Hot Wheels tracks attachment thingamabobby

Reverend Conehead

Reverend Conehead

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Do you remember that burgundy colored piece of plastic that you would use in the slot on the back of Hot Wheels tracks to hold the tracks together? Most of us had a bunch of those when we were kids. Do you think it's possible that some dude became a millionaire for inventing that thing?
 
Reverend Conehead said:
Do you remember that burgundy colored piece of plastic that you would use in the slot on the back of Hot Wheels tracks to hold the tracks together? Most of us had a bunch of those when we were kids. Do you think it's possible that some dude became a millionaire for inventing that thing?
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No. I think the same person who invented the track invented the connectors, and he probably worked for Mattel. The execs for Mattel are probably the only ones who got rich.
 
I was with Mattel 69-72 and most of the parts were designed and created by employees so they didn't get deals on the parts they developed for the company.

However, one fine day, a guy wonders in off the street and he was known as the "wino" because they had no idea where he was from but he had developed this toy with a gyroscope in it and they bought the design from him for next to nothing. That would become "Whizzers", an overnight sensation in the toy biz and they sold millions and even developed Mini-Whizzers that came in a can. However, something was wrong.......with the deal they'd made with the guy and his lawyer came down on Mattel and the judge awarded for the plaintiff in the amount of .10 for every Whizzer sold and the tricky part was it didn't stipulate whether that was a full size or mini and the Handlers, owners, came unglued.

The interesting part of this is that the man wasn't a jerk at all, he just thought they'd not treated him fairly and after they'd looked at the deal that had been made with him, they agreed. They had taken advantage of him, It could have been settled by just sitting down and talking to him but everyone put on their Fanner 50's to go to war.

I was with the company when Sizzlers came out, Hot Wheels with jacked up rechargeable motors that would scale at 220 mph and I got to meet the real Snake and Mongoose when Mattel signed them for their Hot Wheels. Back then, you were either Hot Wheels or Matchbox 20 but only the daring were both. They all developed later on into ambidextrous and bisexual adults.
 
Runwildboys said:
No. I think the same person who invented the track invented the connectors, and he probably worked for Mattel. The execs for Mattel are probably the only ones who got rich.
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Except for this one cat, see above. You're right everything else was proprietary with them and their R&D people were the first Bourne and Bond. It was crazy, they talked about those people in code and espionage in the toy business was the norm. We always heard of this special place in Mexico where they kept the R&D people.

That business was crazy back then with lead toys far ahead in units of the video game hits today. My first year with the company, I was in the Wheels division, the Doll division created Baby Tender Love and they were guarded like Fort Knox. My counterpart in the Doll division was offered 1K for one doll by several people in 1970. Mattel would force the market with TV toys and make the retailers stock the full line to get enough TV toys. It was the easiest sales job I ever had.
 
CouchCoach said:
I was with Mattel 69-72 and most of the parts were designed and created by employees so they didn't get deals on the parts they developed for the company.

However, one fine day . . .
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Wow. Great stories. I remember the pre-release build-up for Hot Wheels in magazines. I also remember my very first purchase. It was at a general store in Dangerfield, TX. I had no idea they'd be so small.
 
NorthoftheRedRiver said:
Wow. Great stories. I remember the pre-release build-up for Hot Wheels in magazines. I also remember my very first purchase. It was at a general store in Dangerfield, TX. I had no idea they'd be so small.
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But they had some weight to them. In fact, they were too heavy for some of the tracks with too much angle and they would just fall. So, not to waste an opportunity, Stunt Driver.

We used to joke about it but there were rumors that the US Military secretly worked with Mattel and some other toy mfrs. in weapons development and that the M-16 was actually a model of Mattel's and that the Chief Engineer at Bell Helicopter was a former R&D guy at Mattel.
 
Reverend Conehead said:
Do you remember that burgundy colored piece of plastic that you would use in the slot on the back of Hot Wheels tracks to hold the tracks together? Do you think it's possible that some dude became a millionaire for inventing that thing?
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You're absolutely correct. Jerome Lemelson invented the flex track, among several other inventions.

Lemelson won $24.8 million (November 1989) in damages after finding Mattel willfully infringed on Lemelson’s patent, a flexible track on which the tiny metal Hot Wheels’ cars run. Lemelson was a very wealthy man. Not just from his inventions, but lawsuits as well.
 
daboyzruleperiod said:
You're absolutely correct. Jerome Lemelson invented the flex track, among several other inventions.

Lemelson won $24.8 million (November 1989) in damages after finding Mattel willfully infringed on Lemelson’s patent, a flexible track on which the tiny metal Hot Wheels’ cars run. Lemelson was a very wealthy man. Not just from his inventions, but lawsuits as well.
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:hammer::hammer:you nailed it
 
CouchCoach said:
But they had some weight to them. In fact, they were too heavy for some of the tracks with too much angle and they would just fall. So, not to waste an opportunity, Stunt Driver.

We used to joke about it but there were rumors that the US Military secretly worked with Mattel and some other toy mfrs. in weapons development and that the M-16 was actually a model of Mattel's and that the Chief Engineer at Bell Helicopter was a former R&D guy at Mattel.
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LoL , awesome participative input ,COACH:thumbup:


* I seemingly recall hearing that Mattel actually had the initial contract for the injection molding of the left & right barrel handgards.

** I also quickly recall ruing the day I first acquired any of those orange colored "hot wheels" tracks, as soon as my mother laid a hold of one & wailed the whollyhell outta' my backside w/ one,,,those things hurt really, really bad when struck across the back of the upper thigh legs w/vehemently vindictive maliceo_O


:lmao::lmao2::lmao:
 
JohnnyTheFox said:
Raise your hand and holla if you ever had your butt whopped with one of those sections of track.:laugh:
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L M A O( no doubt about that)
* When I was around 15 or 16 y.o. we were making some more open wallspace to stand another antique "pie cabinet" against the wall in the laundry room & slid a chest freezer down some when probably 2 dozen of those things spilled out from my long since forgotten hot track disposal area,, Mom got all excited,, exclaiming "So, that's where they all went"

:bow:( straight trutho_O)
 
Melonfeud said:
L M A O( no doubt about that)
* When I was around 15 or 16 y.o. we were making some more open wallspace to stand another antique "pie cabinet" against the wall in the laundry room & slid a chest freezer down some when probably 2 dozen of those things spilled out from my long since forgotten hot track disposal area,, Mom got all excited,, exclaiming "So, that's where they all went"

:bow:( straight trutho_O)
Click to expand...


:laugh::laugh::laugh:
What on Gods earth is a pie cabinet?
 
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