Not my intention to drift but quite similar -- my childhood passion was HO scale slot cars. My favorites were Aurora AF/X Magna-Traction and ThunderJet 500 cars. Less favorite but still enjoyable were the Tyco cars.
Hot Wheels Cars
- Thread starter boykinlp
- Start date
My 46yo son still collects Matchbox.
Moving is such a PITA, he packs them so well it takes way too many boxes just to get them all; then he mother-hens them all during any move until they get to their destination. Grandma's china dishes should get such treatment.
Moving is such a PITA, he packs them so well it takes way too many boxes just to get them all; then he mother-hens them all during any move until they get to their destination. Grandma's china dishes should get such treatment.
Yaworski
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A friend came home from Vietnam and went out to the garage to check on the Vette that he had rebuilt from a wreck as a kid. It wasn't there. He asked his father who said, "I sold that right after you left because I figured you weren't coming home." They never spoke again after that.
My son is 54 and has a lot of Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars, still buys them occasionally. Also the 1/64 scale John Deere stuff.
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.
My mother would get me out of bed and whip my butt on Monday mornings with a section of track,just to keep me straight all week.
OP
If he made a small fortune 20 years ago, he would have made a very large fortune today! The more I have looked into Hot Wheels, the madder I got at my loving mother!
We think our vintage guns appreciate pretty well, but it is nothing compared to Hot Wheels. All of the first few year (1968) Hot Wheels cost less than a dollar when new. Check out the prices of the 1968 cars in this guide. When I quickly scanned it, the lowest price was $35, many in the hundreds, and some in the thousands of dollars!! Of course, one thing to remember is that MOST of these cars were played with, and like some have said here, played hard and wore out. So the percentage of them that are still in excellent/mint is low, especially compared to our guns. And, if you still have them in their original bubble card packaging, the sky’s the limit!New Page 1
Tim, thanks for the pictures. Isn’t it crazy how many things we enjoyed as kids, but had completely forgotten about as adults. I love remembering things like that because they do bring up good memories. You may have some good money in those 3 boxes.
dmar, I have very fond memories of setting up the track with my late younger brother, in as wild a configuration as we could, and racing the cars. As CH4 said, those hours were priceless! BTW, apparently an early car designer for Hot Wheels was a former designer for Chevrolet, and he loved American Muscle Cars. The first 16 cars, known as the “Sweet 16”, included the Camaro, Firebird, Mustang, Corvette, Cougar, T-Bird, and a Barracuda. I just remembered another type small car we enjoyed. IIRC, it was called “Sizzlers”, and those cars were run on tiny chargeable batteries of some sort.
I remember the cars you were describing very well. I just looked them up and they were called SSP RACERS. SSP stood for Super Sonic Power, and on the packaging, were advertised as being “World’s Fastest Big Racers”. They also had “Smash Up Derby” ones. Kenner called them “Ripcord Racers”.
soFlaNative, you are right, rainy days were actually fun setting up the tracks and racing the cars. Kinda like today’s video games, I guess. The one you were thinking about was the “Deora”, and it was also one of the original “Sweet 16”. Believe it or not, I read that you can even buy reproduction surfboards for that one. I guess they were lost easily.
Larry
OP
Over the last several years I've taken to picking up the odd Hot Wheels car.
Stirling, which ones are you getting….vintage or newer?
CalifEd, if the Matchbox Cars are as valuable as the Hot Wheels, the value of his collection may put Grandma’s china dishes to shame!
Larry
I was a Matchbox kid, never got into Hot Wheels
Ivan the Butcher
Member
Baseball Cards
A friend of mine is several years younger than his 3 older brothers. As an adult the family home was sold off so Mom & Dad could move to a safer neighborhood. Just before the move he was going through the attic and came across the older boys Baseball cards (Mostly Early 50's) He sorted out the cream and has 3 binders stuffed with them. Binder ONE bought a new house! Binder TWO put his 3 daughters through Collage. Binder THREE is in reserve for his retirement!
All I have is a tote with a few thousand commons from the 80's and a few complete years from the 90's. My brother, dealt with vintage collectables from the early era: He made tens of thousands of dollars of those. Probably made $10,000 on Mickey Mantle cards alone! The funny thing is, He's an Indians fan!
Ivan
A friend of mine is several years younger than his 3 older brothers. As an adult the family home was sold off so Mom & Dad could move to a safer neighborhood. Just before the move he was going through the attic and came across the older boys Baseball cards (Mostly Early 50's) He sorted out the cream and has 3 binders stuffed with them. Binder ONE bought a new house! Binder TWO put his 3 daughters through Collage. Binder THREE is in reserve for his retirement!
