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Elliot Handler. Elliot Handler (April 9, 1916 – July 21, 2011) was an American inventor, business magnate, and the co-founder of Mattel. With his wife, Ruth Handler, he developed some of the biggest-selling toys in American history, including Barbie, Chatty Cathy, Creepy Crawlers, and Hot Wheels. [ 1 ][ 2 ]
Elliot Handler, creator of the Hot Wheels® mega-brand, changed the world of toys forever when he founded Mattel, Inc., today a worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of toys and family products. With his wife Ruth Handler, Elliot transformed what began as a home-based business into the largest toy company in the world, with ...
- Hot Wheels Were The Brainchild of Elliot Handler, Whose Wife Created Barbie.
- There Are A Few Conflicting Stories About Where The Name Came from.
- 16 Million Hot Wheels Cars Were Sold in 1968 alone.
- If You’Ve Got One with Red Circles on The Wheels, It Might Be Worth Some Money.
- A Tie-In TV Series Took Some Heat from The Federal Communications Commission.
- For Collectors, The Holy Grail Is A Pink Volkswagen with Removable Surfboards.
- The Brand Has Collaborated with NASA.
- The Biggest Hot Wheels Track Loop on Record Was Over 12 Feet High.
- In 2011, The Hot Wheels Brand Was Inducted Into The National Toy Hall of Fame.
Elliot and Ruth Handler, along with their friend Harold Matson, founded a picture frame company named Mattel in 1945. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Handler started using spare parts to make dollhouse furniture, which was sold on the side. By 1946, toy manufacturing had become Mattel’s specialty. In its early years, the company’s biggest hits were novelty...
In his 2003 book Hot Wheels: 35 Years of Speed, Power, Performance, and Attitude, Randy Leffingwell summarizes the two most popular explanations. Most people credit Handler with coining the name. According to some sources, when the businessman saw designer Fred Adickes testing out a prototype one day, he remarked “That’s one set of hot wheels you’v...
Demand for these toys hasn't waned: Mattel estimates that over 4 billion cars have been produced and claims that eight of them are bought every single second.
From 1968 to 1977, thin red lines were typically painted around the sidewalls of Hot Wheels tires. But in an effort to cut costs, Mattel went with all-black wheels partway through 1977. Collectors prize the old “redline” Hot Wheels—in fact, certain mint-condition models sell for thousands of dollars.
In 1969, a Hot Wheels cartoon series, sponsored by Mattel, premiered on ABC. The show featured a teenage car racer named Jack “Rabbit” Wheeler who, along with his buddies, always did his best to promote safe driving. The gang also took a firm stand against underage smoking, which they deemed “non-cool.” Mattel’s competitors wrote the FCC to complai...
In 1969, the company unveiled its most famous car to date: the Volkswagen Beach Bomb. With a surfboard loaded onto either side, it looked like the perfect rig for a summer road trip down the California coast. Designing the iconic toy cars was a challenge: Originally, Mattel’s engineers wanted the surfboards to be removable units that could be loade...
In 1998, Mattel teamed up with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory—a NASA research and development center—to create the Hot Wheels JPL Sojourner’s Mars Rover Action Pack Set. The product included a replica of the Sojourner rover, which landed on Mars that summer. Then, in 2012, Mattel renewed its alliance with NASA to manufacture scale models of yet anot...
In 2015, dynamometer technician Matt West built a 5-foot, outdoor Hot Wheels track loop for Blade, his 6-year-old son. “It started as a part-fun, part-physics lesson with my son at home,” West said. Before long, word of their exploits had spread to the technician’s workplace, namely, the Ford Motor Company’s Research and Innovation Center in Dearbo...
Located in Rochester, New York, the National Toy Hall of Fame honors the world’s most influential playthings, from the cardboard box to Raggedy Ann. Mattel’s Hot Wheels line was formally inducted in 2011, along with the dollhouse and the blanket.
Jan 12, 2023 · Hot Wheels is one of the most iconic toys of all time. It was created by Elliot Handler and the design team at Mattel in 1968, and it revolutionized the toy industry. The cars featured vivid colors and intricate designs that appealed to children, and the brand quickly grew to iconic status. Handler’s legacy in the toy industry is undeniable.
Mar 4, 2019 · The Mattel toy company officially formed in 1945. But Elliot and Ruth Handler, its husband-and-wife founders, actually entered the manufacturing business years earlier.
- Sam Gnerre
Aug 9, 2022 · During the height of the muscle car craze of the 1960s, Mattel co-founder Elliot Handler wanted to create toys that better reflected what was going on in the burgeoning hot rodding scene. He hired ...
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Jul 24, 2011 · Elliot Handler, 95, a pioneering toymaker who co-founded Mattel and invented Hot Wheels, died July 21 of undisclosed causes. ... At first, Mr. Handler and male toy buyers were skeptical of the ...
