Hot Wheels lifesize!

Approximately 3,000 custom hot rod fans converged at the Gilroy Walmart parking lot Sept. 21 to check out 270 fanciful auto creations that were competing for a chance to become immortalized and miniaturized—as next year’s Hot Wheels Car of the Year. The Mattel toy company brought its Hot Wheels Legends Tour competition to Gilroy, one of 18 stops across the U.S. The firm tapped a customized 1995 red Honda Civic owned by Carlo Uribe of Gilroy as the local winner. Uribe will take his hot rod to a Las Vegas auto show later this year, where Mattel will select a vehicle from among the 18 regional winners, to be reborn as a small die-cast toy.