When you think back on your childhood and playing with Hot Wheels there are a few models that could possibly define that era. We all had the Splittin’ Image, Turbo Fire and the Twin Mill in our black wheel carry case. The Twin Mill really stands out as a true fantasy car, and its always at the center of any redline bench racing session.

The Twin Mill was designed by Ira Gilford and was released in 1969 as a USA only casting. It had a metal base & body, a plastic interior that came in assorted colors, redline tires, twin plastic exposed chrome engines and a clear windshield. Some castings can be found with gold-tinted motors. The silver interior version is very hard to find.

A few examples exist with the angle of the rear fender cut more inward. These are known as “Cut Fender” variations, and they tend to fetch premium pricing the ranges between $400-$700 loose. Some castings carried chrome rear wheels (similar to the HK wheels on other castings) that were found on very late runs. Note: These are correct U.S. Wheels. Magenta, Hot Pink, Light Green, Yellow are among the most common colors with these wheels.

Finishes were available in eighteen spectraflame colors with the hardest to find being metallic magenta. This casting is very desirable among collectors and affordable to buy. C8 examples sell in the range of $40-$90 loose.

What’s cool about the Twin Mill casting is that it was the first life-size car created based on a Hot Wheels design. The full-sized Twin Mill was commissioned for the Hot Wheels 30th anniversary in 1998 and unveiled in 2001 at SEMA. The twin Chevrolet motors, supplied by General Motors Performance Products are not just for show – this car is fully operational! The current version of the Twin Mill® is painted in PPG’s Hot Wheels Spectra- flame® Anti-freeze. Note the original 1998 model was painted dark red, antifreeze is a repaint.

Click any image to see the larger version.

Credits: Images from the RK Stickels collection. Full size Twin Mill courtesy of SEMA and Mattel. Tomarts guide #6, Spectraflame-the essential guide.

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend SEMA this year, but Fireball Tim is there in full force and capturing some great footage to share with the online community. The best part? Tim accidentally setting off the alarm on a Rolls Royce! Check out this hilarious video packed full of Fireball style!

This final part of my Diecast Holiday Surprises series features a piece that was not sent out as a holiday delivery, but coincidentally arrived late enough to make it into the honorable mentions. As regular readers know, I attended the 2008 SEMA Show this past fall. While Mattel was not present there this year, they did partner up with K&N to offer an exclusive Plymouth Barracuda to the first 1000 people in line during the signing sessions with Hot Wheels Designer Jerry Thienprasiddhi.

As reported earlier on other sites, the actual car itself was not ready in time for the SEMA show. After meeting Jerry and getting a signed e-sheet of the car, each convention goer filled out a form with their name and address so that the car could be mailed out when they became available. Just over two months later the K&N Barracuda arrived, and I have to say it was well worth the wait!

As I mentioned in my first SEMA 2008 wrap-up post, the diecast presence at this year’s show was fairly scaled back. However, GMP Diecast was there in full-force with the most impressive booth of all (diecast companies) who attended. Not only, did Tom Long and the GMP crew have great displays of their many product lines, but also hosted a guest appearance by racing legend Parnelli Jones! Enjoy the photos!

Special thanks to my SEMA sponsor, DiecastSpace.com for making this content possible!

Is it beginning to seem like this SEMA content has no end..?! Well, I’m definitely not done yet. This time I give you some shots of the new M2 Machines muscle cars that Sean Taylor brought by for us to take a peek at. Nice detail, great paint and opening doors and hoods make these puppies ready for competition with the likes of Johnny Lightning. You’ll also see a few shots of Big Lou Tanahara checking out “Stretch Rod.”

I also spent some time at the Shelby booth and somehow only managed to walk away with a few shots of the Shelby Collectibles diecast they had on display. Fear not, Shelby fans – the lack of pictures will be made up when I release the VIDEO footage of SEMA where I spent more time with their diecast than I did with the still camera. Until then, enjoy these shots and stay tuned for more!

Special thanks to my SEMA sponsor, DiecastSpace.com for making this content possible!

