This past weekend at the San Diego Comic Convention, Mattel unveiled the Darth Vader-themed Hot Wheels diecast car, which will be part of a Star Wars–themed line that is dropping this fall.
The 1:64-scale diecast Darth Vader car was released at the Mattel booth at the convention for $40 – the diecast car came in a black box, and when opened, the car is resting in a lightsaber case. We all know that these will be and already are on eBay for way more than the original purchase price, but they’re definitely a cool limited-edition promotion.
Built by PCW Brands, Inc., the life-size Darth Vader mobile is comprised of a custom fiberglass body on top of a C5 Corvette chassis, which is powered by a tuned 526 horsepower LS3 engine – you can say that the Force is with this car. You might be wondering about the doors and how one would get into such a cool creation – there are no doors. Instead, the helmet lifts up to reveal the two-seat cockpit (only when the Force is used, though) where material similar to Darth Vader’s outfit covers the seats.
The exhaust pipes are pretty cool as well – they were built to resemble actual lightsabers and have a cool red backlight. The hood of the car resembles Vader’s chest plate, which has a few little toggle switches and blinking lights. The wheels are also pretty cool – they appear to be a three-piece wheel with a retro 5-spoke style and they even have the Galactic Empire logo on the centercaps; how cool is that? The Galactic Empire logo can also be found inside the car, embroidered in the seats and on the steering wheel.
We also heard that the car might be able to drift, too – it’s got a secondary handbrake, so why not? The Darth Vader mobile looks like a lightweight speed machine and we want to see it driving under load!
Here’s a promotional video of the car from before it was launched at SDCC – enjoy!