Life Size (2020–…): Season 1, Episode 5 - Legacy of Design: The Deora ll - full transcript

- There are few
cars that have truly stood

the test of time and
are still being admired

some 50 years later.

Well, at Hot Wheels, they've got a car

with a legacy that stretches back more

than 50 years, a car that is beloved

by fans everywhere.

A car that almost no one has gotten

to drive on a real road until today.

So here's the Deora II,
let's go around this car

and look at all the things
that make it so unique.



The Deora design has stuck with Hot Wheels

since the beginning.

First, with the original
Deora model car in 1968,

and now with its legacy, the Deora II.

First built in 2000 by Nathan Proch,

and the life-size version
built three years later

by Chip Foose

and 5-axis design.

This baby's got a complete
fiber glass body using

a custom one off mold.

It's cool, it's sleek, it's futuristic,

it's everything you want in a Hot Wheels.

Chip Foose did an amazing job,

this is what I'm talking
about, right here.



They are blingin', 24 inch wheels.

24's people!

24's!

These rims are anything
but common, especially

for a car designed in the early 2000s.

Back then, rims were rarely
larger than 17 inches.

Of course, you had to go with 24's

when you're trying to match this model.

Now I'm going around this thing

and I'm looking to myself and I'm saying

where do you get in at?!

How cool

is this?

How cool?

I cannot believe this.

Surfing anybody?

We've got two official surfboards

on the back of this thing, it's amazing.

So, back here, what do I see but

a super-charged Cadillac
North Star engine,

paying homage, I'm a car girl,
you know I love my motors.

Introduced in 1933, the North Star engine

was regarded as General
Motors most advanced

and complex engine.

Double overhead cams,
four valves per cylinder,

and an aluminum design that produced

up to 300 horsepower, which back

in the early 2000s was considered
some pretty serious stuff.

I mean, this is so dope.

The craftsmanship that went
into this is just amazing.

It is the coolest thing
to me to actually get

to drive

the life size version of this
car and see where it started.

Let's get ready to roll, baby!

All right!

Right off the bat, I feel
the 300 plus horsepower

of the Deora II.

The exhaust sounds like my race car.

Now let me tell you
something, if this was my car,

these two buttons up here would be

for the nitrous, baby.

Typically, if you step on the gas

of the car, you feel it kind
of sit back on the rear,

on here because of the steel tube chassis

and they way it built and designed,

you definitely don't feel that.

Now, the steering is a little different,

a little awkward, but nothing
you couldn't get used to.

And overall, it rides pretty good!

'Cause I definitely thought
that it wouldn't ride

this smooth with the 24's on it.

So we won't be doing any
off roading or drag racing,

but that's okay, she's a
looker, she's a cruiser.

They lookin' at me baby,
they lookin' at me!

I feel like a superstar in this car.

It is super cool.

I mean to be in a life size version

of the Deora II right
now is simply amazing.

This thing is absolutely the bomb

.com!

I love it!

The Deora has thrived
over the last 50 years

because of the devotion of collectors.

This renewed interest in old
cars like the Deora paved

the way for this futuristic beach cruiser

that I'm driving now.

- Welcome to Matell's design center.

Come on in!
- Thanks for having me!

- Thank you.

- So I hopped over to Mattel
to speak with Bruce Pascal,

who spent the last three
decades collecting, cataloging,

and storing the rarest Hot Wheels cars

and memorabilia in the world.

Well Bruce, you brought these amazing cars

here for us to look
at, and I know this one

in particular 'cause I drove it here!

- You did, you did, yeah!

- The Deora II.

- Absolutely.

Well, it's called the
Deora II because we had

the Deora I.

- Right.

- Now the Deora I is one
of the first 16 cars.

We call it the Sweet 16,
that came out in 1968.

The Deora I was actually designed

by a guy named Harry Bentley Bradley,

and it was a A100 Dodge Cab,
made into a special car,

and it won the Ridler Award in 1967

for being a custom car.

- Okay.

- But guess what else happened?

Harry Bentley Bradly
worked for General Motors

when he designed the car.

He went and became the first
designer of Hot Wheels.

So, in order of the
president of the company

to see what cars they were going to make,

he actually had to make a sketch.

This piece of paper you
see right here was drawn

in 1967, to show the president of Mattel,

his name was Elliot Handler,

to get approval saying,
"Can we make this car?"

So talk about a rare piece of paper.

This is one of the rarest
pieces of paper you can find

in Hot Wheels' history.

- So, how much would this be worth?

- I sold another model, just like this,

of a different model,
the First 16, for $5,000.

- So how does your collection differ

from what I'm seeing here?

