Stock# 18531
Collector# 669
CB's Die Cast Review: July 20, 1998
1998 First Editions #28
Chaparral 2
Hall’s driving career ended almost fatally in late 1968 when his 2G flipped and
burned in a crash, and he suffered two severely broken legs. Ironically,
the 2G was destroyed shortly before Mattel immortalized it as a second-year Hot Wheels
in early 1969.
Before this year,
it had been a while since Mattel has released a prototypical SCCA / Cam-Am racing
car in the Hot Wheels line. You have to go all the way back to 1970 to
find the last new casting of a real Cam-Am racer, in the form of the Ferrari
312P. This year produced two representatives -- the Jaguar D-Type of the
1950s, and what Mattel has labeled the "Chaparral 2."
I had been waiting for this car to be released, and researched the history of
the real-life Chaparrals for this review. The Chaparral line of racing
cars was developed primarily by designer and driver Jim Hall at the beginning
of the 1960s. The Chaparral 2A was introduced in 1963 after the moderate
success of the predecessor Chaparral 1. The 2A was visually patterned after
Cheverolet’s 1962 Corvair Monza concept car, except that it utilized an open
cockpit. The 2A had one of the most successful although short-lived runs
in American sports-car racing history, posting seven first-place finishes and
seven second-place finishes in 1964, followed by an incredible 16 victories and
nine second-place finishes in 1965! Hall replaced the 2A with the 2C in late
1965, which was an updated 2A design with a hydraulic rear spoiler. Additional
innovations led to new designations including the Chaparral 2G, a design well known
to Hot Wheels aficionados. The 2G, introduced in 1966, was a formidable racer
through 1968.
The new Chaparral 2 is actually based on the 2A, which victory-wise was the
most successful of the Chaparral designs. The Malaysian-made model is an extremely
accurate representation, down to the two-tone paintscheme. The well-detailed
die-cast body is painted in white gloss enamel and is riveted to a die-cast chassis painted
in black gloss enamel. The interior is molded in black plastic,
with good definition in the steering wheel and dashboard gauges. The windshield
and headlights, which are pinched toward the center of the nose,
are formed of clear plastic. The exhaust pipes are gray plastic and extend through the
rear engine compartment. The black roll bar is part of the interior piece, and
the inner floor of the chassis is also painted black, blending in well with the
interior.
The famous encircled "66" is tampoed on the nose only. A red HW insignia is on
the car’s right side, where the "66" markings normally would be. This is the
only major visual difference between the model and the prototype.
One of the more interesting features of the model, however, is the new lace wheel
design. The wheel is actually a closer representation of those found on the
prototype 2A. The wheel "hubs" are the same diameter all around, with
medium-sized "tires" in the back and small tires up front -- similar in design to
the seven-spoke wheels introduced in 1995. These wheels provide a better
visual effect than the standard thin-tire lace wheels would. Other
lace-wheeled castings that would benefit from this wheel are the `97 Corvette
and Jaguar XK8. The standard lace wheels are better suited for cars
that utilize small wheels all around, such as the Ferrari F50, `59
Impala and Tail Dragger.
Some collectors thought this First Editions offering would be a dud, based
on the poster picture. If we used the poster as a guide, current popular cars
Jaguar D-Type, Lakester and Sweet 16 II would also be considered
less desirable. The Chaparral 2 is a winner in many aspects, including
the new wheel design and faithfulness to the real Chaparral 2A. This year’s
crop of new castings is shaping up as one of the strongest since the Redline era.
