Any of you comic people collect Hot Wheels? 5 5

[Mutant Manatee]

I sold my 50 year collection last year.  No regrets.  

 

[Shazbot]

On 3/30/2022 at 3:32 PM, Robot Man said:

Back story. My younger daughter and her husband are gear heads. She has a vintage Mustang Box 302 and he has a '69 Camaro Z-28. Their daily driver is a new tricked out Gladiator Jeep. They both live out of state and work from home. They both know and love muscle cars. My son in law is good with tools and has taught my daughter to work on her own car.

About 6 months ago she told me she started picking up Hot Wheels off the pegs at the grocery store as well as Target and Walmart. So, being the good dad I was, I started buying them for her when I ran into them. And, being a good comic and junk collector, I started reading up on the internet. I learned all about "Treasure Hunts", "Super Treasure Hunts", ID cars, "Chase" cars and the like. Watched a bunch of unboxing videos and kind of learned what to watch out for. 

I have always been all about the hunt. This is a cheap and fun hunt. Being lucky to be the first one on a new box of peg hangers. The cars are also very cool. Detailed and cool colors. 

So, I started asking the clerks at stores and kind of figured out what times they put out their stock. You never know what day but I've been pretty good on the times. I don't make a religion out of it like some of these crazed collectors but if I'm in the area, I pop in. Hard to know when they will turn up. There will be long 3-4 weeks of empty pegs then the stores get new boxes. 

Been real dry for the past month or so. But on Monday I went into my local 5 minute away Target and the nice lady was loading the racks! Had 1st chance. I don't take them all or multiples but just one of each my daughter would like. This morning, we went to the grocery store early and I was blown away. 4 full boxes of un-picked cars. I have never been this lucky. What a fun rush.

So far, I have avoided the urge to start collecting these. It is hard but I just don't need them. I have put away a few scarcer ones from the stores or the flea market but not many. I look for the comic book and pop culture ones. Like dollar comics and often not worth a whole lot (except a few). 

One thing I have found. Hot Wheel collectors love their cars intensly. Generally, it's not about the money but the love of the vehicles and the thrill of the hunt. There are greedy DBs like anywhere, but most are very generous and genuine. I have had guys give me some of the better cars. They actually seem to go out of their way to help each other. Refreshing coming from the cut throat world of comic collectors who seem to value money far more than the books themselves.

Anybody else here into these diecast beauties? 

Photos: 1.) The untouched rack at the grocery store this morning. Nice surprise after such a long drought. 4 untouched boxes and nobody there except me!  2.) A few scarcer cars I've run into and put away for myself. 

My daughter started "collecting" Hot Wheels when she was two. She loves cars and trucks, and she got ahold of a couple beat up Hot Wheels my wife once stuck in my Christmas stocking & ever since she's loved them. Never bought anything old or valuable, just buy whatever's groovy at the supermarket, so I wouldn't say we're "collectors" per say, just enjoying them. Here's some pics we took a short while ago. I mostly dig the weird stuff & the mopars.

[srezvan]

I never collected Hot Wheels as a kid or adult. My son (now 5) loved playing with cars. Still does somewhat, but mostly likes Star Wars, Transformers, and Lego now. Like the OP, being a supportive dad, I'd pick up hot wheels (or knockoffs, for all I know) when I found them for cheap at yard sale and toy shows. The best pickup (no pun intended) came from a toy show in Vegas where my wife found dozens of cars at 25 cents each. During COVID we also did a lot of projects with the kids. We found an old printer's tray, cleaned it up, and removed some sections of dividers to make him this car organizer.

[Robot Man]

On 4/1/2022 at 8:35 AM, Mutant Manatee said:

I sold my 50 year collection last year.  No regrets.  

 

Spectacular collection! Did you at least keep a few for sentimental reasons? 

[Robot Man]

Great to see you guys having that connection with your kids. My daughter is 33 and still squeals with delight when I find her some. 

[jayhawker]

Sold all of my red lines from my childhood about 10 years ago. The ones I have left are ones I’ve picked up in the last couple years. I found that rally case at a garage sale about five years ago. The guy said he found it in his attic. It still has the paper label with a date on it from 1967. 

[dupont2005]

If anyone comes across one of these and is interested in trading for comics (I believe they’re selling for about $65 or so) I’m interested. Any color is fine, no packaging is fine

[Robot Man]

On 4/2/2022 at 1:30 PM, jayhawker said:

Sold all of my red lines from my childhood about 10 years ago. The ones I have left are ones I’ve picked up in the last couple years. I found that rally case at a garage sale about five years ago. The guy said he found it in his attic. It still has the paper label with a date on it from 1967. 

Nice. The case is generally no big deal but never seen one mint with the hang tag. 

[Robot Man]

I don’t have many but here are the Hot Wheels of my era. 

[Ant-Man]

Didn’t collect, but certainly accumulated as a kid (I’m sure this crowd can appreciate the difference). It wasn’t enough to just play with the cars, you had to represent when stepping out.

