Johnny Lightning is a brand of model cars originally produced by Topper Toys, similar to the hugely successful Mattel Hot Wheels die cast racing cars. They were not quite as successful, one major reason was that the styling, casting and finish was not as of high quality as Mattel's Hot Wheels. Their claim to fame at that time was that they were extremely fast compared to other brands of die-cast cars. Their most important technology was to mold in a small hook under the front axle so that they could be propelled by a lever-driven catapult, far faster than could be obtained by either gravity, or battery powered "supercharger" devices.
Johnny Lightning sponsored 5 Parnelli Jones cars including Al Unser in the 1970 and 1971 Indy 500 races. Unser was able to capture those victories in his blue lightning bolt decorated Johnny Lightning Special. After the initial 500 victory, sales of the Johnny Lightning cars increased dramatically, from initially having sales falling far behind that of Mattel to selling one Johnny Lightning to every 3 Hot Wheels car.
By the end of 1971 Topper Toys was forced to close due to business fraud which brought an end to the Johnny Lightning cars.
Tom Lowe and his Playing Mantis company acquired the rights to the Johnny Lightning trademark and started producing reproductions of the original cars in 1994. About the same time that Hot Wheels introduced a "Vintage" line of cars that were reproductions of original 1960s designs. Sales were moderately successful. Interest soon faded as most collectors weren't that passionate about the cars even when they were new. They also revived the "Sizzlers" name with electric cars similar to the original Mattel cars. Currently, they sell a line of 1/64 scale adult die cast cars with more detail. Jeff Koch, formerly of Hot Rod Magazine, briefly acted as Brand Manager for Johnny Lightning, bringing his unique real automotive expertise to the line from 2001 through 2004.
In the mid 1990's, Tom Lowe at Playing Mantis toy company commissioned Hollywood writer/producer, William Winckler, and comic book artist Charles Barnett III in New York, who had worked with Marvel Comics, to produce a comic book toy line called THE ADVENTURES OF JOHNNY LIGHTNING. Previously, William Winckler had written and optioned a pilot for a live-action kids TV series to compete with The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers called Johnny Lightning, with Tom Lowe's approval, but the series was not made. However, the comic book / toy line was developed and produced.
Not unlike SPEED RACER, the comic book stories involved young race driver Johnny Lightning, who drove a 1968 Charger, called "The Lightning One." Playing Mantis was to package self contained comic books with die-cast cars featured in the stories. Each comic book was to be packaged in a blister pack with one (1) die cast car.
Several issues were prepared, and sample die cast cars were made. A promotion to the public was made at Comic Con, and it was a huge success with the fans. Tradgically, for unknown reasons, "The Adventures of Johnny Lightning" was cancelled / shelved before Toys R Us, Target, and other retailers were to receive the line from Hong Kong. It is speculated that Playing Mantis toy company did not want to share a small percentage of rights in the new comic book character of Johnny Lightning with comic book creater/writer William Winckler. . . and this is why the project was shelved. There are public records showing that the comic book creator William Winckler also sued Playing Mantis in a court of law in South Bend, Indiana, as a result of this aburpt cancellation, and he received a financial settlement.
William Winckler was also the licensing agent for many early TV and Movie related die-cast cars and plastic model kits for Playing Mantis, including Speed Racer, Supercar, Land of the Giants Spindrift and others. Winckler was instrumental in obtaining the Speed Racer license for Playing Mantis since the U.S. licensee Speed Racer Enterprises initially rejected the offer from Playing Mantis, and Winckler had to go straight to the original Speed Racer creators / licensors in Tokyo, Japan, Tatsunoko Production Co., Ltd. to secure the license. The Speed Racer Playing Mantis cars were the first "officially licensed" die-cast vehicles of Speed Racer sold in the U.S. thanks to Winckler. William Winckler assisted in the design of the Speed Racer die-cast cars, coming up with the concept of attachable parts, buzz saws, auto jacks, etc., to the Mach 5 vehicle, and Tom Lowe incorporated Winckler's ideas into the product line. William Winckler was paid royalties on Speed Racer and other licensed properties, but then Playing Mantis failed to continue paying owed royalties on Speed Racer to Winckler. Winckler considered suing Playing Mantis in court for money owed a second time, but never pursued it further.
Nowadays Johnny Lightning has a good following by a loyal group of collectors. JL makes cars which haven't been done before, or are quite rare, like the Citroën DS. Also they make a lot film-inspired cars, like the Ghostbusters Cadillac, the Green Hornet's Black Beauty, Batman's Batmobile, the James Bond Aston Martin, Dukes Of Hazzard-related models, etc.
In 2005, Playing Mantis was bought by RC2 Corporation and Playing Mantis disappeared. Johnny Lightning products are now produced and distributed by the RC2 corporation in Chicago. RC2 was previously known as Racing Champions and produced NASCAR die cast models. Carrying over from the Playing Mantis era was Mac Ragan who was responsible for many of the popular models. Ragan wrote the definitive guide to Johnny Lightning cars in the Johnny Lightning Tomart Guide. Also in 2005 RC2 brought in a popular automotive and die cast designer, Eric Tscherne of Hot Wheels and Jada Toys fame.
Johnny Lightning received a major overhaul of its image in 2006. A new clamshell style package arrived stores in January 2007 with the release of the new Johnny Retro series. A new logo treatment was also introduced and the logo and package design were products of a partnership with Design Force and directed by Tscherne among others. Additional overhauling of the brand included updating many of the long-time collector favorite series like Classic Gold and Musclecars which received new graphic treatments developed in the West Coast office by Jeremy Cox and Tscherne. A large price increase coincided with the new package, leaving many collectors upset with RC2's management and decision making associated with the beloved Johnny Lightning brand. in September 2007 Mac Ragan left the RC2 and Johnny Lightning. Tom Zahorsky is currently the Design Manager associated with the brand today as is responsible for picking castings, themes and developing paint schemes and decorations on the little cars. Tom is also a member of the Diecast Hall of Fame.
Johnny Lightning vehicles are today sold by Learning Curve Inc., formerly known as RC2. In 2007 Johnny Lightning expanded to offer more than just adult collectibles by introducing Battle Wheels. Battle Wheels is a line of remote controlled robots that battle one another. They also introduced the world's first transforming RC vehicle the V_BOT.