Kenny Scharf repaints toy-sized hot wheels à la karbombz!
Kenny Scharf releases a recent KarBombz! art car in full scale with a toy-sized Hot Wheels version. The project is a collaboration between the artist and the brand based on a 1967 Ford Thunderbird. It is a significant model in Hot Wheels history since it was one of the first 16 toy car designs the company released in 1968. These are known as the Original 16. Kenny Scharf paints the car’s exterior using his KarBombz! style. For the project, he uses spray paint to create art directly on cars, just like the other models he’s done in the series.
Kenny Pfitzer, a car builder at Pfitzer Designs in Corona, California, has handled the 1967 Ford Thunderbird mechanical construction for the Hot Wheels and Kenny Scharf collaboration. The vehicle also features American Racing 500 Mono Cast wheels as well as BF Goodrich Silvertown Redline radial tires. Hot Wheels expects to induct the Thunderbird art car into its Garage of Legends, which is a Hot Wheels collection that houses actual cars that the brand has built or selected. This art car, after induction, appears at Hot Wheels events in coming years. So far, it includes joining the Hot Wheels Legends Tour, an event series where the brand showcases its cars to the public.
all images courtesy of Kenny Scharf and Hot Wheels
1:64 die-cast models of the original 1967 Ford Thunderbird
The artist Kenny Scharf started his KarBombz! series in 2013. He thought then that cars were boring. They all looked the same, so gray and dull. He imagined drivers being stuck in traffic inside their lifeless-looking vehicles. That’s when the idea ignited: tattoos for car, spray painted by hand, street style that’s thriving in colors and graphics. ‘What an exciting traffic jam that would be,’ the artist says. Nearly over a decade later, he’s right. These KarBombz! designs add so much life, jazz, and flair to the copy-and-paste-looking cars on the roads.
Working with Hot Wheels then feels natural to Kenny Scharf. The artist admits he’s been a fan of the brand’s toy cars, even as he was growing up. During this time, he developed an art career that often used cars as his canvas. Now, that blank slate comes in two forms. First, a real-life 1967 Ford Thunderbird production model. The other, a 1:64 die-cast Hot Wheels version, which is 64 times smaller than the actual car. The latter is available from Mattel Creations on June 9th, 2025. There’s also a limited edition, which includes only 100 die-cast models. Kenny Scharf has signed each of these 100 units, and these versions also come with a base showing more of the artist’s designs.
Kenny Scharf releases a recent KarBombz! art car in toy-sized Hot Wheels version
the artist’s name appears on the rear plate
a summer-looking blue shade becomes the color foundation
a balloon-looking figure zooms through on the side of the vehicle
surface view of the die-cast model
the artist uses spray paint to create art directly on the car
the 1:64 die-cast version on top of the real-life 1967 Ford Thunderbird
the project is a collaboration between the artist and the brand based on a 1967 Ford Thunderbird
Kenny Scharf spray painting on the Ford Thunderbird for the art car
Hot Wheels expects to induct the Thunderbird art car into its Garage of Legends
project info:
name: Hot Wheels x Kenny Scharf Custom T-Bird
artist: Kenny Scharf | @kennyscharf
brand: Hot Wheels | @hotwheelsofficial
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