Hot Wheels Mystery Cars are among the most exciting and suspenseful purchases a Hot Wheels collector can make 1.
Mystery Cars were introduced in 2005 and a collector's series of 24 cars (sold individually) is released each year, according to Wikipedia. The product is easily identified by its solid black package, which keeps the car inside a mystery until the buyer opens it.
Many buyers prefer not to open the package, in order to preserve the item's collectible value. But there is a way to find out which car is inside while leaving the package intact.
Locate the Code
Place the Mystery Car package face down.
A five-character code is located on the back of the package. On 2008, 2009 and 2010 packages, the code is located toward the top under the words "Mystery Cars."
The code consists of a combination of letters and numbers. A typical code would be "P2487."
Matching the codes to the cars often requires patience, because the codes are not immediately released by the manufacturer. Hot Wheels releases the codes sometime during each year 1. In the meantime, collectors often post codes online as they are discovered.
The codes from the 2005 to 2010 series are listed on the Hot Wheels Wiki, a collector's site 1. But until each year's codes are revealed, Mystery Cars live up to their name.
Tips
For example, here is the 2009 Hot Wheels Mystery Car series with the respective codes, according to the Hot Wheels Wiki:
Corvette® Grand Sport™ P2487 Ferrari F430 Challenge P2488 Shadow Mk IIa P2489 Ford Shelby Cobra Concept P2490 Fast Fish™ P2491 Shell Shock® P2492 Ford GTX1 P2493 Ferrari 250 P2494 Drift King™ P2495 Nitro Doorslammer™ P2496 Chevy® Camaro® Concept P2497 Gangster Grin™ P2498 Mitsubishi Double Shotz P2499 ’40 Ford P2500 Dodge Concept Car P2501 Prototype H-24™ P2502 Rogue Hog™ P2503 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe P2504 Split Vision™ P2505 ’08 Ford Focus P2506 Ratbomb™ P2507 ’07 Shelby GT500 P2508 1964 Ford Galaxie 500XL P2509 Quad Rod® P2510