Treasure Hunt Series

Treasure Hunt (sometimes T-Hunt) is a line of Hot Wheels cars, introduced by Mattel in 1995. It consists of 12 cars every year; one released per month. The original production run was 10,000 pieces worldwide; that number has since risen due to the increasing demand for and popularity of Hot Wheels as a collector's item.

Treasure Hunt Vehicles are identifiable by a label on the package. The blister card will say "Treasure Hunt" or "T-Hunt" on a green bar with an illustration of a treasure chest. The cars are decorated with flashy designs and special "rubber" wheels. They have a high secondary market price tag when they are first released. The value typically stabilizes when more of the cars are available on the market. Sometimes collectors will see this as the car dropping in price, but empirical data strongly suggests otherwise. Instead, the high prices initially seen are the result of the "Internet boom"; when there are only a few new cars available on the market and hundreds of collectors are after them, the price will skyrocket. Data collected over the past twelve years actually indicates the price on Treasure Hunts is rising quite well.Fact|date=May 2007 Prices from the Internet are generally much higher because regular collectors quote values that do not take into account shipping charges, risk, and inconvenience - all negative factors on the online market.

In 2007, Mattel introduced a two-tiered Treasure Hunt system. A regular Treasure Hunt will feature normal enamel paint and normal wheels like other Hot Wheels cars. The production of these is rumored to be greater than Treasure Hunts of the past. The super Treasure Hunt is much rarer and, like Treasure Hunts of the past, features premium wheels, and Spectraflame paint. All 12 Treasure Hunt cars are planned to be released in both regular and super versions.