It was 55 years ago that Elliot Handler, and his company, Mattel, introduced a new brand of model cars called ‘Hot Wheels’. First off the line, and part of what is called the ‘Sweet 16’, was a dark blue custom Camaro, and it’s probably an understatement to say that Hot Wheels became a success from this small start. It was huge.

In 1969, an ex-Chrysler employee, Ira Gilford, came on board, and one of his first designs (the first done completely in-house) went on to attain legendary status. It was called Twin Mill, and a huge hit, leading to that ultimate accolade in 2001 – recreation as a real vehicle, a race car with 1,400 horsepower!. Still popular to this day (a new cartoon is due to debut in 2024, and possibly a film!), over 20,000 different designs have been produced, and collectors pay thousands for rare models.

With a history like that, it’s incredible it’s taken the numismatic industry so long to tap into that market, but MTB/PAMP have done so with that iconic Twin Mill. One of the producer’s many shaped coins, this is a neat reproduction of the iconic original, and is struck in an ounce of fine silver. There’s lots of attention to detail, not least of which is the packaging, designed to ape the original rack display packs. MTB/PAMP has done another fine job with its homage to a popular product. Available to order from today, it has a mintage of 3,000.