Question Any Hot Wheels fans ?

eXPedient Demise

Honorable
Jul 16, 2018
83
14
10,565
Approx 18 months ago I started collecting Hot Wheels.... what a mistake 😀 Its addictive, and theres SOOOOOO many of them out there :)

I mostly do remove them from the cards and display them in a cabinet, but do have a number that are more "collectible" still on their card.

I prefer the more "real" cars, not the fantasy ones they do, but do have a number of 2nd hand ones I picked up at the local car boot markets cheap.

I don't tend to collect them re-sale/profit, but did hit the paydirt with one.... was in local store with daughter (who collects "for profit") going through the stock there, and she found a super treasure hunt - quick Google showed they were selling for approx $80NZD at the time. 1 minute later I found one as well. :)

Paid our $6 to the store, and sold them that night for $70-80NZD each.

The thing I don't like about collecting them, is when something popular does come along, certain people go along and buy out the entire stock from a store and then sell for a premium 🙁
 
Don't collect those things for several reasons;
* They are expensive.
* Not popular around here.
* I view them as toys, which they are, rather than collectables.

Sure, they are nice to look at but i can also get image(s) of specific vehicles, for free, if i want to look one. And i'm too old to be playing with those.

The thing I don't like about collecting them, is when something popular does come along, certain people go along and buy out the entire stock from a store and then sell for a premium 🙁
That is called scalping and any "hot" product that comes out, may fall victim to it. E.g in PC hardware world, the entire Nvidia RTX 30-series GPUs were bought up by scalpers and then sold 2-3 times of MSRP. This was back when there was cryptocurrency mining craze. Some RTX 40-series GPUs have also seen scalper buyouts but not as severe as it was with RTX 30-series.

Though, on retail/store's point of view, scalping helps the business since most, if not all, stock is bought and for a store, and it doesn't matter who buys it. But on ethical levels, it would be nice if more people would get it, rather than 1-2 individuals (scalpers). In that sense, EVGA and i think Gigabyte too, made a limit of 1-2 GPUs per person. So that enough would be around for everyone. Apple has done it too with new release of iPhone, 1 phone per person.
 
When our son was little we got the idea to make a border around his room of hot wheels cars. It turned out some years later that a couple of friends of ours not only collect, but also do custom cars with and from them, like paint and wheels and such. They turned us on to the types to collect, such as set (cereal crunchers, treasure hunt, and such as that). They gifted him some additional cars that even at the time were already increasing in value.

He ended up having about four layers deep around the walls and a couple of small displays below of completed sets. We put them all into boxes, they are all still on their cards and one of the two fellows who were collectors that we are still in contact with told him to keep them around for a bit as the entire collection aside a few exceptions, should all be worth a bit more than purchase value. Some of them are worth well more.

I have been quite surprised at the level of trading and talk that goes on regarding them. Quite a hobbyist army behind the interest.
 
They've become more popular over the last decade. Recently sold one to a collector who was in his 60's. Everyone I've dealt with buying/selling/trading has been awesome, There are 2-3 large Facebook groups of like minded people here in NZ, most aged 30+. Think its people who loved cars from the 90's etc but cant afford one now due to the "JDM tax" on anything decent 😀 So we've found the cheaper option 😉
 
Think its people who loved cars from the 90's etc but cant afford one now due to the "JDM tax" on anything decent 😀 So we've found the cheaper option 😉
IMO, it's because boys will be boys. Meaning;

f644252c765de252379cb183156f3c99.jpg
 
No one grows up, we just get older. A lot of people still feel much younger than they actually are.

You don't get the right to tell other people what they want to collect
 
I'll bite, sometimes wondering around the toy isles with my son I'll drop by and take a look. I mean they cost around a dollar and there's a couple I enjoy, specifically the Batmobiles. Have all of them from the 60's, the animated ones up to BvS. Kinda fun. Usually my hobbies are a lot more expensive! 😛
 
  • Like
Reactions: punkncat
Tell me about it, I used to be into paintball. There's an expensive hobby to get into once you start looking at some nice Tipmans!