Black Wall Question

[RV33]

I'm not sure how to word this, so I apologize ahead of time for my naivety. Is the "Black Wall Era" just considered "black" because the actual red line was no longer being added to wheels? And if so, what factor changed to end the "Black Wall Era" of cars? 

 

I'm asking because I'm relatively new to collecting (~5 years) but have recently been focused on collecting from the decade I was born (80's). Just want to have a good understanding of why this era is considered "Black Wall".

[CJCOLLIE]

Yes, they're black wall because there was no longer a red line on the tire.  Now the end of the era is open for discussion for sure. 

 

To ME the era is 1978 - 1988 and that's it.  From 1989 on they stopped using the Basic Wheel (black wall) as much or nearly at all.  They started using a lot of neon and weird paint jobs that I just don't care for.  But like I said, they stopped using the wheel so much that 1989 is the end in my opinion.

 

Others say the era goes up until 1995 and the start of the treasure hunts.  I'm in several facebook groups that count up to 1995, but the majority of the stuff posted is 78-88.

 

Hope this helps!  Happy Black Wall hunting.

[DOOMUS]

On 2/29/2020 at 2:22 PM, CJCOLLIE said:

Yes, they're black wall because there was no longer a red line on the tire.  Now the end of the era is open for discussion for sure. 

 

To ME the era is 1978 - 1988 and that's it.  From 1989 on they stopped using the Basic Wheel (black wall) as much or nearly at all.  They started using a lot of neon and weird paint jobs that I just don't care for.  But like I said, they stopped using the wheel so much that 1989 is the end in my opinion.

 

Others say the era goes up until 1995 and the start of the treasure hunts.  I'm in several facebook groups that count up to 1995, but the majority of the stuff posted is 78-88.

 

Hope this helps!  Happy Black Wall hunting.

Not sure what you are referring to as for the lack of BW use... the wheel was used all through the beginning of 1995. Plenty of post-1988 releases used the wheel, along with UH and HO.

Edited March 2, 2020 by DOOMUS

[ARMATAZ]

On 2/28/2020 at 10:15 PM, RV33 said:

I'm not sure how to word this, so I apologize ahead of time for my naivety. Is the "Black Wall Era" just considered "black" because the actual red line was no longer being added to wheels? And if so, what factor changed to end the "Black Wall Era" of cars? 

 

I'm asking because I'm relatively new to collecting (~5 years) but have recently been focused on collecting from the decade I was born (80's). Just want to have a good understanding of why this era is considered "Black Wall".

ALL hot wheels styles to date have black side walls. BW stands for the hot wheels Basic wheel. thisis the whel style that started with embossed redlines from 73 forward to 77,at which point the embossed side wall was removed.  

price guides  like tomart refer to RSW red striped wheels for red lines and black wall for basic wheels with out the side wall. to easily explain to non collectors what ones are considered the most valuable.

 but the BW  was the third mainline wheel design and the 1st to use the industry standard strait axle with out suspention and exposed axle ends. which gave the basic wheel it's name. this is what the wheel is actually called. just as hot ones are called hot ones, ultra hots are ultra hots,  5 spokes are 5 spokes and so on.

 it took a few years to get people to call red lines red lines again instead of RSW's, and it is taking even longer with the basic wheesl, because they share the same B.W. innitials even thogh basic wheel refers to the wheel design, not the side wall. TAZ

[RV33]

There's a lot of conflicting info here, and I'm not sure I understand this any better than before I asked the question. What CJCOLLIE posted lines up the most with what I've read elsewhere. 

 

I understand that most Hot Wheels have black side walls, but there were plenty of wheels in the early 90's that look nothing like the 80's wheels.

 

Perhaps I should rephrase.. the "Black Wall Era" seems to be a real thing. But what exactly defines that? 

 

[loaf]

I consider 77-94 to be the Black Wall Era

[DOOMUS]

19 hours ago, RV33 said:

 

Perhaps I should rephrase.. the "Black Wall Era" seems to be a real thing. But what exactly defines that? 

