Buttons

The seven styles of effective button collecting.

Notched tab metal button

Smooth tab metal button

Hong Kong buttons come in either notched (cut-out) or smooth tab versions. All of the 1968 Hong Kong buttons come in a notched tab version, most also come in a smooth version. In 1969, all of the Hong Kong buttons can have smooth tabs, and many come in a notched tab version as well. All US buttons are smooth tabbed. By 1970 all metal buttons had smooth tabs.

Car color

Car color variations occur less frequently and can be seen in the Custom Barracuda, Volkswagen Beach Bomb, and Boss Hoss Silver Special. A slight variant on this them is the Lola V-stripe button. Instead of the usual yellow straight stripe on the hood, there is a V-shaped white stripe on the hood.

Background color

A number of buttons vary in background color. The most common variation seems to be with some orange background buttons, which can also come in yellow. This is true for Peeping Bomb, Tow Truck, and Mongoose buttons for instance. Other background color variations occur in the TNT Bird (2), Evil Weevil (2), and Beatnik Bandit (2) buttons.

Printed in USA vs Hong Kong

The main difference between these buttons is the printed place of manufacture, though the color shades can vary from country to country as well. Another difference is the width of the tab, US button tabs are slightly wider at ~ 1/4", while the HK button tab width is ~3/16". For a given button, the US version is generally rarer and more valuable. US metal buttons were only produced in the 1968 (1) and 1969 series (13) for a total of 14.

Text variation

Even the name on the buttons can vary as in the case of the 1968 'Custom Volkswagen', which comes in a 'Custom VW' version as well. Another example is the Boss Hoss Silver Special which is the only button to say 'Hot Wheels Club Mattel' on the outer rim instead of the usual 'Mattel Hot Wheels'.

Plastic vs metal buttons

It's been suggested that the metal buttons were phased out due to safety concerns; a choking hazard perhaps. My original thought was that it was a cost cutting move, but the safety reason seems reasonable especially with large company worries about litigation beginning in the late 60's.

Why some cars come in both varieties is just speculation on my part: that castings manufactured during 1970 switched over to plastic buttons when the supply of metal ones was exhausted. There are no cars in the 1970 series with just a plastic button, some car's plastic buttons are extremely rare, and a sizable number didn't have a plastic button that year.

Plastic buttons can have US or Hong Kong origins. These variations are generally ignored by collectors. I'm not exactly sure why but since the paper inserts don't have any identifier on them, the country of origin is generally ignored. Buttons with the same paper insert can come in HK and US versions, but not all do. This is a good topic for further research.