Review – DC Hot Wheels ’55 Chevy Panel

When it comes to DC Hot Wheels toy cars (Amazon.com search*), Mattel has made sure to give us a lot of options. There have been inexpensive cars, cars with unique sculpts, and even cars like this ’55 Chevy Panel where a stock Hot Wheels toy car is decorated with artwork. While not as cool as the original sculpts, this style of car does make a fairly fun collectible.

Packaging

Shown above, this packaging for the DC Hot Wheels toy cars (Amazon.com search*) series is quite standard, with the character artwork big and immediately obvious when you see the toy hanging in stores. I grabbed this Batman pack because, well, because it’s Batman . . . but I must admit that the Catwoman and Joker cars were also kinda tempting.

Real Riders

As part of the Hot Wheels “Real Riders” series, all of the DC Hot Wheels toy cars (Amazon.com search*) feature rubber tires and are of the pricier variety of toy car. Expect to pay something along the lines of $4 to $5 for one of the cars in this series, but these are also bigger than standard Hot Wheels toy cars so the extra cost is worth it.

An Established Design

The only thing that makes this ’55 Chevy Panel different from other Hot Wheels ’55 Chevy Panel toy cars is the Batman artwork. Mattel first released this design in 2006, and for a look at how often the design has been used see the Hot Wheels Wikia page. I never did find the Atari Tempest toy car or I’d have already posted a ’55 Chevy Panel review to the site. Maybe I’ll get lucky and stumble across that Tempest car one of these days.

Closing Thoughts

I don’t think this ’55 Chevy Panel counts as a Batmobile, but I will say it counts as a neat Batman collectible and makes a nice addition to all of the Batman-themed toy cars in my collection. The art looks great, the car’s nice and big, and everything’s as slick and professional as we expect from Mattel’s Hot Wheels series. A winning design, if not a “must own” design.

UPDATE: An Opening Hatch!

Thanks to BubbaShelby (thank you!) I found how the rear hatch opens and peeked inside the back. No motorcycle in the back — see BubbaShelby’s review of this model — but at least we can see inside the car. Check the below pic and don’t forget to thank BubbaShelby for getting me to snap this pic.