Hot Wheels Cars

[boykinlp]

I wonder if this tracks with anyone here? This forum is made up of a bunch of collectors. This forum is made up of a bunch of car people. This forum is made up of a bunch of folks who grew up in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s. So………are there any collectors of Hot Wheels, Matchbox Cars, and the like?

I don’t know what got me thinking about this, other than the fact that I remember having both as a kid. But, goodness gracious, I thought gun enthusiasts were crazy. Surfing the Web and looking on eBay was really interesting, and brought back some great memories of my childhood. I remember my brother and I setting up the orange tracks in many different configurations, and racing our cars for hours on end!

Like many folks here that had comic books, sports cards, and vinyl records that soul crushingly disappeared after you left for college, the armed forces, or for some other reason, many of these car collections went away too. I know mine did! If your mom threw out or gave away your comics, sports cards, or records, you probably “hit the roof” because those were something that even adults would appreciate, but Hot Wheels and Matchbox Cars probably weren’t given a second thought at the time. We thought that as adults we wouldn’t care about them anymore. Now, scan forward to today and look at these things online, and realize how wrong we were. Basically like throwing MONEY away.

Anyway, did any of you folks play with these as youngsters, and were any of you smart enough to keep them? Tell us your stories. BTW, I tried to find some threads on the forum about this but didn’t have any luck…..maybe I used the wrong search terms.
Larry

 

[llowry61]

Hot Wheels was one toy I did not have as a kid. I thought they were cool, and my cousins had the set with the looped track.

I think I got spanked with an old piece of track by an aunt while she was babysitting me somewhere in my childhood. I might have been playing with firecrackers.

You are right about them being valuable. Some of the rarer models go for really big bucks.

 

[GypsmJim]

No Hot Wheels. My "toy" was baseball cards. Mantle rookie card, Roger Maris, etc. Eons later when flea markets and such became popular and everything became an expensive "collectible" I called up my Dad and asked him to please look in the attic for my old shoe box of cards.

"Oh, we threw those out years ago!"

 

[Rustyt1953]

Matchbox cars were introduced the same year I was introduced. As a lad I amassed quite the respectable collection including a working garage and petrol station.

The boys from MAC misplaced them on the trip across the pond.

It still rankles me.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

In 1967 & 68 we had to sell our first farm because of medical bill I amassed. We lived in an apartment while dad worked in NYC and we lived in Columbus. I was "Construction Crazy". I watch the heavy machinery while I was in the hospital. I played with the Matchbox bulldozers and other heavy trucks. I ended up with about 60 of them. The construction equipment are the least popular with kids, so they ended up being rare.

In about 2005 I took the box of them to a store that did trains and toys. He offered $5 for the box. I turned it down! My oldest grandson has them now. I don't care if they get lost, thrown in a stream, or blown up with fire crackers. I will not let a jerk profit from his shiftiness! (I know 4 or 5 of the excavators are close to $30 each in played with condition!)

Ivan

 

[arjay]

I bought my son an awful lot of those cars.As a small boy I’d visit my friend Mary Ann’s house and play with hers. That worked for awhile until she figured it out. Only time I ever saw her dad laugh lol

 

[Kinman]

I was already packing a .22 afield long before they came out, had no time for little cars. My kid brother was perfect for them and started collecting them, as well as the G.I. Joe thing. In about '57 or '58 my parents gave my brother and I a matching pair of Tonka tractor/trailer truck sets. Those two trucks served both of us well including getting strapped onto my feet to serve as roller skates. They were twins and when I was around ten I painted mine yellow just to be different.

 

[Baxter6551]

My GI Joes and some other stuff disappeared after I left for the Army. The hot wheels were all beat up and I don’t think collectible.
One thing that ticked me off was the SCUBA diploma from the YMCA that I earned at 12 years old. I ended up having to take the basic course over again. Prob a good thing the sport has changed a lot since I started.

 

[Greyman50]

My best friend who is younger than I collected 100s of hot wheels. About 20 years ago he sold them all, made a small fortune. i was into playing Army. When I enlisted they really wanted me to go 11B but had already had my school locked in.

 

[jeffrefrig]

I never had Hot wheels but quite a few Matchbox cars. I played with all of them and ran them all into a junkyard. They were pretty cool. My favorite was a green Camaro. Nobody in my young circle collected anything! I do have a class of 75 buddy that has a boatload of them in boxes. Plus he has a mint Schwinn Orange Crate. Dam punk!

