When Mattel announced in early 2025 that Hot Wheels would be making Ferrari cars again after a more than decade-long hiatus, it set of a treasure hunt among aficionados.

Unlike your regular garden-variety Hot Wheels dinky cars, which are usually available in multiples in any given store they’re sold at, the Ferraris are more exclusive, produced in fewer number than there is demand for them.

So this got fans, collectors and resellers on the hunt.

I, too, joined the hunt.

Every time I stepped into any Walmart, Dollarama, Dollar Tree, No Frills or any store that sells Hot Wheels, I would check the rack hoping to find one.

Now, I’m pleased to report that I finally found my treasure, and I came by it the honest way, at the store, not through the online resale market.

In this case, it was on the $2 rack at my local Walmart in southern Ontario in the middle of a Saturday afternoon.

This particular model is a Ferrari 365 GTB4 Competizione.

The real-life version of the car was a factory-built racing version of the Ferrari Daytona. Only 15 of the GTB4 Competizione race cars were produced.

The Hot Wheels version isn’t quite so rare. It’s part of the Hot Wheels mainline of die-cast cars, making it a mass-produced model.

In other words, it’s not particularly rare nor valuable.

And yet, it took me more than a year of hunting before I got my hands on one, which speaks to the demand for these little Ferraris. Even the mass-produced cars are hard to come by.

What will I do with my Hot Wheels Ferrari?

I did not go searching for the Hot Wheels Ferrari so that I could later resell it.

I did not buy it so that I could keep it in its packaging and wait for it to climb in value in the years to come.

I bought it to enjoy it.

The headline at the top of the story, however, is a little misleading. When I say I’m opening it, really, what I mean to say is that I already have.

I opened it right up and tossed the packaging.

What I won’t do, however, is add the car into my kids’ Hot Wheels pile where it would have little chance of long-term survival.

It will live in my personal collection. I have a particular affinity for classic exotics.

Is my hunt over?

Now that I’ve finally found a Hot Wheels Ferrari after searching for more than a year, you might be wondering if my hunt is over?

It is not.

I will continue checking the Hot Wheels racks every chance I get with the hope of finding another. I’d like to find an example with Ferrari’s iconic Corsa red colour, because that is, in my opinion, the colour every Ferrari should be. Yellow and blue are fine too.

More about Hot Wheels Ferraris

Hot Wheels previously stopped producing Ferraris at the end of 2014 when Mattel’s licensing agreement with the automaker ended. Mattel announced it would again make Ferraris in January 2025.

There is a saying about Ferrari, that the company makes more money on product licensing than it does selling cars. While that’s not exactly true, the automaker does make a lot of money on licensing, and it protects its brand vehemently, which helps explain why there were no new Hot Wheels Ferraris for a decade.

The revived Hot Wheels Ferraris consist of classic and modern models and road cars and racing cars.

There are also limited-edition models available through Mattel Creations, remote control cars and more.

Your typical $2 die-cast cars in 1:64 scale are available – if you’re lucky enough to find one – wherever Hot Wheels are sold.

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