Joey Ruiter’s wild V8-powered “Reboot Buggy” wins Detroit stop of Hot Wheels Legends Tour, heading to global finals.
With styling straight from the imagination of a sci-fi artist and the performance chops of a desert racer, “Reboot Buggy” has captured top honors at the Detroit stop of the 2024 Hot Wheels Legends Tour, earning a coveted spot in the global finals for a chance to become a 1:64-scale Hot Wheels die-cast model.
The brainchild of Michigan-based designer and fabricator Joey Ruiter, the Reboot Buggy is a one-off creation that defies conventional categories. Built on a custom steel-tube chassis, the vehicle looks like something from a video game paused mid-render—intentionally raw, unapologetically futuristic, and uniquely compelling.
Underneath the stylized exterior sits serious firepower: a 6.3-liter Chevrolet V8, mounted midship and paired to a Turbo 400 automatic transmission, delivering power to the rear wheels. Massive 40-inch Yokohama M/T tires and a staggering 28 inches of suspension travel make the Reboot Buggy as capable as it is outrageous.
“This is exactly the kind of creativity we look for,” said a Hot Wheels spokesperson. “It’s bold, imaginative, performance-driven, and—most importantly—it would look incredible as a Hot Wheels toy.”
Detroit marked the fourth U.S. stop on this year’s Hot Wheels Legends Tour, following events in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina. The tour now moves on to Milwaukee on June 28, before continuing through Texas, California, Nevada, and Kansas.
Reboot Buggy will face off later this year against other U.S. finalists and regional winners from Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, competing for the chance to be immortalized in miniature. Last year’s winner, La Liebre from Chile, became an instant fan favorite.
For now, Ruiter’s creation stands as a testament to automotive artistry and mechanical madness—and it might just be on store shelves soon, scaled down but no less wild.