All I have is a tote with a few thousand commons from the 80's and a few complete years from the 90's. My brother, dealt with vintage collectables from the early era: He made tens of thousands of dollars of those. Probably made $10,000 on Mickey Mantle cards alone! The funny thing is, He's an Indians fan!
Ivan
LVSteve might understand these comments. Due to WWII my family ended up in Liverpool, UK as Dad was running part of an emergency port. Now Meccano was based in Liverpool and so after the war, I amassed a significant collection of Dinky toys (including Spitfires) and a Size 10 meccano set. Great fun but they did not survive trips around the UK in graduate school and then across the herring pond. However, every lab that I worked in as a lab assistant also had a Size 10 Meccano set as you could prototype methods of aligning lab equipment and then have the correct system constructed in solid rods. Dave_n. PS Needless to say my US born son did not like playing with US-versions of "constructor sets" but did enjoy a Size 3 that I picked up and brought back from one trip back to "blighty". Dave_n
HOUSTON RICK
Member
Always takes me back to when I left town and my wife sold 3 crates of original LPs from the 60s and 70s. We could retire on what they are worth now, but she did get $50 and i understand they took up too much space. My fault for saying for better or worse.
Stirling, which ones are you getting….vintage or newer?
CalifEd, if the Matchbox Cars are as valuable as the Hot Wheels, the value of his collection may put Grandma’s china dishes to shame!
Larry
My friends in the antique business will tell you that Grandma's China is virtually worthless unless scavenged to complete someone else's collection. The same is true about all of those knick nacky things like Hummels, Wedgewood, most pottery items and glass. I had a buddy that came from a wealthy family, he owned complete baseball card collections with duplicates of popular players. After he left home and started bumming around on his own he sold them off to cover his living expenses, the duplicates first, then the big players, finally the remnant collection...he did all right but is probably kicking himself today, drugs...
OP
WOW, isn’t that CRAZY?! And ALL the stuff that was thrown away as junk or to save room. I am single, so no kids or grandkids, but I wonder what today’s kids are playing with that will be worth a small fortune 40-50 years from now?
Probably Star Wars stuff. Might should remind the mothers not to throw ANY kids toys away.
I wonder how many collections that were given away were ultimately saved and sold for small fortunes by the savvy second owners who didn’t even collect them originally?
Larry
Hot wheels Matchbox Tonka had them all. GI Joe action figures too. But my favorite was Evel Knievel. I had all the toys and even the 20” AMF Bike with plastic gas tank and side plates. I grew up riding and racing motocross. I still have his poster in my garage….. Maybe subconsciously he’s the reason I drink Wild Turkey. His diamond encrusted cane was filled with it.
My little brother wore out his G.I. Joe with the Kung Fu grip and his Stretch Armstrong.
The big thing now in collectables are Funko Pop! bobble heads. Logan and JR each have a closet full of them.
The big thing now in collectables are Funko Pop! bobble heads. Logan and JR each have a closet full of them.
OP
That’s a new one for me. As a kid, I remember TONS of toy commercials. Today, I NEVER see any. Of course, that may be because of my show choices. But I will admit that I watch the old cartoons (Looney Tunes, Pink Panther, etc.) and the 3 stooges quite often. Those may actually only be watched by adults like myself though. I found out that my grandnieces and grandnephews don’t give 2 hoots about either. Paw Patrol is their “jam”.My little brother wore out his G.I. Joe with the Kung Fu grip and his Stretch Armstrong.
The big thing now in collectables are Funko Pop! bobble heads. Logan and JR each have a closet full of them.
Larry
I was always a Matchbox kid though I did get a couple of Hot Wheels though never had a track set up-that was limited to 1/32” Aurora racetracks/cars. I’m 67 and still have my Matchbox carry case though the interior compartments are in sorry shape.
Ruthie's dad collected Beanie Babies. At the time of his death he had amassed well over 200 of them. Ruthie's younger brother has them.
The older ones are worth serious money.
The older ones are worth serious money.
We bought our son dozens of hot wheel cars and the case to keep them in. Put "em" the attic when he out grew them. When was an adult he came home and got them along with all he Star Wars stuff we had bought him......Sold it all on Ebay and made a pile of $$$$$.
I Know.......Stepping barefoot on a hot wheel car in the dark will send you airborn.
I Know.......Stepping barefoot on a hot wheel car in the dark will send you airborn.
