Hot Wheels Flip Outs were introduced in 1986. Similar to the Crack Ups which came out the previous year, encouraging kids to crash their Hot Wheels cars, Flip Outs have a spring-loaded mechanism on the base that causes the car to flip over on impact. There were only four castings used for the Flip Outs – Camaro Wind, Ford Aerostar, Police Car and Nissan 200SX – with two variations available of each car (each with a unique name). The Police Car and Nissan 200SX castings were only used for Flip Outs, while the Camaro Wind and Ford Aerostar went on to have lives in outside the series.
The Vaultin’ Van, with its excellent TV Stunt Team tampo graphics, is the name given to this variation of the Ford Aerostar from the Flip Outs. I found this in the $1 tub at J & J’s Treasures back in June. Notice it has opaque chrome windows, which hide the inner-workings of the spring mechanism that’s inside the body of the vehicle.
While some Flip Outs were designed to do endos, the Vaultin’ Van has a side-flipper – as you can see here in the photo of the base – which causes a rollover.
Hot Wheels | 1986 Flip Outs | 2283 | Vaultin’ Van (Ford Aerostar) | white with red, yellow and black TV Stunt Team tampo, chrome windows, unpainted metal base | Hong Kong | blackwalls
Other versions of the Ford Aerostar in my collection include the 1992 Speedie Pizza Delivery release and the black Roller Blades variation from 1993.
The Race Case 