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Your 2024 Hot Wheels Legends Custom Car Winner
Hot Wheels’s distinguished panel of judges has named the custom project car that will be turned into a die-cast toy for 2024.
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The Hot Wheels Legends Tour has picked a winning custom car every year since 2018.Mattel
At a Glance
- More than 5,000 vehicles from 13 countries competed in the 2024 Hot Wheels Legends Tour presented by Mobil 1.
- The 1968 custom Ford Falcon chassis is the seventh Hot Wheels Legends Tour winner to be recreated as a Hot Wheels die-cast.
- Hot Wheels launched the tour in 2018 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Hot Wheels brand.
Something we can be thankful for toward the end of every year is the arrival of the latest winner of the Hot Wheels Legends Tour. Hot Wheels calls the tour the world's largest traveling car show where car enthusiasts exhibit their custom-built machines in the hope of being selected as the car that Hot Wheels will turn into one of the company’s iconic 1:64-scale die-cast toys.
This year’s roster of ten finalists were the winners of the local shows in Dallas, El Segundo, Houston, and Phoenix in the US and from Chile, France, Germany, Italy, UAE, and, UK globally.
This year’s roster of judges included:
• Jay Leno, TV host and car enthusiast
• Dalal Elsheikh, automotive experience designer
• Larry Chen, Renowned automotive photographer
• Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias, actor and comedian
• Toni Breidinger, NASCAR driver
• Juca Viapri, Mexican automotive influencer and car customizer
• Hot Wheels Design Team
The 2024 Hot Wheels Legends Tour visited 13 countries and made stops in 11 metropolitan regions in the United States. Colombia and the United Arab Emirates were new shows for 2024, and the UAE winner scored a slot in the final. In total, the shows highlighted more than 5,000 custom-built cars for millions of event attendees around the world.
“This year’s Hot Wheels Legends Tour brought out so many incredible builds, making it difficult to select just one,” said Ted Wu, senior vice president and global head of design, vehicles, and building sets at Mattel. “Not only is it an extremely impressive build, but it was created to help grow the car community [locally] and inspire others to participate. That’s what makes this vehicle, and the team behind it, deserving of the win and entry into the Hot Wheels Garage of Legends.”
Hot Wheels launched the tour in 2018 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Hot Wheels brand. Previous champions include the inaugural 2018-winning 2JetZ, 2019-winning THE NASH, 2020-winning 1970 Pontiac Firebird, 2021-winning 1969 Volvo P1800 Gasser, 2022-winning “Texas Toot,” an ultra-custom 1992 Autozam Scrum micro truck, and last year’s champion, a one of a kind 1990 Mazda MX-5 roadster nicknamed "Chimera.”
Click through the photo gallery for a look at this year’s finalists and to learn which car you’ll be able to buy in toy form as the 2024 Hot Wheel Legends Tour winner.
About the Author
Dan’s coverage of the auto industry over three decades has taken him to the racetracks, automotive engineering centers, vehicle simulators, wind tunnels, and crash-test labs of the world.
A member of the North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year jury, Dan also contributes car reviews to Popular Science magazine, serves on the International Engine of the Year jury, and has judged the collegiate Formula SAE competition.
Dan is a winner of the International Motor Press Association's Ken Purdy Award for automotive writing, as well as the National Motorsports Press Association's award for magazine writing and the Washington Automotive Press Association's Golden Quill award.
Dan, testing the 2025 Aston Martin Vanquish. ANDY MORGAN/ASTON MARTIN
He has held a Sports Car Club of America racing license since 1991, is an SCCA National race winner, two-time SCCA Runoffs competitor in Formula F, and an Old Dominion Region Driver of the Year award winner. Co-drove a Ford Focus 1.0-liter EcoBoost to 16 Federation Internationale de l’Automobile-accredited world speed records over distances from just under 1km to over 4,104km at the CERAM test circuit in Mortefontaine, France.
He was also a longtime contributor to the Society of Automotive Engineers' Automotive Engineering International magazine.
He specializes in analyzing technical developments, particularly in the areas of motorsports, efficiency, and safety.
He has been published in The New York Times, NBC News, Motor Trend, Popular Mechanics, The Washington Post, Hagerty, AutoTrader.com, Maxim, RaceCar Engineering, AutoWeek, Virginia Living, and others.
Dan has authored books on the Honda S2000 and Dodge Viper sports cars and contributed automotive content to the consumer finance book, Fight For Your Money.
He is a member and past president of the Washington Automotive Press Association and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers.
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