New Hot Wheels Set Reveals Five Tiny Pre-2000 Cars, Acura NSX Included

These five items are replicas of cars built by various Japanese manufacturers before the year 2000. But the castings themselves are much newer, as all of them have been introduced in the past 10 years. Believe it or not, the '98 Honda Prelude is the newest one on our list. This Ryu Asada-designed machine has only been around since 2020. Even so, we've seen seven different iterations of it thus far.

That means that the new Japanese Classics model is the eighth one to be released within just over three years. It might remind you of the 2021 J-Imports model, which was also red and featured 10-spoke wheels. But the new variation doesn't have a black hood anymore, and there are a few decals on the side, albeit not the most interesting ones we've ever seen. If you're keen on getting a more special version of this casting, we'd recommend the 2021 Car Culture: Modern Classics in Metalflake Silver!

The second car inside this set is the '90 Acura NSX. This shouldn't be mistaken for the 2003 Honda NSX Type R, which is a Premium-exclusive model. Ryu Asada worked his magic on this casting as well, and it was initially released back in 2015 as part of the HW Workshop: HW Garage mainlines series. It has had 14 different iterations so far, and its most popular one is the 2016 Super Treasure Hunt version that we talked about in a recent story.

The current design might feel similar to the 2018 Factory Fresh edition, but there are a few differences between them. First of all, Mattel used Silver instead of Metalflake Grey for the paint job. Second, the old car had regular five-spoke wheels, whereas the new one uses the Phil Riehlman 5-spoke model which has a slightly sportier look. And you'll also notice two black stripes on each side of the new car, not that you could consider that to be a major improvement, though.

Up next it's the '91 Mazda MX-5 Miata, one of the most popular sports cars of all time. Prices for the 1:1 versions of these are soaring lately, and more people are beginning to understand that this isn't just a hairdresser's car. This is the third and last casting in the new set to have been designed by Ryu Asada. And it has been around since 2019. It's its eighth variation now, yet a Premium version has never been released so far.

It's worth pointing out that this is the first time Mattel has installed 10-spoke wheels on this car, as previous generations have mostly used five-spoke ones. The 2021 regular Treasure Hunt is perhaps the most sought-after iteration, but drift fans will surely go after the 2022 Mad Mike Motorsport version first. As for the 2023 model, we're looking at a pretty simple setup with Yokohama stickers and the number "5" on both sides of the car. Overall it feels quite decent for an entry-level Hot Wheels.

And now onto the most special car in this new set. This year we've seen some of these Toyotas selling for over $2.5 million! So it's safe to say that it's more expensive than all of the other four cars put together. Sure, the NSX can fetch a six-figure sum too, but it's still worth only a fraction of this classic Japanese icon. The 2000GT also happens to be the oldest casting on the list, as Jun Imai designed it for its introduction back in 2013. Given only a few hundred units were ever made, this may be the closest you'll ever get to play with one in this lifetime.

We've seen 11 different iterations of it so far, and the first special one was the 2013 Super Treasure Hunt. An RLC exclusive came up in 2015, and it was also featured in the first Car Culture: Japan Historics set back in 2016. We've seen Yellow being used as the main color twice before, and the MC5 wheels are also quite common for this casting. You'll be excited to see the detailed taillamps and the discreet use of decals on the side of the car. There's no chance this will ever be a peg warmer!

The last item in the 2023 Japanese Classics Series is the Fairlady 2000. We first saw this casting back in 2017, as part of the Legends of Speed mainline collection. Mattel has released 12 more variations of it since that moment, neither of which was a Premium. The current model is somewhat similar to the 2018 Fifteen52 item, as they're both black and rolling on five-spoke wheels.

But most collectors will agree that the previous one suffered from a bit of red overload. Meanwhile, the 2023 Fairlady looks a lot cleaner. If you're keen on kickstarting a collection based solely on this casting, you'll find quite a few of them on eBay. Someone is even selling a lot of 62 items for $180, but you'll have to dig deeper to find all the variations on the market.