George Soulakis, Larry Wood
Background
George Soulakis — George Soulakis Jr. was a Mattel designer and engineer from 1968 to 2000 and the main engineer and designer behind the Sizzlers line. In 1972 he suggested using the tampo printing process to apply graphics to the cars; Mattel invested more than US$100,000 in equipment, and the technique has been used on Hot Wheels cars ever since. He retired in 2000 and died in 2025.
Larry Wood — Larry Wood, known as 'Mr. Hot Wheels', studied at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. He was recruited by Ford in 1965 and joined Hot Wheels in 1969, building a career of about 50 years with the brand: he was full-time chief designer until 2009, then a consultant and ambassador, and officially retired in 2019. His projects include Bone Shaker, Rodger Dodger, Tri-Baby and Purple Passion.
He has received the Hot Wheels Hall of Fame (2003), the Model Car Hall of Fame (2009 and 2014), the West Coast Kustoms Hall of Fame (2019), the Pop Culture Hall of Fame (2021) and the Automotive Hall of Fame (2023). Today he works as a freelancer, at Larry Wood Design LLC.
