• Notice for iPhone users: DO NOT use the image size reduction option when uploading photos to the forum. This causes portrait images to post as landscape. We have added a warning to the image insert pop-up as well.

Cj-8 Hot Wheels and Matchbox

whooooops ... still am challenged getting pictures up
Hot2520wheel2520scrambler25201JPG-1.jpg
 
well I was at my buddies house and had to get a picture of this for you guys.
So here you go. lol
7jeeps7kings

 
Found a few of the blue HW Stunt with orange line wheels at WallyWorld...
 
HotWheelFrnt copy.jpgHotWheelSide copy.jpgHotWheelBack copy.jpg
This is the first time I've tried posting pics, so let me know if I could have done better. I just wanted to point out for those of us who don't know that Chrysler Group LLC owns the trademark to the seven-slot jeep grille. In order to use an image of the grille in toys/models/advertising, etc., one has to pay Chrysler. The Black Scrambler is from the mid 1990s and has the grille modified with an eggcrate pattern. The silver CJ-8 is an original release with the true grille. The red one is a current release. Note that only on the red one does the Jeep trademarked name appear on the tailgate. Also, the tailgate has more detail. They probably figured since they had to pay Jeep to use the trademark, and change the mold anyway, might as well retool a bit. Notice also that the roll bar is now cut out on the side. I didn't get a pic, but on the original, the bottom says, "Hot Wheels (R) Jeep Scrambler (no trademark bug)." The black one has any reference to Jeep or Scrambler blocked out. And the newest one says, "Jeep (R) (C) Mattel (R) Chrysler Group LLC. There is no mention of the Scrambler model.

This seems like a silly amount of effort for a 99 cent toy, but Jeep is trying to protect it's trademark. If it falls into common usage, they can lose the rights to that trademark, and they lose all the hard work of building the brand. Therefore, the word "Jeep" is always capitalized and never made into a verb, ie, "We are driving off road in our Jeep brand vehicle," not " We are jeeping!" Lawyers make life interesting.
 
Interesting. And all true. I have that same black one here at work along with a white one from 2008 with all the Chrysler trademarks on the underbody. The black one has "Hot Wheels", "Mattel Inc. 1982" and "India". No mention of Jeep anywhere.

The real question is how do they handle on that washboard road?
 
My son just chose a blue version of the red scrambler above. Just hanging on the rack at Target. What the heck does "9X" mean????? 9 times the Awesome? Seems pretty random...
 
hefavitzen said:
My son just chose a blue version of the red scrambler above. Just hanging on the rack at Target. What the heck does "9X" mean????? 9 times the Awesome? Seems pretty random...
Click to expand...

9x the awesome seems a little low. Doesn't the Scrambler awesomeness scale go all the way up to 11?
 
Cincyjeeprs said:
9x the awesome seems a little low. Doesn't the Scrambler awesomeness scale go all the way up to 11?
Click to expand...

Well, said Nigel!

And back to the trademark thing, it's a tightrope walk for sure. You want brand recognition, but not to the extent that your brand becomes generic. For a while there from the early '80s to the early 2000s there was a distinct dearth of toys and models having CJ/Wrangler themes. I don't know this, but I suspect that the conditions of using the trademarked grille were so onerous that the toy companies decided to just not bother. It seems better now. You want kids to have fond memories of beloved Jeep branded toys when they reach driving age.

Also, I've noticed in some commercials, I'm sure the art director spec'd a CJ, but I bet once the storyboards were run past legal, the commercial ended up being shot with an early Bronco or FJ. In fact, unless it's a commercial for Jeep vehicles or some kind of cross promotion like the Call of Duty Modern Warfare tie-in, you won't see any CJ/Wrangler in a commercial (though, perhaps ironically, Wrangler Jeans used a Jeep Wagoneer in their ads at one point). I don't see how that helps brand recognition. But as I said, it's a tightrope.
 
A young woman who used to work for me kept talking about her "Jeep". Then one day she complained about her car making a funny noise and once I was on my way out to my own car, I offered to listen in. She took me to her car which was a Mitsubishi Outlander. Needless to say I gave her a piece of my mind about Jeeps and gave her all the crap work for a month before firing her.

(Not really, though I did explain the difference and joked her a bit)

Sent from my LG-E970 4 Beta
 
I finally got around to getting the display case hung up and some of the Scramblers and Jeeps I have been collecting in the case... bad reflection in the center, but all in all, I am happy it is all done, now I just have to get the rest of them out of the drawers, book cases, etc. and get them all in one place!!!!

img_5454.jpg

cb
 
CB, I dug through one of my HW boxes and found these doubles. Let me know what you want in trade for the Waggy.

jy3aveve-1.jpg
 
Was walking through Wal-Mart today picking up a few things and passed by a big box of Hot Wheels in the center of the isle, and lying right on top was this:

jatymu9e-1.jpg


I dug through the rest but didn't find any others.
 
Looks very recently released for 2014, # 138/250 in the series.

The hunt begins again...
 
I've been looking since Toby found one and I have yet to find one :banghead:
 
That first one I lucked into :knockonwood: is the only one I've seen also. The "Hunt" continues. :wave:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top