 

[Rudi]

I had some Match Box pieces. No idea what happened to them.

 

[45Smashemflat]

I’m glad I’m not the only guy who recalls being whipped with a section of Hot Wheel track. It was the weapon of choice.

 

[tt66]

I didn't realize it at the time but Hot Wheel's is what started me collecting things. I always used them on a track, never on the floor. My buddies and I would have several different types of competition for the various types.

I still have three boxes of them. One box is an old Hot Wheels case, another is a Matchbox case and the last was a case for slot cars that I stored my 'best ones'.

The pics are of the three boxes and then a group shot of my favorites.

Thank you for bringing up good memories.
Tim

 

[Kenna]

Still got my Matchbox cars, not too many Hotwheels.Do remember getting a Johnny Lightning track for Christmas, think we wore it out!

 

[dmar]

Still got my Matchbox cars, not too many Hotwheels.Do remember getting a Johnny Lightning track for Christmas, think we wore it out!

I had a bunch of great Matchbox, and Hot Weels. And yes, me and my brother got that race track, and it was awesome, we wore it out too… That spinning wheel would shoot those cars around real good! Also remember some kind of garage, and we had carrying cases and it had individual pockets for the cars. I think that was Matchbox?

My favorite Matchboxes were the Firebirds, Camaros, Corvettes, and Chevy SS. I liked the Mopar muscle car ones, as well. Also had some cool pickup truck's. We had so many of them, my mother was real good about spoiling us. I think they may still be in the attic at my parents house, but I’m not sure.

For other toys of my little kid era, lots of Tonka and Buddy trucks, Evil Kneivel motorcycle jump thing, these cool plastic race cars that I think were called “Sling Shots” (they were awesome, they had a geared wheel in the middle that you pulled a plastic-toothed zip cord to spin the wheel and it would take off), those little army soldier sets (WWII and Revolutionary War sets), lots of toy guns (shiny nickel metal Colt 1911 being my favorite), Erector sets, Lincoln Logs, etc.

I wasn’t really into GI Joe, but I had this “Jonny West” action figure dude, along with Geronimo, General Custer, and I believe “Captain Maddox,” and of course their horses with saddles, etc. The action figures were fully articulating, and their hands held revolvers, Winchesters, etc. They had gun belts/holsters and swords and all that stuff. My father wasn’t really fond of that set, as he thought it was too close to playing with dolls, and wanted to be sure I was in the right path, so to speak… My how times have changed in our culture, Ha! Part of this set had a large metal hinged/folding box that was designed as an old West calvary fort, with watch towers that would attach, cannons, etc. Good times…

 

[CH4]

I had a few Hot Wheels and Matchbox and the orange track, but my Tonka collection was much larger. My favorite was the big Winnebago. Had it until the ex gave it to a grandkid. Couldn’t begin to estimate the hours spent playing my cars and trucks. Priceless

 

[soFlaNative]

I can almost smell the vinyl used in those carry cases. That stuff was used everywhere.
Had both Matchbox and Hot Wheels with track winding thru the house. They were played with hard on rainy afternoons with my brother and I inventing new ways to wreck them. I may still have a couple that survived, maybe tucked in a footlocker somewhere. Two I hope to still have were the Diora (?) with the surfboards on the flatbed and the chrome Boss Hoss Mustang.

Good memories.

 

[TX-Dennis]

I no longer have any track, but the cars (or most of them, anyway) are still in the large multi level collector's case that I had as a kid. My brother-in-law collects everything. He told me one of the ones I have is quite valuable. It's a 69 Mustang Fastback. I don't remember what he said it was worth, but I'm not selling, so who cares. Most are Hot Wheels. Some are Matchbox. Most of the Matchbox are the old British made ones before Mattel took over.

I remember when I was a kid and had the tracks my favorite car was a T-Bird from the early 70s. It always won every race because it was heavier than any of the others. A friend got a Lincoln Mark IV he thought would be heavier, but the T-Bird still won.

 

[whitestang]

I bought both Hot Wheels and Matchbox vehicles with the money I made mowing lawns. I had some track too. As I got older I gave them to my younger brothers,wish I still had them now.

 

[Stirling]

I remember as a child I'd get a Matchbox car in the box when we went shopping. I don't know where they all disappeared to. Over the last several years I've taken to picking up the odd Hot Wheels car.