History of the Hot Wheels Blisterpacks

More to come
==The Blisterpack==
What is a blisterpack? It is the package in which Hot Wheels are sold. Cardboard backing with art work and a clear cellophane bubble glued to the cardboard. The Hot Wheel is displayed in the bubble.
==The History of the Blisterpack==
Otto Kuhni was the designer of the art work on most early blisterpacks. Up until 1989 blisterpacks may be hard to date, Mattel did not have names on cards in the beginning, just the Collector's Button. In 1973 they started putting names on the blisterpacks, but that turned out not to be completely reliable, nor was the year dated on the cards. Starting in 1974, it seems they would run a batch of cards and they might have been over produced. It seems the back of the card were made, then the front was later applied to meet the needs of that casting. This really is noticeable starting in 1976 & 1977. This is why the "collector numbers" of the '70's are useless. Multiple cars would have the same collector number or would be listed wrong on the back check list.  I have found 1983 cars on 1979 cards. This guide is to help understand some of the changes over the years.
==1968==
The First US market Blisterpack was released in '68
It is referred to as the "Cheetah Blisterpack". No there is not a cheetah on it but on the back it list's the "Python" as the "Cheetah". The Python was released with the name "cheetah" but it quickly changed to the Python. 
The back did change to the production name "Python". This is the second Blisterpack
The circle logo under the Hot Wheels logo has Mattey mattel waving from a large "M" and has "Mattel Inc" above Mattey.
The other is known as a "Rosebud", due to the emblem used at the circle portion of Hot Wheels logo. It is a trademark emblem with "Rosebud Mattel toymakers" This was a doll manufacturer in England that Mattel purchased. These cards were only sold in the UK, the cardboard quality varied. Almost all Rosebud cards with have a HK car.
Year	Series 	Color 	Origin	Notes	Photo
1968	Original sixteen	Red & Orange	HK 	 	
==1969==
1969 was the first year series cards were seen. The Grand Prix series. The Circle under the hot wheels logo was changed to "Mattel", there still is some Rosebud blisters in this year also.
Year	Series 	Color 	Origin	Notes	Photo
1969	Rosebud 	Red & Orange	 	 	
1969	Regular 	Red & Orange	 	 	
1969	Grand Prix	 	 	 	
==1970==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes	Photo
1970	 	 	 	 	
1970	Spoilers 	 	 	 	
1970	Heavy Weights 	 	 	 	
1970	Mongoo$e vs Snake	 	 	 	
==1971==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes	Photo
1971	 	 	 	 	
1971	Mongoose vs Snake II	 	 	 	
==1972==
Year	Series 	Color 	Origin	Notes 	Photo
1972	Regular	Yellow & Red	 	Drivin' Gear	
1972	 	 	 	 	
==1973==
Year	Series	Color	Origin	Notes	Photo
1973	 	 	 	 	
==1974 and 1975==
This blister was a new concept designed to show off those new Flying Colors with cars flying off the card, to me I had hoped.Some of my research in this area, Porsche 917 changes name in 1975 to P-917. Blister follows this timeline with the Porsche on the card at the end of the white loses the name altogether. Also, the advertising (dealer catalog) showed "Flying Colors in blue." There is the chance that the '74 red and blue logos ran together.
Note the card size changed during 1975 to the modern (shorter) size.
The Canadian cards of this era did not contain the Baja Bruiser, it was removed to allow bi-lingual text. These are uncommon.
