You know what's puzzling? That Mattel, which reuses Hot Wheels toolings ALL the time, has never reissued that great Oshkosh crash truck tooling in a Collectibles or Premiere format. Seems it would be an instant hit. And I don't buy licensing as the issue, as that Oskosh snowplow has been reused forever.

Things that make you go "hmmm." This is truely a puzzling dilemma you've posed to us Mike. I was lucky enough to find an e-bay seller who had modified one of the Hotwheels Oshkosh crash trucks a while back. It was one of the best do-overs that I've ever seen. He did it in the military's olive drab dark green, He changed to lights, wheels and added metal handrails. Twas a great model and would make a smart addition to a new Premier Series if Hotwheels chose. But, you hit the nail on the head in one of the earlier posts - we've sure got it pretty good these days in the fire truck department.

Was there ever any factory variation of that particular rig? If I recall, I thought the only variation was that some did not have the "B-2" marking on the cab.

One of my favorite Hotwheels/Matchbox pieces of all time.

Close seconds are the Matchbox Mack MR heavy rescue and the International Pumper

Well, speaking of Hot Wheels tools, I have NEVER understood why Mattel didn't release an ambulance version of the fantastic 1:64th Cadillac hearse they produced a few years ago. They put a lot of effort into making a spectacularly authentic model, but it's a mystery why they chose the hearse instead of what would probably have been a much more popular ambulance (this was a dead serious - pun intended - model, not a goofy "hippie" version or a custom). Hard to believe it was done by Hot Wheels.

I believe the Hotwheels Oshkosh ARFF unit was released in France in a different scheme. Rather hard to find. Bought quite a few of the US version @ 99 cents each when they came out. Got a box of em somwehere...

I saw a second release (red?) in a HOT Wheel collectors book.

There are 2 main color variations of the model, the yellow one commonly found in the US and the reverse red version from France. The latter is quite hard to find and can fetch several hundred dollars.

There are also base variations on the yellow depending on the country of manufacture. There should be a Hong Kong and a china version.

This model also has the disticntion of being the heaviest HW model produced. It is one of my all time favorites.

Jeff