CB's Die Cast Review:  February 20, 1999

Hot Wheels Ford GT-90
1999 New York Toy Fair Car

The New York Toy Fair is an annual gathering in downtown Manhattan where the toy manufacturers exhibit their products for the upcoming season to their buyers.  Many of the manufacturers produce promotional giveaways for their visitors, and Mattel is no exception.  For its Hot Wheels buyers, Mattel has produced Toy Fair giveaway cars for almost 25 years.  Most of them have been uninspiring, but the decorations have become more intricate and inventive the last half of this decade.  As a result, there has been a greater demand for them in recent years.  The 1999 car is no exception - Mattel chose the futuristic Ford GT-90 as the basis for its final Toy Fair promotional of the 20th Century, and it is something to behold: a glistening jewel painted and plated in Hot Wheels colors.

Mattel started by chroming the body before applying transparent blue, black, orange and white paint with a series of intricate masks.  This gives the appearance of a predominantly blue chrome body with black enamel rear fenders and chrome and bright white enamel highlights.  I'm going to go into more detail than usual to describe the car, to give everyone a thorough familiarity with the vehicle.

The front fenders and hood of the GT-90 are painted in blue chrome, except for the areas just in front of the windshield and just in front of the air intakes.  The parking lights are tamped in red-orange and silver, and the fog lights are also silver.  The headlight covers and lower grill are painted in flat black while the tiny Ford emblem in the grill is painted silver.  A stylized Mattel millennium logo is tamped and centered between a black-printed "1999" on the chrome area under the windshield in red, orange and white, while the slogan "New York Toy Fair" is tamped and centered in black on the other chrome panel.

The sides of the vehicle have the front fenders and raised areas of the door finished in blue chrome.  The rear fenders are painted black enamel.  The recessed area of the door is bright white enamel.  The recessed area behind the door also is white enamel, and highlighted with orange edging.  The simulated roll bar is chrome, and starts just above the running boards, which are tamped with thin orange, white and black stripes.  The intricate HW millennium logo adorns the rear quarter panel, encircled with the slogan "The Official Cars of the New Millennium" in white.

The trunk area and rear panel are blue chrome, with the exception of the fender backs painted in black enamel.  The taillights are neatly tamped in red-orange, and the reverse lights in silver.  The accent area in front of the trunk is chrome.  The louvers protruding through the body are bare brighter-than-normal zinc-plated metal, as is the chassis.

The clear glass, tamped with black accents throughout, allows an unobstructed view of the silver-gray plastic interior.  The interior is well-detailed, something that is difficult to determine on the stock model, featuring intricate relief in the diamond-pattern seat covers, triangular-pattern floor mats and console panel, turn-signal and windshield-wiper arms on the steering column and the busy mid-section motor visible through the rear window.  The car rides on small chrome three-spoked wheels.

The blue chrome body makes it easy to envision the GT-90 in Spectraflame colors with redline wheels.  With good wheels and axles, this car actually would be a great performer, due to its all-metal construction and low center of gravity.  Mattel did a beautiful job on this promotional piece.  I don't know why they used a millennium-themed logo this year instead of next, but the logo is snazzy nonetheless.  It's a shame they don't make a few thousand more cars and offer them for sale as a collectable.  This way, everyone would have a reasonable chance to acquire one.  As it is, those extras that didn't make it to the internet auctions and are for sale are commanding upwards of $125-$175.  Since it's possible some people haven't seen some of the earlier Toy Fair cars, and other goodies from the last 31 years, I'll revisit some of these earlier pieces during the course of the year.