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes 	Photo
1974	Flying Colors	White	 	Early to ?? '74, Red Flying Color, Die Cast in the yellow area.  Porsche 917 w/tampo, back shows '74 collector list, "Die-Cast" in the yellow area, Cars are Porsche 917, Heavy Chevy, Baja Bruiser	
1974	Flying Colors	White	 	?? '74 to ??, Blue Flying Color, Die-cast in the yellow area,
Porsche 917 w/tampo, back shows '74 collector list 	
1974	Flying Colors	White	 	late '74 to early '75, Blue Flying Color, Die cast in Orange area, Porsche 917 w/tampo, back shows '75 collector list 	
1975	Flying Colors	White	 	early '75 to ??, Blue Flying Color, Die cast in Orange area, Porsche 917 tampo is gone, it is now just a stripe, back shows '75 collector list 	
1975	Flying Colors	Blue 	 	?? the rest of '75, Flying Colors in a rainbow color, P-917 w/P-917 tampo. Cars change the direction of travel.P-917, Super Van & Emergency Squad 	
==1976==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes 	Photo
1976	Regular Line-up	 	 	Yellow Flying Colors 	
1976	Super Chromes 	Blue 	 	'76 Early, Collector's Check List just the Super Chromes 	
1976	Super Chromes 	Blue 	 	'76 Late, Collector's Check List includes coming in early '77 models	
==1977==
Year	Series	Color	Origin	Notes	Photo
19 	 	 	 	 	
==1978==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes	Photo
1978	 	Blue 	 	 	
1978	The Heavies 	Blue 	 	 	
1978	Drag Strippers 	Blue 	 	 	
1978	Rescue Team 	Blue 	 	 	
1978	Speedway Special	Blue 	 	 	
==1979==
Year	Series	Color	Origin	Notes	Photo
19 	 	 	 	 	
==1980==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes	Photo
1980	Regular Line-up	Blue 	 	 	
1980	Workhorses 	Blue 	 	 	
==1981==
The introduction of "The Hot Ones", introduced a new wheel never seen before and a thinner axle. The Heroes series was continued.
Year	Series 	Color 	Origin 	Notes 	Photo
1981	The Heroes 	Yellow 	 	 	
1981	The Hot Ones	Light Blue with white behind the car	Hong Kong	2-pack	
1981	 	 	 	 	
==1982==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes	Photo
1982	Regular Line-up	Blue 	 	 	
1982	Hi-Rakers 	Blue 	 	 	
==1983==
Year	Series 	Color 	Origin	Notes	Photo
1983	International	Blue & White	France	 	
1983	 	 	 	 	
1983	 	 	 	 	
==1984==
The Hot Ones were replaced by a new faster breed, Ultra Hots.
Year	Series 	Color 	Origin	Notes	Photo
1984	Regular Line-up	All Blue 	 	 	
1984	Ultra Hots 	Dark Blue to white	 	 	
1984	 	 	 	 	
==1985==
Year	Series 	Color 	Origin	Notes	Photo
19 	 	 	 	 	
1985	Action Command	Battle scene	 	 	
==1986==
Year	Series 	Color 	Origin	Notes 	Photo
1986	 	 	 	 	
1986	Speed Demons	purple	 	Blackwall on car 	
1986	Speed Demons	purple	 	Ultra Hots on car	
==1987==
Year	Series	Color	Origin	Notes	Photo
19 	 	 	 	 	
==1988==
Year	Series	Color	Origin	Notes	Photo
19 	 	 	 	 	
==1989==
Notes: A very short run of what is now known as experimental cards was released. At the time we knew the cards were changing, but because the experimental cards and all blue cards were out at the same time, it was unknown which would stay. They both started the collector # again. But this time they stuck to making them mean something. unlike in the '70's releases. This was the beginning of blisterpacks being made for only 1 year, thus being able to date the car with the date on the blister.
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes 	Photo
1989	 	 	 	 	
1989	Experimental Card	 	 	short run	
==1990==
Year	Series	Color	Origin	Notes	Photo
19 	 	 	 	 	
==1991==
Year	Series	Color	Origin	Notes	Photo
19 	 	 	 	 	
==1992==
Year	Series	Color	Origin	Notes	Photo
19 	 	 	 	 	
==1993==
Year	Series	Color	Origin	Notes	Photo
19 	 	 	 	 	
==1994==
Year	Series	Color	Origin	Notes	Photo
1994	 	 	 	 	
==1995==
Notes: This was the first year treasure hunts were introduced. Only one of two years that production numbers were known. The release was to be one per month throughout the year. This did happen in spurts, they were randomly inserted in cases, never to be more than one per case though. It was almost like Hot Wheels Lotto.