The ultra-cool Ridemakerz retail chain had a small presence at SEMA this year. Check out these cool pics of some of the cars you can build at their retail locations (think “MUCH COOLER” Bulid-a-Bear workshop!!). Can you believe that Ridemakerz estimates there are over 649,000,000 different combinations of vehicles you can build with the parts they provide?! Be sure to check out Ridemakerz.com for a list of retail locations that are popping up around the country.

Special thanks to my SEMA sponsor, DiecastSpace.com for making this content possible!

On the last day of SEMA I managed to stumble across the Welly Diecast booth that was tucked away in an unusual spot in the North hall. Welly is not a brand you’ll find in the standard brick and mortar as they go direct to distributor. However, they are the licensee of over 40 different licensed brands.

They had a variety of products on display, and I tried to capture a good mix here.

Special thanks to my SEMA sponsor, DiecastSpace.com for making this content possible!

Here’s a quick set of some of the people from the diecast and racing industry that I met during SEMA 2008. While there were plenty of “booth babes” too, I refrained for filling my camera with T&A since there are plenty of other place to find those shots on the net. However, I did include one tasteful shot of the Toyo girls at the Toyo Tire booth. Enjoy!

Special thanks to my SEMA sponsor, DiecastSpace.com for making this content possible!

Make sure you have a decent amount of time on your hands before tackling this mammoth set of photos of the 1:1 scale cars at SEMA 2008. There was a great mixture of rods, customs, muscle, tuners, trucks, concepts and tricked out vehicles to keep every car nut happy!

Special thanks to my SEMA sponsor, DiecastSpace.com for making this content possible!

I had the pleasure of hanging out with Lou Tanahara and Bossco from The Custom Crew at the Rodtana booth for much of the week at SEMA. It was my first time seeing The Sledster in person and it absolutely blew me away! If you’re currently on the fence in making a purchasing decision, then rest assured that you won’t be disappointed. Everything about it is top-notch – including the fantastic packaging.

The glass case contained both the black (with flames) and burgundy Sledsters that are available now, as well as custom painted pieces from Chris Walker, Jay Holt and Sheri Abbey that were first seen at the LA Hot Wheels show.

One of the best parts of spending time at the booth was watching people’s expressions as they checked out the display. Everyone’s reaction was 100% positive and I’m sure The Sledster made some die cast converts during the week. I won’t be surprised if quite a few sales have been made this week as a result of the show!

Special thanks to my SEMA sponsor, DiecastSpace.com for making this content possible!

“WOW!” is first word that comes to mind after returning home from Las Vegas and four long days at the 2008 SEMA show. The event is truly a car enthusiast’s dream and definitely the place to be with over 120,000 attendees from around the globe enjoying the best of what’s hot in the automotive world.

From a die cast perspective, the manufacturer’s presence at the show was definitely pretty thin. The primary players this year were GMP Diecast, Shelby, M2 and Welly. Mattel was missing from the show this year however, Hot Wheels designers Larry Wood and Jerry Thienprasiddhi made appearances at the PPG and K&N booths respectively. The dynamic duo of Chip Foose and Carson Lev could be found at the BASF and Pirelli booths and Joe Kelly Jr. from The Car Room magazine shared some space with the GMP crew as well. Last but certainly not least, was “Big Lou” Tanahara and Bossco from The Custom Crew who let me camp out at the corner of the Rodtana booth and soak in the coolness of the Sledster!

Needless to say I took a TON of pictures and shot quite a bit of video over the course of 4 days. During the course of this week I’ll be grouping the shots and creating several small “themed” posts. All of the pictures will ultimately be up on my Flickr account, and I’ll update this post when they are finally up.

Special thanks to CJ and the crew at DiecastSpace.com for the sponsorship!

More to come – stay tuned!

On November 4th, Shane Whittenbarger from DiecastSPace.com and I will be heading out to Las Vegas for the SEMA show. While we’re there we’ll be promoting DiecastSpace.com, Saturday Nitro, the Super Convention and diecastAUDIO! I’ll be traveling with the video and still camera in tow, so expect to see lots of great content coming your way in the next week or so. I’ll try to get some posts up during the show if time permits. Otherwise, you can expect more than enough to drool over after I return!

Our home base during the show will be at The Custom Crew booth with Big Lou and Bossco. If you’re planning on attending, be sure to stop by and say hi!