Back in 1998, one of our members who happened to also work for Mattel® had an idea to make a Phantom Coaches™ Hot Wheels® hearse.
Phantom Coaches™ takes great pride in being the only car club EVER in the history of Hot Wheels® to have their name emblazoned on a Hot Wheels® car as part of their product. Until we have compiled the entire story with appropriately placed photos, we will offer you this page.
Here goes a line-up of the various cars as they evolved. The large grey one is the initial conceptual prototype, the white one is the first diecast prototype, the next in line is a hand painted Phantom Coaches™ prototype, next is a test-shot then the final production car available in stores.
Here you can see two differences between the test-shot and the final production car. The test-shot is in the background and the production car is in the foreground. Note the placement of the PHANTOM COACHES™ name in the window and the size of the white-walls on the tires
A close-up of the test-shot car.
A close-up of the production car.
The license plate on the back was taken from Bryan Moore's car. Bryan was the driving force behind this project at Mattel.
Here goes Bryan with his pride and joy.