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ORIGINAL: sappatoti

Well, as a boy who once had both of those toys, perhaps I can fill you in.

Back in the day (the '60s for those of you needing to know), Matchbox cars presented themselves to be as close a scaled down model of the real automobile as they could. Doors opened and closed, interiors tried to be accurate, paint colors tried to be as close to authentic as possible. Even the tires were in scale and inside the wheel wells. In short, Matchbox cars looked like micro versions of the real models.

Hot Wheels, at that time, were not intended to be micro models. They were designed to fit inside tracks that kids put together in almost unlimited fashion, so they could be used. The wheels on Hot Wheels cars were oversized and actually had some sort of suspension that allowed them to be abused to some extent. Think of them as hot rods, for they looked as if someone had taken a Matchbox toy car, rodded it up, and made it their own. These little cars weren't designed to be sitting on a shelf looking pretty. They were designed to be raced against your friends collection, and in extreme cases, lost in the "Pinks" fashion.

So, bear is right. Hot Wheels WERE so much cooler than Matchboxes. But, like anything else, their worth was determined by who owned them and what they were doing with them.

I hope this sheds just a tiny fraction of light on the inner workings of the males' brains.

:)