Full-size Hot Wheels at SEMA 2019

The Hot Wheels booth at the 2019 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show featured a huge display of wild custom cars but of most interest where two Hot Wheels cars come to life.

The “Python” was one of the sixteen cars released in the original 1968 Hot Wheels series, based on the "Dream Car" show car built in 1963 by Bill Cushenbery for show promoter Bob Larivee.  The “Dream Car” first appeared as a drawing in Car Craft magazine in October 1961, and later it was restyled as the “Tiger Shark.”

This modern roadster version of the “Python” started with a custom frame fitted with 1996 Corvette front suspension and Jaguar independent rear suspension. The little roadster is powered by a modular 4.6-liter (280-cubic inch) aluminum V-8 engine sourced from a Lincoln Town Car fitted with a custom intake and valve covers.  

Paul Jurewicz built the body using parts from 28 different cars, which included an Audi Quattro, 1953 Studebaker Hawk, 1960 Pontiac Catalina, 1963 Chevrolet Corvair and a 1959 Ford Thunderbird.

Designed by Ira Gilford the “Twin Mill” first introduced in 1969 is one of the most popular of all the Hot Wheels cars, and there have been four additional versions built – the “Twin Mill II,” “Twin Mill III,” the “Twin Mill Hardnoze” and the “Twin Mill Gen-E.”

This full-size version debuted at the SEMA show in 2001 features a fiberglass body over a custom frame powered by two supercharged 502-cubic inch Chevrolet engines said to develop a total of 1,400 horsepower. The cockpit of the “Twin Mill,” built by Action Vehicle Engineering in Chatsworth California, is accessed by raising the top with hydraulic rams.

Photos of the full-size replicas by the author