Special-edition Hot Wheels Camaro rolling out

• Project began late in 2010, when Chevy laid plans for a Hot Wheels concept car
• Classic Hot Wheels badge adorns grille, trunk lid, steering wheel, door inners and sill plates
• Hot Wheels package option runs $6,995

DETROIT -- Hot Wheels has sold more Camaros than Chevrolet since the two legends of four-wheel fun arrived nearly simultaneously: the car in 1967 and the toy in '68.

Chevy hopes to repay the favor Monday as it introduces the first Hot Wheels-badged version of a production car, a gleaming limited edition of the 2013 Camaro.

Hot Wheels' chief designer Felix Holst took the first of the cars out for hot laps and sat down with David Ross, Chevy's design chief for performance and specialty cars.

The grown men looked like kids with new toys when they sat down at GM's Milford proving grounds to talk about how you turn a real car into a Hot Wheel, and vice versa. The real car waited in the parking lot; the first of the toys rolled back and forth on the table between them.

The project began late in 2010, when Chevy decided it wanted to display a Hot Wheels concept car at the enthusiast-themed 2011 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) auto show in Las Vegas.

Holst's team sketched five concepts and turned them over to Ross' GM designers. Working with designers from another company was unprecedented for both companies.

"We filled walls up with sketches," Ross said. "I didn't even have to ask people to work on it. What designer wouldn't jump at the chance to build a production car that looks like a Hot Wheel?"

The car was a hit at SEMA last November. "I couldn't even get close to it to take a photo," Ross said. "Within the first couple of hours, we knew it was a home run. On the plane home from Vegas, people were working on the production model. How could we get it to production?"

They received approval to design a production car quickly. The goal was to unveil it at the 2012 SEMA show next week in Las Vegas.

"The time scale was incredible," Holst said. GM proposed building a production car based on Hot Wheels' design in the same amount of time it takes some of the toy cars to go from first sketch to production.

Capturing Hot Wheels' custom zest on a full-size car without looking overdone and cartoonish was a challenge. The GM team scaled down the wheel arches and reduced wide red lines on the toy's wheels to narrow red pinstripes on the production car's wheels. The flame-job paint on the production car's rear fenders is subtle and translucent, understated compared with the toy's overt style. The classic Hot Wheels badge adorns the production car's grille, trunk lid, steering wheel, door inners and sill plates. Holst's team at Hot Wheels matched the car's deep blue paint perfectly for the toy that goes on sale shortly.

"The project was like a childhood dream," Ross said. "Every designer on the program has childhood memories of Hot Wheels. They laid the groundwork for their professional lives."

The feeling was mutual.

"We got taken around the track by a trained driver," Holst said. "It was insane. I was living every boy's dream. My cheeks hurt from smiling."

The Hot Wheels package costs $6,995, a far cry from the 99-cents-and-up toys in the seasonal aisle at Walgreens. Then again, in addition to the Hot Wheels badges and slick ghosted flame job, it comes on a well-equipped version of the V-6 or V-8 Camaro coupe or convertible.

Chevy dealers start taking orders Thursday. The car should be in dealerships early next year.

As for the tiny Hot Wheels version of the Camaro, it will retail for $1.09 and will be available at stores next spring.

Fast facts about Hot Wheels

-- Mattel makes 6 million Hot Wheels cars every week.

-- In addition to the famous 1/64 scale toys, Hot Wheels makes larger models and produces the official line of Ferrari replicas.

-- The Custom Camaro 1:64-scale toy was one of the first 16 Hot Wheels made when the toy line made its debut in 1968. It's prized by collectors.

-- Hot Wheels adds about 50 new models every year. They're about equally divided between production vehicles and originals created by Mattel.

-- Hot Wheels has 30-40 designers.

-- Manufacturers often give Hot Wheels details about new cars long before the public sees them.

-- Hot Wheels' designers had a paint chip and three images to make the toy version of the 2013 Hot Wheels special-edition Camaro.

-- Like automotive designers, Hot Wheels turns sketches and models into digital information for the manufacturing engineers.

-- Hot Wheels can create a new toy quickly, but others can take up to a year to go from the first sketch to production.

-- Stunt drivers on Team Hot Wheels duplicate the toys' tricks with real cars, including the famous orange-track double loop and a 332-foot truck jump. There's video at www.hotwheels.com/teamhw.