They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, and that axiom certainly seems to be reflected in the values of Hot Wheels Ferraris from the early 2010s. But after 10 years of advancement in casting design and manufacturing techniques, many of the fan-favorite Hot Wheels Ferrari castings are starting to show their age. With the return of the Ferrari license, we finally get to see what a modern take on a Hot Wheels Ferrari looks like, starting with this SF90. It’s everything I’d expect from a Hot Wheels Ferrari, for better and for worse.
Let’s start with the good. Hot Wheels castings have come a long way in the last 10 years, and this SF90 does a great job of showing off that progress. The bodylines are crisp and sharp, especially on the hood, and it even has side mirrors (something you definitely couldn’t take for granted on old Hot Wheels Ferraris). The wheel fitment is excellent, with minimal wheel gap and an appropriately supercar-low ride height.
Of course, in the years since Ferrari disappeared from Hot Wheels, the margins on the mainline models have been squeezed. Adjusted for inflation, a 2014 mainline would cost about $1.37 today, but the actual retail price is $1.18, which means Hot Wheels had to find 19¢ in savings, on average, per mainline model. As a result, we’ve seen some interesting new construction techniques on newer mainlines like this SF90. For example: the SF90 has a black roof, but rather than relying on black printing to detail the roof, Hot Wheels tinted the SF90’s windows and used a rough texture to make the black plastic opaque for both the roof and the trim at the base of the windshield. That reduces the need for expensive printed detailing, and reduces the amount of metal needed for the model as a whole.
With such a limited budget for printed detailing, Hot Wheels designers have increasingly started to rely on the different colors of the windshield, base, or interior piece to form color breaks in their castings, as seen on the recent McLaren W1. That technique is used to great effect on the SF90, allowing the intakes on the quarter panels to be black and the engine cover to be a tinted window, all without needing any printed detailing. That’s clever design, and I love when the Hot Wheels designers push the limits of detail at the mainline price point.
Unfortunately, as is typical for a mainline Ferrari from Hot Wheels, this SF90 lacks any printed detailing on the rear. Presumably at Ferrari’s insistence, Hot Wheels always includes the Ferrari shields on the fenders, as well as a Ferrari badge on the hood. Once all those badges are accounted for, there seems to be no budget left for brake lights or any other rear detailing, which always leaves the models feeling a bit incomplete. At least the casting detail at the rear is well executed, with clearly defined shapes for both the brake lights and the exhaust tips. The base is once again used to allow the SF90’s massive rear diffuser to be black without needing printed detailing, which helps distract from the car’s lack of brake lights.
Luckily, the Ferrari badge on the hood at least allows for headlight detailing, and these headlights feel like a significant step up from the headlights we saw 10 years ago. They wrap around a fairly complex bit of bodywork while also featuring the design of the individual LED lighting elements within the headlight. The black honeycomb texture of the grille looks great, though the red section beneath the Ferrari badge should technically be black, not red. If only there was a higher detailing budget…
Ultimately, I think the story of this casting is one of compromises and excellence within constraints. As the first Ferrari from Hot Wheels in a decade, expectations were bound to be high, and I think the designers did an impressive job of pulling off a great looking model within the limited budget available for a mainline. However, unlike in 2014, Hot Wheels now has a number of successful lines with higher budgets for detailing, so perhaps we could see this model in a Silver Series set that would allow for full printed detailing at the rear! I would also love to see this casting upgraded with a metal base for use in the premium line, as if the preview images we’ve seen of the upcoming LaFerrari are anything to go by, a proper premium Ferrari from Hot Wheels is a sight to behold! At the very least, we know there’s a gray recolor coming in the mainline, as well as a dark metallic red coming in a 5 pack, so it looks like this casting is going to be getting plenty of use in the near future. You better believe I’ll be collecting them all, and you can expect to see this casting make an appearance on this year’s mainline Top 5 list in December!
Like what I do? Subscribe to my blog so you don’t miss any posts!
diecastleno.com 
Leave a comment