Did you know that the BMW M1 is the first BMW ever produced by Hot Wheels? That makes this casting one of the oldest licensed castings still in use by Hot Wheels today! Throughout all those years of production, it’s never received the kind of clean deco you’d expect on a modern Hot Wheels – until now.
A quick peek at the base shows an original copyright date of 1982, with an update in 2011. That means this M1 can trace its origins back a staggering 43 years! It’s no surprise then that this casting is showing its age in some predictable ways.
All the lines are crisp and sharp thanks to that 2011 re-tool, but many of the design characteristics are from a different era. Back then, designers were more concerned with making cars match the “Hot Wheels look” than with the accuracy of the casting, so the M1 has some exaggerated proportions. As with most castings from the ‘80s, there are no side mirrors to be found here. It also features a raked stance thanks to its larger rear wheels and smaller front wheels, a muscle car inspired design choice that has mercifully fallen out of favor in modern Hot Wheels models.
The hood really stands out to me as a weak point on this casting, with such deeply-cut lines for each of the body panels that it ends up highlighting the limits of How Wheels’ paint quality. When I look at a real M1, the panel gaps around the pop-up headlights are not the first thing to catch my eye…
Despite the challenges of this aging casting, I actually really like this model! That’s partly due to the M1’s significance as a car in BMW’s history, and partly due to the impressive work Hot Wheels has done to make this model work in a modern context.
You might notice that the M1 doesn’t really look like any other BMW on the road. That’s because this car was actually designed by famed Italian car designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, who is also known for wedge-shaped models like the Lotus Esprit and DeTomaso Mangusta. It’s no surprise that this M1 ended up looking more like an Italian supercar than a German performance car.
In the Hot Wheels world, we’ve mostly seen the M1 in its premium Procar version, which is a cool casting in its own right, but I’ve always wished for a stock-looking road car version, and this new silver series model absolutely delivers!
The deco on this M1 is nothing short of perfect. No notes. The front end features an impressively small BMW logo on the hood, plus black detailing on the grille and lights in the corners. Everything it needs and nothing it doesn’t.
The story is similar around back, where this model features the BMW’s full array of very-80’s looking brake lights, as well as another impressively small M1 badge above them. I’m very glad to see that Hot Wheels included BMW badges on both sides of the model, as it’s always been one of the funniest and most distinctive design choices of the M1 (perhaps BMW was worried you would confuse the M1 for one of its Italian wedge look-alikes). Even the rear bumper has been detailed black! Sure, it would have been nice to see a proper, Euro-style license plate back here, but the black detailing in its place makes its omission forgivable.
It is a little odd not to see any exhaust tips on this model, though. The M1 didn’t exactly have cool looking exhaust tips or anything, but I’ve gotten so used to seeing them on modern castings that seeing them missing feels odd.
Another oddity can be found in the rear window louvres, which extend way farther back than they are supposed to. On this Hot Wheels model, that top louvre is slightly longer than the rest of them, when on the real car it’s about a third as large as the rest of them. The result is a rear decklid that is far shorter than that of the real M1.
The side profile is a mixed bag, as it features some welcome detailing on the gas cap, as well as printed door handles and a keyhole. However, there is supposed to be a black stripe running the length of the side of the M1, and it’s completely missing here. Odd for a silver series model with its higher detailing budget. Likewise, the wheels are only ok. These are among the better wheels available for use on the silver series, but they bear minimal resemblance to the iconic disc-style wheels used on the real M1.
Despite its shortcomings, this is absolutely the best, most detailed version of this casting that we’ve ever seen released. However, I think this should probably be this casting’s swan song, at least without a fairly significant redesign to modernize the casting to better fit in with the more accurate models that Hot Wheels collectors have come to expect. Given the increasing attention that Hot Wheels is paying to classic German performance cars, a rework doesn’t seem out of the question. Hopefully, if they do make a new one, they will include side mirrors on it!
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