Year	Series 	Color 	Origin	Notes	Photo
1995	Treasure Hunt	Blue & White	Mala 	 	
1995	 	 	 	 	
==1996==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes 	Photo
1996	Regular Line-up	Blue 	USA 	Long Card	
==1997==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes 	Photo
1997	Regular Line-up	Blue 	USA 	Long Card	
==1998==
Year	Series 	Color 	Origin	Notes 	Photo
1998	Regular Line-up	Blue 	USA 	Long Card	
1998	Regualr Line-up	Blue w. Red	USA 	Long Card	
==1999==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes 	Photo
1999	Regular Line-up	Blue 	USA 	Long Card	
==2000==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes 	Photo
2000	Regular Line-up	Blue 	USA 	Long Card	
==2001==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes 	Photo
2001	Regular Line-up	Blue 	USA 	Long Card	
==2002==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes 	Photo
2002	Regular Line-up	Blue 	USA 	Long Card	
==2003==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes 	Photo
2003	T-Hunt 	Blue 	USA 	Long Card	
2003	Final Run	Blue 	USA 	Long Card	
==2004==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin 	Notes 	Photo
2004	Regular Line-up	Blue 	USA 	Long Card 	
2004	Regular Line-up	Blue 	USA/EUR	Short Card 	
2004	Regular Line-up	Blue 	USA 	Fatbax Long Card only	
==2005==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes 	Photo
2005	Regular Line-up	Blue 	USA 	Long Card	Rear Image coming soon
==2006==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes 	Photo
2006	Regular Line-up	Blue 	USA 	Long Card	
==2007==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes 	Photo
2007	Regular Line-up	Blue 	USA 	Long Card	
==2008==
Year	Series	Color	Origin	Notes	Photo
2008	 	 	 	 	
==2009==
Year	Series	Color	Origin	Notes	Photo
2009	 	 	 	 	
==2010==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes	Photo
2010	Mainline	Blue 	Canada	 	
File:2010 Front.jpg
File:2010 Back.jpg
==2011==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes	Photo
2011	Mainline	 	Canada	 	
File:2011 Front.jpg
File:2011 Back.jpg
==2012==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes	Photo
2012	Mainline	Red 	Canada	 	
File:2012 Front.jpg
File:2012 Back.jpg
==2013==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes	Photo
2013	Mainline	White	Canada	 	
File:2013 Front.jpg
File:2013 Back.jpg
== 2014 ==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin 	Notes 	Photo
2014	Regular Line-up	Blue 	Netherlands	Long Card	150px150px
== 2015 ==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin 	Notes 	Photo
2015	Regular Line-up	Blue 	Germany	Short Card	150px150px
== 2016 ==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin 	Notes 	Photo
2016	Regular Line-up	Blue 	Netherlands	Long Card 	150px150px
2016	Regular Line-up	Blue 	Netherlands	Short Card	150px150px
== 2017 ==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin 	Notes 	Photo
2017	Regular Line-up	Blue 	Netherlands	Long Card 	150px150px
2017	Regular Line-up	Blue 	Dubai 	Short Card	150px150px
== 2018 ==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin 	Notes 	Photo
2018	Regular Line-up	Blue 	US 	Long Card 	150px150px
2018	Regular Line-up	Blue 	Netherlands	Short Card	150px150px
== 2019 ==
Year	Series 	Color 	Origin	Notes	Photo
2019	Mainline	Yellow	Canada	 	
File:2019 Front.jpg
File:2019 Back.jpg
== 2020 ==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes	Photo
2020	Mainline	White	Canada	 	
File:2020 Front.jpg
File:2020 Back.jpg
== 2021 ==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes	Photo
2021	Mainline	White	Canada	 	
File:2021 Front.jpg
File:2021 Back.jpg
== 2022 ==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes	Photo
2022	Mainline	Black	Canada	 	
File:2022 Front.jpg
File:2022 Back.jpg
== 2023 ==
Year	Series 	Color	Origin	Notes	Photo
2023	Mainline	White	Canada	 	
File:2023 Front.jpg
File:2023 Back.jpg
Category:History
Category:2014