{"id":240468,"date":"2026-04-21T15:27:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T15:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/240468\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T15:27:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T15:27:05","slug":"real-life-hot-wheels-cars-come-to-pinellas-park-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/240468\/","title":{"rendered":"Real life &#8216;Hot Wheels&#8217; cars come to Pinellas Park this weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-perfmatters-preload=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-attachment-id=\"358213\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/shineyourengines-mattell-042326\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/shineyourengines-Mattell-042326.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1920,1080\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"shineyourengines-Mattell-042326\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Pawe\u0142 Czarnecki\u2019s rally-themed Fiat 126B&lt;\/p&gt;&#10;\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/shineyourengines-Mattell-042326.jpg?fit=780%2C439&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/shineyourengines-Mattell-042326.jpg\" alt=\"A custom-built, rally-themed white Fiat 126p (Maluch) parked in front of a giant Hot Wheels Legends Tour Poland display. The car features a wide-body kit, a massive rear wing, and a red, blue, and black 'Pikes Peak' style livery. It is adorned with various sponsor decals including 'cararter,' '3DTECHNOLOGY,' and 'Dubiit.' The backdrop is designed to look like a Hot Wheels toy car package, complete with the iconic flame logo and the text 'Guaranteed for Life.'\" class=\"wp-image-358213\"  \/>Pawe\u0142 Czarnecki\u2019s rally-themed Fiat 126B Credit: Mattel\/Hot Wheels<\/p>\n<p>In its ninth year, Mattel\u2019s \u201cHot Wheels\u201d Legends Tour kicks off in the Tampa Bay area before hitting just nine other American cities in between international stops in Spain, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and more.<\/p>\n<p>The company\u2019s Formula 1 car, a ride from the \u201cFast &amp; Furious\u201d movies, and the \u201cBone Shaker\u201d Skeletor car will be on display in Pinellas Park this weekend alongside handpicked Hot Wheels cars come to life.<\/p>\n<p>Cars accepted into the show are judged on creativity, authenticity, and \u201cgarage spirit\u201d aka elbow grease. One winner from all of the stops will be chosen to be made into a Hot Wheels 1:64 diecast car after the fall finale this October in California.<\/p>\n<p>Last year\u2019s selection\u2014Pawe\u0142 Czarnecki\u2019s rally-themed Fiat 126B (pictured)\u2014came from Poland. <a href=\"http:\/\/autoblog.com\/news\/rally-inspired-fiat-126b-wins-hot-wheels-legends-tour\" type=\"link\" id=\"http:\/\/autoblog.com\/news\/rally-inspired-fiat-126b-wins-hot-wheels-legends-tour\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Autoblog<\/a> said that, \u201cThe car reportedly took over 2,500 hours of wrenching and 800 hours of 3D printing components to reach its current stage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776785225_898_hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"YouTube video\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\" nopin=\"nopin\"\/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/altnewsfoundation.org\/cl-tampa\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pitch in to help make the Tampa Bay Journalism Project a success.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-normal-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/tampa-newslettersignup-page\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow us:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAiECLjru3gB6BLYKOKFLfkVZsqFAgKIhAi467t4AegS2CjihS35FWb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbreak.com\/@c\/1599764?s=01\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/CreativeLoafingTampa\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/cltampabay\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cltampabay\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/cltampabay.bsky.social\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BlueSky<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"collection-link has-small-font-size\">This article appears in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/collections\/apr-16-22-2026\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Apr. 16 \u2013 22, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead his 2016 intro letter\u00a0and disclosures from 2022 and 2021.\u00a0Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief&#8230;\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"author-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/author\/rroa\/\" rel=\"author nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMore by Ray Roa\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pawe\u0142 Czarnecki\u2019s rally-themed Fiat 126B Credit: Mattel\/Hot Wheels In its ninth year, Mattel\u2019s \u201cHot Wheels\u201d Legends Tour kicks&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240469,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[34745,202,204,203,199,201,200,72020],"class_list":["post-240468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-mattel","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-things-to-do-in-tampa-bay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}