Discover the 1000-hp winner of the 2020 Hot Wheels Legends Tour
The third annual Hot Wheels Legends Tour wrapped up with a livestreamed event at Jay Leno’s garage. Host Jarod DeAnda joins Jay Leno and a panel of judges to see which real-life custom car, selected from an international search, will become the next Hot Wheels die-cast and cement its legacy among some of the coolest toy cars ever built.
Joining Leno and DeAnda are additional judges for the contest: Hot Wheels global head of design Ted Wu, Hot Wheels senior design manager Bryan Benedict, comedian Gabriel Iglesias, stunt driver Brionna Lynch, and youth football coach Snoop Dogg.
Many of the finalists aren’t able to get their cars to Jay’s Burbank garage for the livestream, but a few do show up in person. All of the builds are phenomenal and there’s something for everyone, from sporty compacts to one-off creations that look straight out of a sci-fi movie. One of the finalists was the incredibly creative and outrageous 1959 El Camino built by Chris Walker that we fell in love with at SEMA 2019. As we noted at the time, it absolutely belongs in the Hot Wheels Legends competition and is a true work of art.
You can watch the entire two-hour presentation—it includes close-up looks at a dozen amazing builds and some great banter between the judges—but if you noticed the photo above, you already know which car’s going to become a 1:64-scale Hot Wheels.
The deserving winner is Riley Stair’s remarkable, home-built 1970 Pontiac Trans Am with its 1000-hp naturally aspirated LS V-8. The engine setback helps the Trans Am’s weight balance, and every other aspect of Riley’s car was also built to make it a tremendous track weapon. Congrats to Riley and his wicked Trans Am. We’re definitely going to pick up a miniaturized version of his Pontiac as soon as we spot it in stores.