 

 

This generally refers to when they eliminated the redline from the wheels (1977) to the era of the "new"/"next generation" style basic wheels (5sp, 7sp, 3sp, 5 dot, razor/sawblade, lace/wire) in 1995. 

 

While the BW (also used to abbreviate "basic wheel"; either way, the wheel was basically just the 1974-1977 redline wheel without the redline) was pretty much the only wheel from 1977 through early 1980s, the BW era also included the HO (Hot Ones) and UH (Ultra Hot) wheels starting in the early-mid 1980s. As the decade moved on and into the 1990s, the UH and HO wheels gained a bit more use, maybe to the point where the BW/UH/HO split was more around 40/40/20 between all the releases. So the UH and HO wheels are considered part of the BW era. During this era, they also debuted  two different treaded 1-piece "off road" wheels, often referred to as CT and CTS wheels (the hub style is different between the two, and CTS wheels only came in one size) for construction vehicles and off road trucks. (Also note, my BW use estimation also includes the whitewalls as part of the BW count, as the wheel was the BW with... well, painted whitewalls). So essentially, IMO, the BW era is when the BW, UH and HO wheels were wheels of use. 

 

The BW, UH and HO were phased out in early 1995 when the 5sp and 7sp wheels came to be, and the 3sp, 5 dot, razor/sawblade and lace/wire wheels showed late in the year, all 6 becoming the wheels for basic/mainline use. The CT and CTS wheels went away during 1996 when the razor/sawblade off road wheel was developed and solely used for any of the vehicles that required that style wheel (minus a very small number of 1997 releases made in China).

 

This was also during a time when it was common to use a vehicle deco for a LONG time, giving many vehicles several wheel variations over the mid-1990s timeframe. That may be part of the reason some don't consider the early 1990s part of the BW era, but I sure don't see it that way.

Edited March 3, 2020 by DOOMUS

[RV33]

On 3/3/2020 at 6:03 PM, DOOMUS said:

 

This generally refers to when they eliminated the redline from the wheels (1977) to the era of the "new"/"next generation" style basic wheels (5sp, 7sp, 3sp, 5 dot, razor/sawblade, lace/wire) in 1995. 

 

While the BW (also used to abbreviate "basic wheel"; either way, the wheel was basically just the 1974-1977 redline wheel without the redline) was pretty much the only wheel from 1977 through early 1980s, the BW era also included the HO (Hot Ones) and UH (Ultra Hot) wheels starting in the early-mid 1980s. As the decade moved on and into the 1990s, the UH and HO wheels gained a bit more use, maybe to the point where the BW/UH/HO split was more around 40/40/20 between all the releases. So the UH and HO wheels are considered part of the BW era. During this era, they also debuted  two different treaded 1-piece "off road" wheels, often referred to as CT and CTS wheels (the hub style is different between the two, and CTS wheels only came in one size) for construction vehicles and off road trucks. (Also note, my BW use estimation also includes the whitewalls as part of the BW count, as the wheel was the BW with... well, painted whitewalls). So essentially, IMO, the BW era is when the BW, UH and HO wheels were wheels of use. 

 

The BW, UH and HO were phased out in early 1995 when the 5sp and 7sp wheels came to be, and the 3sp, 5 dot, razor/sawblade and lace/wire wheels showed late in the year, all 6 becoming the wheels for basic/mainline use. The CT and CTS wheels went away during 1996 when the razor/sawblade off road wheel was developed and solely used for any of the vehicles that required that style wheel (minus a very small number of 1997 releases made in China).

 

This was also during a time when it was common to use a vehicle deco for a LONG time, giving many vehicles several wheel variations over the mid-1990s timeframe. That may be part of the reason some don't consider the early 1990s part of the BW era, but I sure don't see it that way.

 

This makes a lot more sense. Thank you for taking the time to explain things!