Hot Wheels Colors

The shades and variations in the spectraflame colors is a source of pleasure and misery for Hot Wheels collectors.
The huge number of variables make the determination of color a challenging and contentious issue and quite often leads
to great disagreement over the “true” color of a spectraflame car. Just a few of the variables that affect color are:

* Variation in the original paint formulation from one batch to the next
* The country of origin of the paint/car
* Aging, exposure to light and zamac toning
* The vagaries of lighting & cameras
* Differences in people’s own color vision

This table shows examples of most of the color names in general use.

Blue	Light Blue	Ice Blue	Windex Blue
Red	Watermelon	Rose	Orange
Magenta	Purple	Berry	Magenta Enamel
Hot Pink	Creamy Pink	Salmon Pink	Nuclear Hot Pink
Green	Light Green (HK)	Apple Green (US)	Antifreeze
Lime	Aqua	Yellow	Gold
Olive	Copper	Gold	Brown
British Racing Green	Red Enamel	White Enamel	Tan Enamel

Enamels

Determination of the enamel paints (affectionately known as house paints)is much less contentious. There were fewer colors
and the variation in the colors is generally less. Rarity of certain colors is not quite as rampant as in the Spectraflames.

Enamel Light Blue	Enamel Dark Blue	Enamel Red	Enamel Orange
Plum	Pink	Lemon Yellow	Yellow
Sea Foam Green	Shell Light Green	Enamel Light Green	Enamel Dark Green

Examples of 1973 Colors

The six colors of the Superfine Turbine are highly consistent.

The Double Header shows an unusual amount of shading in the 9 known colors.

The Buzz Off in all known colors.

The Jet Threat in all known colors plus preproduction Orange and Peach.

1974 – 1977

The Flying Colors years are characterized by a huge reduction in color variations. Most Flying Colors era
cars are painted in one or two different enamel colors, typically very similar to a 1973 color. The colors found
for the Flying Colors era castings re listed in the description of each casting.