2026 Hot Wheels Legends Tour New Zealand: Kiwi Car Culture Takes Centre Stage

For Hot Wheels collectors and car enthusiasts across New Zealand, 2026 was a pretty special year.

The Hot Wheels Legends Tour returned to New Zealand, bringing together some of the country's most creative custom car builders for a competition with an incredible prize: the chance to have their very own vehicle transformed into an official Hot Wheels 1:64 die-cast model.

And this year was bigger than ever.

On Sunday, 30 August 2026, Auckland hosted the first-ever live New Zealand finale of the Hot Wheels Legends Tour at the underground car park of The Warehouse Albany, turning the venue into a celebration of custom cars, creativity and Hot Wheels culture.

What Is the Hot Wheels Legends Tour?

The Hot Wheels Legends Tour is one of the biggest celebrations of custom car culture in the Hot Wheels world.

Rather than simply looking for the fastest or most expensive car, Hot Wheels searches for something much more difficult to define: a vehicle that feels like it belongs in the world of Hot Wheels.

The competition focuses on three key areas:

• Authenticity – Does the vehicle have a genuine identity and purpose?
• Creativity – Is the build original, unusual and different?
• Garage Spirit – Does the car show the passion, dedication and countless hours that went into creating it?

The ultimate prize is what makes the competition so special. The global winner will have their custom vehicle recreated as an official 1:64 Hot Wheels die-cast, distributed around the world, while also earning a place in the prestigious Hot Wheels Garage of Legends.

For a car builder, that's about as close as you can get to automotive immortality.

The 2026 Tour Comes to New Zealand

New Zealand's return to the Legends Tour was particularly exciting because the country had been without the competition for two years.

Even more importantly, 2026 marked the first time New Zealand hosted a live Legends Tour finale.

The free public event ran from 8:00am to 2:00pm at The Warehouse Albany, with hundreds of automotive enthusiasts attending to see the finalist cars and a much wider selection of custom vehicles on display.

There was also a live DJ, photo opportunities and plenty happening for Hot Wheels fans and families throughout the day.

It was a great example of how Hot Wheels has grown beyond simply being a toy brand. The Legends Tour connects die-cast collecting with the real-world automotive scene, giving builders the opportunity to turn the cars they've imagined and created in their garages into something recognised by millions of Hot Wheels fans around the world.

The Kiwi Finalists

The New Zealand competition showcased an impressive range of builds, proving that there isn't one particular formula for creating a Hot Wheels legend.

Among the finalists were:

1969 Rambler Rebel – Shawn Retter

A classic piece of American automotive history brought into the modern custom scene.

1931 Ford Model A – Andrew Beatson

A pre-war classic that demonstrated just how far the definition of a Hot Wheels-worthy build can stretch.

1993 Mitsubishi Evolution I – Jay Latchman

A Japanese performance icon representing a completely different side of Kiwi car culture.

2013 Range Rover Sport – Jess Kirkwood

A seriously modified SUV that combined luxury-SUV proportions with some very serious hot-rod engineering.

2025 Scratch-Built Machine – Joshua Lee

Perhaps the most unconventional entry of the group, this completely scratch-built creation showed exactly what the Legends Tour is about: imagination and originality.

The diversity of the finalists was one of the highlights of the competition. From American classics and Japanese performance cars to an extensively modified Range Rover and a scratch-built machine, there was no single recipe for becoming a Legend.

And the Winner Is… Jess Kirkwood

After the judging was complete, Jess Kirkwood and her 2013 Range Rover Sport were crowned the 2026 New Zealand Hot Wheels Legends Tour champions.

And the winning Range Rover is certainly not your average SUV.

Kirkwood's build features a blown LS engine and a tubbed 3/4 chassis, creating an outrageous combination of Range Rover styling and high-performance hot-rod engineering.

It's exactly the sort of unexpected combination that makes the Legends Tour so entertaining.

A luxury SUV might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about a Hot Wheels custom, but that's precisely what makes this build stand out.

Hot Wheels isn't looking for something ordinary.

It's looking for something that makes you stop, look twice and think:

"That would make an awesome Hot Wheels."

What's Next for the NZ Winner?

Winning the New Zealand round is only the beginning for Jess Kirkwood.

Her Range Rover Sport will now move forward to the Asia-Pacific Regional Finale, where it will compete against other regional winners for the opportunity to reach the Global Grand Finale.

If she manages to progress through the regional competition and ultimately wins the global title, her Range Rover Sport could become a genuine Hot Wheels die-cast sold around the world.

Imagine seeing the same car you've watched cruising around New Zealand sitting on a peg in a Hot Wheels aisle.

That's the dream.

Why the Legends Tour Matters to Hot Wheels Collectors

For collectors, events like the Legends Tour are particularly interesting because they show where the real-world inspiration behind Hot Wheels comes from.

Hot Wheels has always blurred the line between toy cars and real automotive culture. A car doesn't necessarily need to be a million-dollar supercar to become interesting.

Sometimes the most memorable cars are the weird ones.

The heavily modified ones.

The cars built in someone's garage after countless late nights.

The cars that shouldn't work but somehow do.

That's the philosophy behind the Legends Tour, and it's also what makes the competition so exciting for collectors.

A future Hot Wheels casting could potentially start life as a completely unknown build in someone's garage.

A Big Year for Hot Wheels in New Zealand

The 2026 New Zealand Legends Tour was more than just another car competition.

It was a celebration of the creativity and passion that exists within New Zealand's automotive community.

From classic American cars to Japanese performance icons and completely custom creations, the finalists demonstrated just how diverse Kiwi car culture really is.

And with Jess Kirkwood now representing New Zealand at the Asia-Pacific Regional Finale, there is still another chapter to come.

For Hot Wheels fans, the question now is simple:

Could we see a Kiwi-built Range Rover sitting in the Hot Wheels aisle one day?

We certainly wouldn't complain.

Congratulations to Jess Kirkwood on becoming the 2026 New Zealand Hot Wheels Legends Tour champion – and good luck at the Asia-Pacific Regional Finale!