The 7-Eleven Supra Is Tailor-Made for the Hype Machine

Imagine that the product planners at Mattel come to you with a mission.  “We’re impressed with your encyclopedic knowledge and good judgement as a Hot Wheels collector” they’d say, “and we need your help!”  Flattered, you’d ask to learn more.  “We need to create a Silver Series model that will be produced in large numbers and be sold in displays with only that model, without it becoming a pegwarmer.”  Knowing how difficult of a task that would be, you’d get a sinking feeling in your chest and give the designers a skeptical look.  They’d add, “oh, and it’s going to retail for $5.99, nearly the price of a full premium model.”  An impossible task.  But you love a challenge.  

As a paragon of diecast knowledge, you know that JDM castings are always some of the hottest items with collectors, so your mind is immediately drawn to Japanese cars.  The R34 GT-R has become a bit overused, and the Honda S2000 is starting to show its age compared to newer, more accurate castings.  That leaves a Toyota Supra as an obvious choice – the casting is pretty good, and it’s sure to draw excitement from collectors. 

The casting itself won’t be enough to guarantee that this new product flies off the shelf though, you know you need something more to seal the deal.  Luckily, you have an ace up your sleeve.  You know this new product is being produced for the gas station chain 7-Eleven, a common backdrop for car photography and a frequent meeting place for car enthusiasts, especially in Japan.  With so few free places to park in Tokyo, 7-Elevens provide the perfect locations for car enthusiasts to park up, gas up, and head out on cruises.  As a result, 7-Elevens are a huge part of Japanese car culture, and a 7-Eleven livery is the perfect element to combine with our Supra to ensure maximum hype.  You share your plan triumphantly with the product planners, sure a promotion is headed your way. 

Obviously, I don’t mean to suggest that any part of this imagined scenario actually happened, but I think it illustrates the way this new Supra feels purpose-built for the hype machine – almost cynically so.  

That doesn’t mean the designers were phoning it in, or that this model isn’t cool.  A look at the card art is all it takes to see that love and care went into the design of this model.  This is some of the coolest card art in recent memory, perfectly capturing the vibe of a midnight snack run to a 7-Eleven in Japan.  I particularly like the reflections of the car in the puddles.  It’s so good, I almost don’t want to open it.  Almost. 

Despite dating back to 2013, this Supra casting holds up well, though I don’t love the giant spoiler that betrays this casting’s Fast & Furious origins.  It’s lightly modified, but the overall proportions are about right and the lines are crisp.  The graphics are the real star of the show here, though.  As a Silver Series model, there is plenty of budget for printed detailing and Hot Wheels put that budget to good use.  There’s the expected front and rear lights, as well as a wonderfully cohesive 7-Eleven wrap across the hood and onto the sides of the model. 

I love the 7-Eleven text written across the top of the spoiler, Porsche-style. 

I also love to see realistic license plates like this California-inspired one.  The contrasting color exhaust tips are nice to see as well. 

The only place where detailing feels lacking on this model is the front grille, where I wish there would have been a black print to make it match the two smaller grilles to either side. 

Dare I say I even like the copper color of the wheels?  I’m usually not a fan of bronze or gold wheels on my diecast models, as they feel too ostentatious and usually don’t really fit the car, but they work here.  Perhaps white would have been a better match for the white of the graphics, but these bronze wheels feel like the right amount of “flash” for a fully wrapped car like this.  Wheel fitment is pretty good too – not a guarantee on Silver Series models. 

So the model is clearly a good one, but price is where it falls a little short.  Fundamentally, this is a Silver Series model, which means it should retail for about $3 given its detail level and plastic base.  Yet, the actual retail price is twice that, plus the added difficulty of tracking one down since they aren’t sold at the stores where collectors would typically go diecast hunting.  Fine if you go to 7-Elevens regularly to get gas, but annoying if you don’t.  

That makes it difficult to justify seeking out this model, even though it’s one of the coolest brand collabs we’ve seen from Hot Wheels.  If this model hadn’t been such a perfect alchemy of hype-worthy elements, I can’t help but suspect it would have been a dud.  I’m sure that the Hot Wheels designers knew that this would need to be a hyped model to sell well, and they nailed it in that respect.  If the product planners at Mattel came to me, I don’t think I could have done a better job of creating a car for the hype-machine.