#chryslerthunderbolt

That Time Forgot: Chrysler Thunderbolt

I have a thing for old concept cars and castings Hot Wheels appears to have forgotten about over the years. So, why not combine them into a single segment? Our first installment of this segment talks about the Chrysler Thunderbolt, Chrysler’s halo car design for the 1990s that never came to be. I got the idea for this from a Motor1 segment that runs every so now and then known as “Concept We Forgot”, so might as well credit it now before we get on with it.

The Thunderbolt was a front-mid-engined concept car designed in 1993 by GM designer Tom Gale, intended to be Chrysler’s halo car. According to Neil Walling, Chrysler's director of advanced and international design at the time, DaimlerChrysler had a program where they wanted to do a car that would be the epitome of each of their marques; these marques were Plymouth, Dodge, Jeep, and of course, Chrysler. The cars that came out of this design program were the Plymouth Prowler, Jeep Ecco, Dodge Viper and the Chrysler Thunderbolt.

First presented at the 1993 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the Thunderbolt stole the show at the DaimlerChrysler booth. The Thunderbolt was also fully functional; it was based on a lengthened LH platform that was used in the Concorde, Intrepid and 300M and was powered by an experimental 4.0L 32-valve V8 designed by Chrysler’s engineering chief at the time, François Castaing. The engine generated 270 BHP and was essentially a more advanced version of the engine found in the Eagle Optima. The transmission was a four-speed automatic, and ABS, four-wheel disc brakes and traction control were standard.

The car was hand-built by a company known as Metalcrafters, which took the car from a one-fifth scale model built by Chrysler to reality within a span of eight months. The car was built of real steel and glass, with no plastic or fiberglass to be found. The engine was stuffed in the front; one half of the engine was in the actual hood secton, with the other half under the dashboard, making this a front-mid-engined car. The lines of the Thunderbolt were made to be somewhat reminiscent of the original 1941 Thunderbolt concept, which this concept recycled the name of.

The interior for the Thunderbolt was highly advanced for the time, featuring power seats and enough legroom at the rear to comfortably seat four. An on-board infotainment system was also provided, including satellite navigation and a computer with video games. The cab forward design of the Thunderbolt helps to add to the legroom as well. At the rear, the car’s distinctive double bubble canopy also showed.

After being presented at the NAIAS in 1993, the car may have gone on to be displayed at a number of auto shows, before finding its permanent residence at the Walter P. Chrysler Museum; with the closure of the museum in 2016, however, the Thunderbolt was subsequently moved into storage, and its current location remains unknown.

Now, about the casting. The small-scale Thunderbolt was designed by a man you may have heard of: Mark Jones. Jones originally joined Mattel in 1986 but began designing Hot Wheels around 1993; some of the castings he designed include the following:

• Bugatti Veyron (2003 First Editions, 2003 – 2010) • Corvette SR-2 (2002 First Editions, 2001 – 2012) • Enzo Ferrari (2003 First Editions, 2003 – 2014) • Ferrari 250 LM (2007 First Editions, 2007 – 2009) • Flathead Fury (2005 Acceleracers: Metal Maniacs, 2005 – 2016) • Ground FX (2003 First Editions, 2003 – Present) • Hyper Mite (2001 First Editions, 2001 – 2013) • Mazda 787B (2018 Car Culture: Circuit Legends, 2018 – Present) • Nissan Silvia (S15) (2018 HW Entertainment: Forza Motorsport, 2018 – Present) • Pipe Jammer (1993 First Editions, 1993 – 1996) • Prototipo Alfa Romeo B.A.T. 9 (2006 First Editions: Realistix, 2006 only) • Volkswagen Käfer Racer (2017 New Models: HW Speed Graphics, 2017 – Present)

Jones left the Hot Wheels design team circa 2005 to go to Matchbox’s design team to design cars for the Real Working Rigs and SkyBusters lines, only to return to Hot Wheels in 2014, where he currently designs for the mainline and Premium lines.

This small scale replica of the Thunderbolt was introduced in 1998, alongside thirty-nine other models, such as the ‘65 Impala, Tow Jam, Customized C3500, Mustang Mach 1 and the Dairy Delivery. It was introduced in a silver paintscheme replicating that of the real Thunderbolt, with purple windows. From my examination, the Thunderbolt’s sloping roof section is plastic and appears to be snapped onto the windows. The rear of the double bubble canopy features the Hot Wheels logo cast in.

Sometime between 1999 and 2001, the base was changed, now featuring copyright information pertaining to the Dodge Car Company; it appears that it was around the ‘00s where copyright or trademark information pertaining to a car manufactured by a certain few manufacturers had to be added to the bottom of the base was mandated (i.e. “TM GM”, “DCC” or “Chrysler Group LLC”).

The casting received a total of eight releases, with the last release of this casting being in 2003 under the Highway 35: World Race series under the Wave Rippers team. Under its Wave Rippers guise, the car was given a number of embellishments in terms of specifications and performance figures; the cartoon version produces 670 BHP from an experimental V10 mated to conceal worm-drive propellers.

This casting has not been seen since its Wave Rippers release, although it was never officially retired under the Final Run Series (which has been on hiatus since 2006). It’s likely that this casting has been quietly retired, and will most likely never be seen again.

Now, I’m a big fan of the Thunderbolt, with its absolutely unique styling, but this was not easy to write about since the history of the Thunderbolt is so scattered. However, I hope this helps to provide the viewer with at least some history of the Thunderbolt, with all the various sources I could string up over the web.