Thank you Larry W for letting me know about this video! Bryan Fuller enlisted a bunch of experts (25) in the body build/coach build crafts, and they worked on making the body for a full size version of a Hot Wheels car!

https://fullermoto.com/blog/metal-shaping-technology

Congratulations to Larry Wood for his induction into the Automotive Hall of Fame in Detroit on July 20.

One day in 1956, the football coach at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., confiscated a “Hot Rod” magazine from a player who wasn’t paying attention.

He went home and threw it on the kitchen counter. His 14-year-old son picked it up. The boy had never before seen the publication. He would not be the same again.

Larry Wood, now of Redondo Beach, grew up to design Hot Wheels for Mattel for 50 years, and later this month, will be inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn, Mich.

https://easyreadernews.com/redondos-mr-hot-wheels-to-be-inducted-into-automotive-hall-of-fame/

https://www.automotivehalloffame.org/ceremony/2023/

(thanks Brendon for letting me know!) 

Instagram doesn't say much, but it seems that Hot Wheels threw a party for Larry Wood, though there's no press release (Hot Wheels website seriously sucks at press releases and news) it seems they had a shindig at the Marriott last Friday

https://www.instagram.com/hotwheelsdreamteam/

the HWC Special Edition Steam Punk Truck, the latest design by Larry Wood! This will be offered at HWC (hotwheelscollectors.mattel.com) on 3/12/19.

https://hotwheelscollectors.mattel.com/shop/en-us/hwc/hwc-news/hwc-special-edition-steam-punk-truck

how close was Hot Wheels to going out of business?

Barbie’s horse outsold the entire car line at one point in the early 70s.

In an interview with Larry Wood, he pointed out to Fox News reporter Cliffrod Atiyeh that when he started at Hot Wheels in 1969, just a handful of people worked the entire Hot Wheels division. Soon, it was just him and one engineer.

“Like every toy, it survives three years. Two or three years into it, it (Hot Wheels) was dying down,” he said.

 But then the first kids who got Hot Wheels as gifts turned into adults with money of their own. “The fathers, 15 or 20 years into it, they started collecting the Hot Wheels and it took off on fire,” he said.

https://www.foxnews.com/auto/legendary-hot-wheels-designer-larry-wood-looks-back-at-the-brands-50-years

Larry Wood brought a cool display of Hot Wheels and design art to the Art Center College Car

Petrolicious just did a great article on Larry Wood... who knew he was driving a Jeep for the national guard in the Detroit Riots, and drove a 63 split window vette on race slicks across country?

Larry’s been working as a Hot Wheels designer for the last 48 years, worked with experimental metals at Pratt and Whitney, graduated from Art Center, built many a full-scale hot rod, designed at Ford, was actually in the National Guard during the Detroit riots driving a jeep with a .30 caliber machine gun on it though the streets of Detroit, was arrested for warning motorists about an unfair speed trap as a teen, drove a Corvette across the country on racing slicks in 1965, then got a job designing everything from Sears tractors, the first tractors with headlights. I did parts for Sears refrigerators. I did a Rock-Ola jukebox, the graphics, the buttons, to new interiors for airlines.

I tell people often, that most people have a hell of a cool life story, and they should write their biography. see what I mean?

https://petrolicious.com/articles/get-to-know-the-man-responsible-for-your-childhood-larry-wood-aka-mr-hot-wheels

Larry's 1951 Spartan mansion, up for sale again already, so if you missed your chance in 2014, you're in luck again! Still selling at 60k

https://www.vintagecampertrailers.com/for-sale/1951-spartan-custom-5th-wheel

the NoNomad, the Hot Wheels 57 Chev rear engined station wagon, designed by Larry Wood!

it seems to be a mix of the top drawing with the exhaust out the rear window opening, and the bottom drawing colors

compliment of the year!

Keep up the good work, starts my day.
Larry Wood

If you know just how cool this is, right on. If you don't, well, I've posted about Larry, http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search/label/Larry%20Wood  and you missed it. He's the designer at Hot Wheels that set my little brain on the path to digging cool cars. No shit. When I was around 5 or 6 someone gave me a Hot Wheels little car, and I've been hooked since. I didn't get blogger crazy until about 11 years ago, but, the path was laid down... know what I mean? 

3 reasons to go read the Nov 1963 Popular Hot Rodding magazine. Larry Wood, Barney Navarro, and Bruce Crower were all adding content. Who do they have now at PHR, and would you even care?

If you aren't familiar with who those legends are,
Larry Woods is the designer for Hot Wheels and has been forever, plus, recently he made that cool Spartan trailer and COE http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2013/05/most-impressive-hot-rod-truck-and.html
Barney Navarro was the genius racer / flat head parts designer that also made a hospital artificial heart pump, and a 700 hp 199cu in AMC slant 6 for Indy racing, http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2013/02/700-hp-199-cu-in-amc-rambler-straight-6.html
and
Bruce Crower is the genius race car engine designer (flat 8) that invented or improved roller cams, cranks, etc that Garlits and others use, and was a chief mechanic for Indy cars. http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/06/crower-legacy-display-at-crower-1st.html

What were they thinking? What were they drinking in those 3 martini boardroom lunches? Why were they wasting time on stuff (well, they still do) that would never get made?

I dig that this is some really good art, but, no way anyone would ever make it, unless you were working for Hot Wheels. And huh, get this, these are from slides owned by Larry Wood, the legendary designer at Hot Wheels. But these are the art of a Ford designer, in the late 1940s, for the 1950 model year

I can see similarities in this and the mid 1960s Thunderbird

and this isn't far fetched, just that Kildare is hanging around shows a bit of whimsy, like this can't be taken seriously. And, we only have to think over the Fords of the fifties, and see none of these were used in any way

These two though, wow, sweet art!

For a big gallery, and lots to learn about the artist designer, Joe Oros: http://deansgarage.com/2016/joe-oros-ford-designer/

These were sent to Dean's Garage by Larry in this awesome old slide projector