast-food restaurants offerings of diecast cars or vehicles in general.
Feel free to email me with any suggestions or comments.
 
Happy collecting, and don't get sick on all those Happy Meals you have to
eat to get the premiums…..
 
Flash!
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