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Welcome
to the Gran Toros web site. I hope you enjoy your visit.
My name is Carmelo and my friends call me Ceij. Many people
know me by my Hot Wheels Collectors-dot-com message board
alias: "Joey Sputafuoco" which is a joke nickname
I received at a Hot Wheels convention years ago. |
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Gran
Toros Contact Information
My email
address is info@grantoros.com.
Se é facile per te, io parlo Italiano.
Ciao e grazie, Carmelo |
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Gran
Toros / Mebetoys Dealers
Please
note that none of the Gran Toros, Redlines, Catalogs and
related toys on this site are for sale. If you want to buy
items like these please see the for some excellent dealers
that do sell these items:
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GranToros.com Copyrights
This
site is registered with the Library of Congress, United
States Copyright Office, in accordance with title 17, United
States Code. Any use of the images, text, source code, graphics,
photographs, illustrations, and translations, without the
expressed written permission of grantoros.com is strictly
prohibited.
The
use of robots or other automated means to access the grantoros.com/sputafuoco.com
site without the express permission of grantoros.com is
strictly prohibited. Notwithstanding the foregoing, grantoros.com
permits automated access solely for the limited purpose
of including content in publicly available search engines.
Any other use of robots is strictly prohibited.
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New
Links (Links Not on the Navigation Bar) |
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Gran
Toros Site Navigation
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can navigate the site via the navigation bar at the top and bottom of
each page.
Here's an explanation of the buttons: |
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The
Models button brings you to the Gran Toros
Models index page. On this page you will find the 25 Hot Wheels
Gran Toros models with links to the individual model pages. Each
individual page provides pictures and descriptions of the Hot
Wheels Gran Toros model. |
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This
page provides more details about the Mebetoys / Mattel S.p.A. history
and an index to the Mebetoys model pages.
Each individual model page provides pictures and descriptions of
the Mebetoys model and its relationship to the Hot Wheels Gran Toros. |
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The
Catalog button brings you to the Catalog
home page. On this page you will find the catalogs we've collected
and lists of the models in each catalog as well as the models
not listed. |
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The
History button brings you to the Mebetoys
and Gran Toros History page. This page contains the known facts
of the Gran Toros history. |
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The
Definition button brings you to the Gran Toros
Definition page. This page describes the unique characteristics
that identify a true Hot Wheels Gran Toros. |
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Since
each Gran Toros model was made in Italy it seems only fitting
that we provide Italian to English translations
for many common Gran Toros terms. The Italian button will take
you to that page. |
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Gran
Toros were an addition to the original Hot Wheels car family, often
referred to as "Redlines" or Ruote Brucia Pista in Italy.
Click this button to see my Mattel Hot Wheels Redline collection.
You won't find the rarest cars here but I've had most of this collection
since I was 11-years old. The Hot Wheels Redlines section contains
pages for Hot Wheels Redlines from 1968,
1969, 1970,
1971, and 1972. |
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This
has links to many of my favorite Hot Wheels
related diecast websites. |
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Many
people helped me with this site. The Credits
page is where I can thank them. |
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My
Personal Gran Toros Story |
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I
remember collecting and playing with Matchbox cars as a young
boy. My parents would give me 33-cents each week and I would
pedal my bicycle to the pharmacy and buy a new Matchbox. One
Saturday morning all that would change. That morning I saw a
television ad for a new type of toy car called a Hot Wheels.
By now I had a paper route and each week I would beg my father
to take me to the department store where I would buy Hot Wheels
with some of the profits.
I
was almost 13-years old when a new type of Hot Wheels was announced,
a larger version made in Italy and called Gran Toros. I loved
these cars. My mother was from Italy and would help me read
the Italian words on the bottom of the castings. My relatives
in Italy learned about my new collection and would send some
to me for my birthday and Christmas.
As
time went on, I became more interested in real cars, scholastic
sports, academics and dating but I always kept some of my Gran
Toros on my desk. I took some of them to college but stored
my favorite Gran Toros and all my Hot Wheels and accessories
at my parents. Years later I found some of my Gran Toros and
went searching for the stored models. I found some but not my
favorite: a beautiful Ferrari Can Am with all the stickers and
Ferrari logos. Search as I might, I only found its wing.
It
was then that I decided to restore my Gran Toros collection
starting with the incredible Ferrari Can Am from Benedetto Rubino.
My collection is much larger now then when I was a boy but I
still play with them the very same way. I still race them and
rank them by speed. I am much older now but if you look very
hard you will see the heart of an 11-year old. Why did I collect
all these cars? As someone once said: "For the love of
a childhood toy."
I
hope you enjoy the site.
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Just
because we have not seen it does not mean that it does not exist. |
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Pictured
to the left is an orange enamel McLaren Hot Wheels in the unopened
original blister pack. It's the only car we have that will not be
removed, or if you will, liberated from the blister. It stands as
a reminder that we will always keep an open mind here. While Gran
Toros are easier to "fake" than redlines, we do have limited
access to FTIR spectrometers to verify the authenticity of the paint
itself. Note that Infrared spectrometers were used to create the
Georgia State Crime Lab automotive paint chip library which is used
to identify the year, make and model of a suspect vehicle from trace
paint evidence left at crime scenes. |
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