Hubcap (1986)
Released in the third year of the original toy line in the US (second year in Japan), Hubcap is a retooling of the Cliffjumper “penny-racer”-proportioned Porsche 924 that blends elements of the 924 Turbo and 924 Carrera GT versions, giving him a new robot mode head and a much smaller spoiler that often leads him to be called a “no spoiler” variant… Although his seeming lack of a spoiler is actually scale-accurate to the spoiler found on the real Porsche 924 and 944. He is sometimes mistaken for the variant yellow Cliffjumper, and even occasionally for Bumper, who has a similar transformation, but an entirely different mold for his car parts and robot head.
In 1986, he was made available as a mail-away item (incorrectly labeled as Cliffjumper) in the “Digital Doom on the Highway to Destruction” and “The Autobots Are Under Attack!” fliers packed with most boxed Transformers toys. He cost $3.50 and one Robot Point. The instruction booklet to mail-away Hubcap (sometimes bundled with Warpath and Cosmos) also incorrectly refers to him as “Cliffjumper”.
The initial releases of all Mini Vehicles and Special Teams in 1986 were part of a promotional campaign that featured reflective iron-on patches as part of a contest. Later in the year, packages without bonus patches were released.
He was released in Takara’s version of the line in a small box with a collector’s card, rather than a bubble-card like the Hasbro version.