- Well, 20 years ago,
in 1999, my mom gave me

the cars back from my childhood and I open

up, all the cars were
made in '68, '69, and '70,

when I was that seven year old kid.

So I'v made my life challenge to search

for those cars that
came out at the same era

of my childhood.

- My gosh! Okay!

- And it's difficult.

You know what's even more difficult?

To find them in amazing shape,

because us boys, hammers, firecrackers,

and you know they made Hot
Wheels in pink as we talked

before.

- Yep.

- And that was the idea so
girls would get involved.

But when a boy got the pink Hot Wheel,

that was the first one that was smashed.

- So what makes your collection so unique?

I know there's got to be other collectors,

I know you have 3,500 Hot Wheels.

And the value is up
there, I know somewhere

around $1.5 million.

But what makes yours so diverse?

- So I like to look for the cars that are

really, really hard to find,

and I like the associated
paperwork that goes with it.

I think I have in my files
the actual blueprints

to make the molds to make these cars.

So the car you drove to get today,

look at this model.

If we turn it over, do you
notice something there?

Looks like a piece of wood.

- Yeah.

- This was hand carved
from a piece of wood,

so here's a perfect example of a rare car.

So, I own that and there's
no others that exist.

So that is why I like to collect

the super rare cars like this.

- What's the craziest thing
you've ever done to acquire one?

- I was given the name
of a former employee

from the 1960s, and his
name was kind of common,

it wasn't John Smith, and
I had to track him down

because I heard a rumor that he had one

of these 1969 Beach Bops,
that's very valuable.

So, got on the internet.

I started with California,
there was 428 people

with that guy's name.

It took me six weeks when
finally, somebody answered

the phone and I said,
"Are you the so and so

that worked in Mattel back in 1969?"

And the guy goes, "Yeah, that was me."

So, he was one of these
people if there was

a problem in the factory in Hong Kong,

he would have the car in his tool chest

to pull out to say,"
here's how you fix it,"

to make production work again.

- Okay.

- So many times, those
people had the first cars

that came off the factory lot.

So I said, "If you have
this Volkswagen Bus,

I will give you at least $10,000."

He says, "I think I have it,
I just don't know where."

So I called him the next day,

"I can't find it!"

Second day, "Can't find it!"

Finally, the wife answers, she goes,

"Why didn't you ask me? I
know where his toys are."

- There you go.

- They found it, called
me back and they had one,

we made a deal and let me tell you,

I was excited but he
was even more excited,

'cause he was just going to throw it away

at a garage sale for one dollar one day.

Mattel makes toy cars
and they make more cars

than any real car company,
and everything that's involved

in a real car is involved in Mattel.

- My eyes!

- Okay, my favorite!

Do you know what this is?

- No, you've got to tell me.

- In 1969, Mattel came
out with a Volkswagen bus,

about 50 of these original versions

of these small, what we
call rear load Beach Bombs,

are known to exist today.

The best one, is this one in pink,

which item is now worth over $150,000,

a toy car.

- I mean I'm stunned at
the fact that you have

a one of one that's worth a $150,000.

How did you go about getting that?

- It was about 20 years ago, and there was

an ad in the newspaper and
it said the rarest Hot Wheel

in the world was for sale.

And that time, I had been a collector

and if you collect
anything, you always have

a desire to have the best.

- Right, absolutely.

- I called my wife up, I said,

"Amy, it's a little expensive, do you mind

if I do something?"

And she says, "Whatever makes you happy."

And I got it and that
car set me on a journey

for 20 years of collecting
and it's pretty cool.

- Bruce, thank you so
much for having me today.

I have something special for you,

how about you get to drive the Deora II?

- That is awesome!

Are you sure you're trusting me to drive?

- I am.

- I think we're ready to go, right?

- There you go, look at you!

- This is nothing!

- Like a champ!

- This doesn't drive like my alpha beta.

- You are rolling!

The Deora's legacy has last over 50 years,

and if Bruce is anything to go by,

it'll easily last 50 more.

Not too many cars can
boast that, can they?

especially one that almost no one's driven

on the open road till now.

Not too shabby, Hot Wheels!

- So, Nicole, you know you're
this amazing race car driver.

But have you ever done the ultimate race?

Hot Wheel versus Hot Wheel?

- No!

- Okay, we're ready!

Choose your weapon.

Let's go.
- All right.

- Are you ready?

- I'm ready.

- One, two, go!

- Yeah!

- I lost to Nicole! My god!

Unbeliev-- but it was close, though.

- It was close!
- For a nov, its not so bad.

- It was close!

- Okay, let's go.