Production Codes of Mattel Cars

[BertieRichards]

Thanks for contributing the thread which contains production dates of the various promo Cars. It's impeccable!

[Sapfir]

Hello to all!
Who knows how read Mattel production codes on the cars from Thailand factory? In my opinion the letter - is code of the year. But what letter indicate what year? The digital number - is the number of week, right?

[niftynigel]

You are correct.

R = 2022 (P = 2021 etc).
40 = the week of production (of packing as shown on the card). The actual week the car production is shown on the bottom of the car.
A = I'm guessing the factory or production line?

E.g. Racing Centre Cruz Ramirez (Metallic Gold) shows R40A on the card and R38A stamped on the bottom.

Hot Wheels singles, although they are manufactured in Malaysia, have similar codes (without the 'A' suffix).

[Sapfir]

OK. But why 2021 is "P', not "Q", if 2022 is "R"? How to understand which year which letter corresponds to?

[niftynigel]

Mattel don't use some letters as they are similar to some numbers or other letters.

I = 1 (one)
O = 0 (zero)

Although Q can look like O, it is reserved for special cases. There was a special assortment a couple of years ago, which had 'Q'.

[Sapfir]

Mattel don't use some letters as they are similar to some numbers or other letters.

I = 1 (one)
O = 0 (zero)

Although Q can look like O, it is reserved for special cases. There was a special assortment a couple of years ago, which had 'Q'.

Thank you!