Cancer has taken on another legend of the car community. Ryu Asada, who designed cars for both Hot Wheels and Matchbox, died at the age of 42 of colorectal cancer.
The announcement came via Instagram Asada. He has been battling stage IV colorectal cancer for nearly five years, following a variety of treatments while remaining on pressure design teams. He died on March 23, 2021 with his long-term partner, Hazel Diaz Asada.
Asada was born and raised in Japan, then moved to the United States to pursue higher education. He graduated from ArtCenter College of Design in 2004, at which time he immediately began working at Mattel as a Matchbox car designer. There, he estimated that he created over 150 different models under pressure.
He moved to the Hot Wheels team as a guest designer, his first design being Gearonimo in 2009. He joined the full-time Hot Wheels team, where he was estimated to create 20 to 30 1:64 models a year. He took control of the $ 1 range in 2012. You can find a complete list of his designs Here.
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But some of his shining design stars were the cars of his native Japan. Asada helped fuel the madness under pressure from JDM through his passion for his designs. Since then, people have fallen head over heels for his Honda S2000 NSX, FC Mazda RX-7 and Lancia Delta Integrale HF projects.
Two of the latest Asada models were part of the J-Imports mini-collection, which included several different Japanese classics. He has been responsible for the 1970 custom Honda N600 and the 1999 Honda Civic Type-R.
Pressure collectors around the world shared kind messages about Asada, a man whom many of them deeply respect.
Asada’s loved ones are in our thoughts right now. Cancer sucks.