Purple Passion Background

Design. The Purple Passion design by Larry Wood and is based on a custom chopped  and channeled '51 Mercury Coupe like the ones he had seen in the 1950's Rod & Custom magazine*. It was the first design that was not bound by some of Mattel's restrictions. Like: "It must perform well on the track"  (remember the orange tracks?) and "All wheels must be fully visible". At the same time it was also the first model that was also aimed at the adult collector. *Source: Die Cast X Magazine, Summer 2006, Vol. 2 No. 3, p69.

Larry Wood.
Larry Wood was one of Hot Wheels chief designers back in 1990. Larry Wood has designed Hot Wheels since 1970. In an interview with AutoWeek he admitted that the Bone Shaker and the Purple Passion are his all-time favorites. Larry retired in 2009. To celebrate his retirement a special Larry's Farewell Purple Passion was designed and sold through HWC-RLC (see links). Check out this interview with Larry: "In the driver's seat: Larry Wood's love for cars has kept him designing Hot Wheels for 35 years." 

Photo archive.
The images are photos I took of my own Purple Passions. Most are linked to enlargements or even more photos of the same model. Photos of Purple Passions that I do not have, I have taken of the internet. Violation of any copyright is not intentional. If I have done so, please inform me and I shall replace the photo.
Check out Rik Hoving's Custom Car Photo Archive here.

Credits.
I thank those willing to share their knowledge of Purple Passions with me. 
Special thanks goes to Bill, Chris, Dan and Roy for reviewing the site and donating pictures of hard to finds.

I have no contact with anyone within Mattel so I can not verify the the information I share with you here, e.g. the numbers produced. Let me know of any that you have or know of that are not on these pages.
Even better, if you have any for trade that I'm missing, please contact me by using the forum.

Contact: Please use the forum.B

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Update: Jan. 31th, 2010