A Brief History of Hot Wheels: Mazda's Legendary RX Cars

Not too long ago, I looked into the world of Hot Wheels Pagani replicas and discovered a few Italian Hypercar castings, four to be more exact. The first one appeared in 2013, and you'll only find 33 variations for your exotic collection. I asked myself: how many more 1/64th-scale Mazda are there? And I'll answer that question at the end of this two-part story.

That alone should hint at the size of a Mazda-exclusive collection. For part one, we will focus on the Japanese manufacturer's RX series of vehicles. That still leaves the MX-5 castings and some more rotary icons for part two, so stick around if you're curious to learn more about that.

Mazda RX-3

Mattel had Mark Jones working on the design of the RX-3 casting, which first launched in 2016. The Car Culture: Japan Historics is still one of the most coveted Hot Wheels Premium sets money can buy, and I've seen some people asking for as much as $460 for all five vehicles inside. The Metalflake Purple RX-3 alone can sell for anywhere between $40 to $110, depending on several factors.

Until 2019 this was a Premium-exclusive casting, and I gave my Yellow Race Day edition to my friend Mike as thanks for letting me drive his FD RX-7 a few years ago. After the Japan Historics 2 release, Mattel developed a model with the same livery as Dom's RX-7 in The Fast and the Furious. 2021 saw the introduction of a Super Treasure Hunt RX-3 sporting a Mad Mike livery. There have been nine variations of this casting so far, but a tenth model is coming up as part of the Team Transport series!

Mazda RX-7

This replica of the Series 1 Mazda RX-7 is the oldest Hot Wheels casting that is still around today. It's the work of Jun Imai, who created it for its 2012 release. Focusing on this design alone will render you 20 different vehicles for your collection. None of those is a premium model, unfortunately.

The good news is that Mattel created a Treasure Hunt RX-7 in 2013 and a Super Treasure Hunt variation for 2020. The latter goes for $70 or cheaper today, which is affordable by STH standards. I only have seven of these vehicles in my collection, and I might double down on my efforts to get them all together. My only question is: When will we see a premium variation of this casting?

'89 Mazda Savanna RX-7 FC3S

As you would expect, this is my favorite Hot Wheels RX casting, given that I bought a real-life version of this car in 2018. Mattel introduced this Ryu Asada design in 2020, and six variations are already on the market. None of those is a Premium, STH, TH, or RLC model, but more about that in a minute. The latest iteration sports a simple black paint job, and I'm more of a fan of the 2022 Nightburnerz variation in yellow.

Mazda RX7 FC Pandem

While the standard FC does not have a Premium variation, there's always the Pandem-kitted one to go to if you want Real Riders wheels, detailed headlights, and stoplights. Mark Jones designed this one for the 2022 Ronin Run set, and just like Nute Gunray said in Star Wars: "There are two of them!" There is a dark side to the Pandem FC; by dark, I mean black, as Mattel created a Chase version of this vehicle. Naturally, this is much rarer than the white car, and some people dare to ask as much as $200 for one. Naturally, you can still get it for $60 if you make a move as soon as possible.

'95 Mazda RX-7

Many people feel that the FD RX-7 is the best made, but FB and FC owners might sometimes have differing views. Still, this car looks fantastic even 30 years after its initial release, so having a scale replica at home is always lovely. Jun Imai designed this casting for its 2017 release, and by 2019 the first Premium variation had shown up too. It replicates Toretto's car, the first of four such iterations.

The latest one is just a mainline model, though, and the 22nd in just seven years! I call that a success for the FD, with seven Premium releases, one Super Treasure Hunt in 2021, and a Walmart-exclusive Zamac iteration in 2019. The STH alone can cost you more than $100, but Toretto's car will be costly too. I've got eight FDs on display at home, and I'd love to add at least a few more shortly.

'95 Mazda RX-7 Drift

The FD is less popular for drifting than any given S-Chassis car, but there are still a few drivers out there that are passionate enough to keep pursuing this dream. James Deane has just dropped a four-rotor engine inside his car, and Andrew Date is doing a great job at competitive drifting in Japan with this chassis. It makes sense that Hot Wheels tried to make the RX-7 Drift casting work as part of the now-defunct iD series. There was only one release in 2021, and the Spectraflame Bue FD will cost you approximately $30.

Mazda RX-7 (1:50)

If you have only been collecting Hot Wheels briefly, this casting might seem odd to you. Mattel experimented with the 1/50th scale back in the day; thus, the Hot Import Nights D-Force RX-7 popped up in 2004. Three more variations followed before an abrupt ending; each model will cost between $30 to $100 today. Finding all of them might not be all that easy, but thank God for the Internet!

Mazda RX-8

The year is 2023, and Mattel finally released a Mazda RX-8 casting. What took them so long? We also saw the RX-8 popping up in the latest Matchbox case, and both designs are pretty awesome. The Hot Wheels version is a replica of Neela's car from Tokyo Drift and should arrive in stores within the next month or so. That means we can expect another Mainline variation by the end of the year and a Premium one within the next 12 months too. I'm certain collectors will be quick to gobble these up. And one of my fellow Brotorheads group members is dying to get several items as he has a vast collection of RX-8 diecast cars.

Mazda RX-8 (1:50)

It's easy to tell that this casting also appeared almost 20 years ago, with the RX-7 we showed you earlier. Dwayne Vance was in charge of the design, and there are four variations to collect if you can find them. That's the trouble with trying to get items gone for over a decade, as many may have yet to survive, or people don't want to get rid of them anymore. But some options will pop up once you start asking about it in local or international communities.

That's about it for Hot Wheels RX vehicles. So let's do the math and see how big of a mountain you're looking at if you plan on collecting them all. There are nine different RX castings, which adds up to 70 vehicles. Fourteen of those are Premium models. You've got additional iD, Treasure Hunt, and Chase variations to buy. And three different Super Treasure Hunt collectibles will be among the most expensive models on the list. Our Hot Wheels Mazda journey is only getting started here, and we'll get back with more information on the topic in part two of the story.