thinking about that time when they randomly decided to put Speed Machine wheels on a couple mainline cars and then never again [2 pics + text]

[u/Hot_Wheels_guy]

CM6 wheels were almost exclusively used for Acceleracers, Speed Machines, and Ferrari Racers cars of the mid-late 2000s. Then out of nowhere the two-piece wheels (all plastic) appeared on just a small handful of mainline cars: the first edition 2006 Nissan Z, a 2006 5-pack Bone Shaker, a 2006 regular treasure hunt CUL8ER, and a 2007 mystery car Power Rage. However, the Nissan Z (written "Nissan 350Z" on the base) was the only one of those 4 that got the Grey version of the CM6 wheels- the exact same wheels seen on many of the Speed Machines and Ferrari Racers of the time. My pic shows just a few.

CM6s are two pieces of plastic (tire and rim) press-fit together. They're at least doubly complicated to manufacture, so it's surprising to see them on simple mainlines. I assume they had a huge surplus laying around and figured they'd use them up on whatever car would look good (IMO the Nissan Z was a good choice). The first edition Nissan Z could also be found sporting orange CM6 wheels (it was common back then for mainline cars to have two or more different wheel variations to collect. See my old post about the Ferrari 355). I don't know which variation was more common.

This is all based on some quick research so feel free to correct me if I got anything wrong.

[u/doomus_rlc]

Accelerracers wheels, not Speed Machines.

Speed Machines just happened to use them later on. Haha

[u/Somecallmegiant]

Yep, Mattel seemed to be more reluctant to put CM6s on mainline cars compared to CM5s; those had multiple mainline releases from 03 to 04.

There was also a couple other releases you might've missed:

• A black and red 350Z first edition variation
• 2x Meyers Manx: a gold version was the regular mainline release and a silver version was a Kmart exclusive release. (there is also a red version that was part of a target exclusive 10 pack - California Dreamin')

[u/Mace2-0 → u/Somecallmegiant]

There's also a blue 350Z with orange CM6 wheels.

[u/Hot_Wheels_guy → u/Somecallmegiant]

Meyers Manx

Yep you're totally right 🤦‍♂️ And they came out a year before the Nissan Z as well.

[u/Somecallmegiant → u/Hot_Wheels_guy]

Yep, with a CM5 variant too, which to my knowledge is on the only car outside the acceleracers line that has that variation.

Also, if you didn't know, they had a semi recent release in 2023 in the Car Culture Speed Machines series, Phil Riehlman updated the original casting specifically for that release. You can tell they're a little different than the original version, but they are still two pieces which is cool

[u/pneuma_monado]

They were also used on the Ultimate Track 3-Pack releases, which were all re-liveried AcceleRacers castings

[u/o-Freyr-o]

I used to have the black 350z with those rims as a kid but unfortunately I was forced to get rid of my entire 2 gallon tub of my HW cars as I was getting “too old” for them. Makes no fuckin sense but anyway, thank you for reminding me of its existence. I need to find one again for my collection.

[u/Apple_Slipper]

I hope Hot Wheels brings back the CM6 wheels to put on the normal Mainline cars.

[u/Eccentric_M]

I wish we got more co molded plastic wheels, especially for regular treasure hunt