Are these Faster than Ever Hot Wheels?

JDC442 Friday, 4/8/2022

I've had these blister packs for a few years now - can't remember how I came to have them actually.  Does anyone know if these are true Faster than Ever Hot Wheels?  They have the fte symbol at the top of the card but do not say Faster than Ever anywhere on them.  The Nerve Hammer doesn't even have the bronze/copper 5 spoke.  I live in the Pacific Northwest, so maybe they're Canadian???


Discussion

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Bongo 4/8/22

I picked up that Pharodox loose and read up on it somewhere that it was not FTE despite appearances. 


  • Thanks, I was afraid of that — JDC442
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Uncle_Elvis 4/8/22

None of those are FTE. All are first editions. FTE will say FTE on the package. 


  • Thanks for the heads up :) — JDC442
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ChiefWopahoo 4/9/22
2020 Rated Rookie

Be aware also that the FTEs have more of a brass color vs gold colored wheels. 

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CrazyEights 4/9/22

Buyer beware. Some sell these as FTE on eBay. 


Even if they are not FTE wheels, could they still be NPA's   (Nickle Plated Axle's)

I´ve looked that up for the Pharodox. any of these First Edititions vame with both Gold OHs and FTEs with the same livery, so most propably every golden wheel is not FTE.

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CptnZedx1a 4/10/22

     I think the three cars pictured are Hot Wheels with international packaging. They could very well have been meant for the Canadian market, Les Quebecois have a right to their native tongue, and if these did say "faster than ever" they would more likely say something like "faster than ever/ la plus grande vitesse." Such wording would likely get Mattel in trouble with a Portugese company named "Vitesse" that also makes die-cast cars albeit in 1:43 scale. Rather than break out their lawyers Mattel may have decided to use a wordless symbol and leave it at that. Why the silver-wheeled Nerve Hammer carries this symbol, however, is a puzzle.

     If there is any doubt there is a simple test. The difference in HW FTE is the axles. If one of these cars were put into water for a couple hours and the axles did not rust that would show they were nickel-plated and therefore FTE. If they did rust they would be imposters.

     The preceding is in no way influenced by the fact that I took a Pharodox apart a few weeks ago for its wheels.

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