Chances are that if you’re reading this, you probably played with Hot Wheels cars as a kid. Who didn’t have at least a dozen of the metal and plastic cars rolling across the kitchen floor, and driving dad crazy when we forgot to put them away and he stepped on one (sorry dad). Many of us probably even have at least a few of those today, from time to time we find ourselves digging through the racks at the local toy store to see if we can find a few cool ones to take home and put on our desk at the office.

What does it take to design a Hot Wheels car though? In this modern era, you would think that with CAD technology, and all the digital imaging we have available that creating the next cool Hot Wheels hit, would be just a few mouse clicks and an assembly line away from reality. It’s actually not, and Felix Holst chief designer of Mattel’s Hot Wheels explains why in the latest installment of Mustang Countdown.

Holst, who’s had a love of Mustangs since he was a kid in a small English village, recounts in the video a BOSS that used to roam the streets of his local village, explains in the video that Ford and other manufacturers now supply CAD files to Mattel for creating the Hot Wheels cars. The problem Holst says is that the proportions that look beautiful on a full size car, often look out of place when the car is miniaturized. As a result, Hot Wheels designers must use the CAD data as a guide, but do things like shrink mirrors, expand the glass and cockpit, and enlarge the wheels. Doing this gives the cars that classic Hot Wheels look.

Who knew so much work went into producing the toys that we played with kids and hopefully our kids and grandkids will be playing with for years to come. Check out the video for an inside peak at designing Hot Wheels Mustangs, and even the real life Hot Wheels Mustang GT.