[Robot Man]

On 4/5/2022 at 6:28 PM, Ant-Man said:

Didn’t collect, but certainly accumulated as a kid (I’m sure this crowd can appreciate the difference). It wasn’t enough to just play with the cars, you had to represent when stepping out.

Great piece. I have bought and sold a few of those over the years. Sell fast for decent money. I have never seen one in the original box though.

[Robot Man]

Grocery store score this morning. The Dark Knight limited edition Treasure Hunt! 

[originalisbest]

On 3/30/2022 at 3:37 PM, Robot Man said:

What a concept “to play with not to keep in their plastic vaults”. Oddly, like comic books. I haven’t looked but I suspect someone “grades” these too.

My daughter often buys dupes so she can open one. Hey, how much fun can you have with a buck these days?

LOVE Hot Wheels. Have some of the originals, nothing super high-dollar or mint in the package. Board member nerv has some really nice ones (if he hasn't already replied to the thread, I haven't read through it all yet!) In answer to your question about grading the cars in or out of their original packaging -- nothing formal that I'm aware of RM, not even anything like with figure grading or video game grading. And once the car's out of the package, it's a whole new set of flaws, minor to major that affect desirability. I don't mind a little playwear, but it has to still look "pretty good" and that will vary depending on one's tastes. One cool thing about the original Hot Wheels from '68 up through roughly 1971, there were various wheel cap and entire wheel styles, but they can be swapped from one car to another -- so worn out chrome on your wheels, you can do a wheel upgrade. :-)

[originalisbest]

On 3/30/2022 at 3:38 PM, cortown71 said:

I've collected them since the 70s when I was a kid.got really serious about them in the early 90s.and then of course late 90s to now with ebay.

I've had pretty much the entire line of every car released.i had a pretty crazy redline collection.but sold a lot of it off from 08-2012. I turned all of it into other hobbies.tons of comics of course.

I still peg hunt.but online buying is at a stand still now.

Some of my current redlines.nothing like I had.

Trimmed out some of your photos, but this is a WAY impressive collection -- very very nice! RM, cortown71's amazing cars are a great representation of how some Hot Wheels fans like to collect "rainbows", nice examples of a favorite casting in all the known colors it has been found in. Some colors being very rare, can result in eye-popping prices.

[originalisbest]

On 3/30/2022 at 6:14 PM, Robot Man said:

I have zero nostalgia about Hot Wheels. I was in high school when they came out. I was much more interested in girls, cars and music by then.

My era was Matchbox cars. All of which went the way of my other childhood stuff.

Over the years, I have picked up some nice loose ones. I like the VWs, motorcycles and any with vintage advertising. I need to dig them out for a photo…

Conversely, I have tons of nostalgia for Hot Wheels, being born in '71 and growing up with them. The world's premiere collection of them (Bruce Pascal's) is largely due to his being 10 when they first appeared in '68, and falling in love with them then.

[originalisbest]

On 4/2/2022 at 3:30 PM, jayhawker said:

Sold all of my red lines from my childhood about 10 years ago. The ones I have left are ones I’ve picked up in the last couple years. I found that rally case at a garage sale about five years ago. The guy said he found it in his attic. It still has the paper label with a date on it from 1967. 

The Rally Cases are generally, pretty common, but much more unusual to find one with that packaging tag! Most of those were long since discarded.

[Robot Man]

On 4/21/2022 at 8:31 AM, originalisbest said:

Conversely, I have tons of nostalgia for Hot Wheels, being born in '71 and growing up with them. The world's premiere collection of them (Bruce Pascal's) is largely due to his being 10 when they first appeared in '68, and falling in love with them then.

You are right in that perfect era for them. My wife and I are antique dealers. She does fine antiques and I do vintage Americana collectibles. I have bought and sold more Redlines and slot cars than I can remember including a couple very large collections. I have only kept a few that I really liked not for value but just because I liked them.

As I said at the beginning of this thread, I only buy them for my daughter who started collecting about a year ago. I just enjoy “the hunt” and the thrill of getting to a new box first. She has taught me what to look for and it is so much fun when she comes over and I give her a bunch. Father/Daughter bonding.

By the way, I have experienced many great collectors of these. Often giving me rare cars because they already have them and know I don’t. A competitive hobby but full of people who love them. A refreshing change to a lot of comic collectors I encounter “out in the wild”…

[originalisbest]

Agreed on your views about Hot Wheels collectors generally! They're a fun bunch. I'm sure some are super-competitive for cars, but most seem to value camaraderie even more. Nothing better than having something to bond over with your daughter, besides!

toycarcollector.com is where I've gotten some of my cars, and there's a lot of competition for better models on eBay of course. Dave Williamson also has a ton of unpacking videos of car collections he's bought on YouTube as well, including the only known (he believes) original Johnny Lightning store display, that might be right up your alley RM: 

 

[originalisbest]

And here's one of his from just a few days ago:

 

[originalisbest]

And here's a group of some of my old ones I arranged for a pic just now: