Stock #85516
Collector #011

CB's Die Cast Review:  December 16, 2002

HotWheelsCollectors.com - Series One
Purple Passion®

My, my, my, oh my.  It's amazing how much a little Spectraflame paint and a metal chassis can improve a model.  If Purple Passion were issued 20 years earlier than it was, the HWC model is a good approximation of what the casting would have looked like.  No visible tooling changes were made, and yet this is the best this casting has ever looked.

The body is zinc-plated, polished and covered with Spectraflame violet - a cross between the old Spectraflame purple and magenta colors.  The paint is a Spectraflame version of the shade used on First Editions models Hammered Coupe, Screamin' Hauler, Scorchin' Scooter and 1/4 Mile Coupe.  The car features metallic violet shadow flames (also used on the HWC King Kuda and Nitty Gritty Kitty), and looks fantastic in person.  The tampos tend to photograph with a reddish hue, but in real life the flames disappear into the mirror finish.  The thin black outline to the flames that was on the pilot model is not present on the production model.  The headlights are painted silver, a la the U.S. made version of the original Custom Volkswagen.  The interior is molded in white plastic while the glass is clear plastic.  As with many of the HWC cars, there is a California license plate tamped on the trunk. The custom grill, a part of the die cast zinc plated chassis, has the background areas painted flat black, thus giving the impression of the floating grill.

The car weighs a solid two ounces with the addition of the metal chassis.  A nice touch is the use of the large RSWs in the back, giving the model a slight rake and more visibility to the rear wheels.  The model is manufactured in China.

Mattel has done a great job on the Passion, and many collectors seemed to agree as the car sold out within a day.  Nice to see this model rendered to the old standards.