Is it a Find!?

Hi Dan, I was given this Hot Wheels car as a present as a child. For some unknown reason, I never played with it. Flash forward 40 years and I rediscovered it in my parent's basement. It happened to be in a box with some of my old school papers. It is in great shape and marked "Hot Wheels 1968 Mattel Classic 36 Ford Coupe" on the bottom. I think it may be worth some money given the condition. Could you please let me know what you think? Sincerely, Mark Hello Mark, In 1968, Mattel, a toy manufacturing company, started a line of die-cast cars under the name, "Hot Wheels." The company's intention was to manufacture and sell toy automobiles to compete with the English company, Lesney, maker of the Matchbox cars. Hot Wheels proved to be quite a success for Mattel. Their design was in many ways more radical than the traditional cars made by Matchbox. In the United States, at the time, hot rods and muscle cars were gaining popularity. Mattel incorporated those themes into their production. This propelled them to be the most popular die-cast car company in the U.S. In determining the value of your car, one must look at condition, rarity, color of the body paint and interior and whether it is in its original packaging. Your car is in amazing shape and its color (magenta) is quite unusual. To the right collector, it could sell for upwards of $125. If it were in an ultra-rare copper color, it could sell for three times that. Hot Wheels cars are still very collectible today, more so than Matchbox cars. It would be best to store it away from direct light and in a dry environment. Thank you for sharing with us your "rediscovery."