Anything I should be looking for?
Okay, I am not a collector. I only just starting to get ideas on my track build,and have ordered a couple of straight strip boxes and a couple of road coarses. I also purchased a box of like 30 little die cast cars for about $8 so I can have a few cars to try out my designs and get started racing relatively inexpensively.
However, a local fella had a collection of 300 cars, new in packages, that I bought for $100 including the chest he put them in. To me, that is like paying only 33 cents per Hot Wheel branded card that is new in it's original retail packaging. Figured it was a good deal, I hope I am right and you all don't pop in with anything horrible I might have done. Again, for $100 I will (should) have hours of races between all the different types of races I can do...... for fun.
But, because I am not a collector, I thought I should ask if there is anything I should look out for and 'not' open it up as they are some form of collector car that someone really wants/needs. I laid out a quick 43 cars to see what the top layer had in it, and am posting it here for opinions on if I should not open some/all of them; or go ahead and play them, they are basic Hot Wheels.
I told my wife that I was going to post in the forum just in case someone sees the pictures and says "Hey!, Don't open that XYZ Car Labeled ABC/999. That car is worth $100 by itself. :-)
Here is a sample of what I picked up....
Discussion
The Ferraris have a little bit of collector value, everything else is a few buckets on average.
you bought them, but what do you want to do with them?
race, look for the "fast wheels" sets
myself, my wall hangers are mopars, movie cars, star wars/trek, and probably more mopars
and as for wheel harvesters, totally sad stories there.
I kinda like using a $60 car to build as a sucky race car...lol
at least it raced, vindicate the car, dies proud
purists heads explode...added bonus...lol
did that with 1:1 mopars for years, too
welcome!
dr
Thanks for the comments. I just didn't want to do anything stupid with something I am totally unaware of. The purpoose was a Mattel Hot Wheels Die Cast car for only 33 cents each. Even at our Dollar ($1.25) Store, they are $1.25 'each'.
Yep, these cars are going to make for some good matches and fun. Basically a good little time sink for me so I am not bored around the house.
That was a great score! The cars from that era are typically faster and many are even metal base/metal body. Great for racing. -Z-
Since most tournaments have a 'type of car' to enter, I have not really been through all of cars to even see what I have. I started to put them into a spreadsheet for the future. This way, when someone says they are hosting a race for only 'VANS'; I can look in my spreadsheet to even see if I have a van.
As I enter these cars into the spreadsheet, I am noting the year that it is copyrighted on the back of the package. I have put in probably 100 cars so far with a couple of more hundred to go. But during this time, I bought a few specialty cars I liked or that MamaGnome liked, and I am entering them.
Today, MamaGnome went to Walmart to get some things, and she bought me a 5-pack of Batman related cars. The back of the package says copyright 2024, but when I look on-line, this package JBJ76 shows it is the 2025 collection and no mention of this kit for 2024.
How does one tell what 'year' the actual car belongs to when the packaging is gone? From what I understand the bottom casting year is only the year of when it was first introduced, not the year of the set it belongs with.
- hotwheels.fandom.com. Search the name of the car. The page for the car will list every version by year with a description and usually a photo. — Ruckus_Racing
sometimes I get cars purely for the wheels (wheel harvesting as some of us call it) but for the most part I like to have a variety of different types of cars so I have one for a specific kind of tournament if the occasion calls for it.
- I am just now going through my cars in between cleaning up my garage to build my track. I am sure I could enter these hosted tournaments if I knew what I owned. Then I could grab the required car and prepare to modify it. Even when I do finally get to enter my first modified event; it will be a great learning experience. — RacerGnome
Helpful links. Before you visit ANY Fandom site, engage shields -- your adblock browser extensions -- first. These sites reek with ads. If surfing on the phone, I use Brave browser, no ads
- shields up captain! — dr_dodge
- Indeed!! Think the incoming wave from the Praxis detonation in ST VI and Capt Sulu's sheer insistence!! — Chris_Hood
Well I am almost done entering these all into a spreadsheet. Didn't realize I did install Office Access since I didn't see a shortcut, otherwise I would have created a database. However, theyy are almost in.
Curious thing, I have at least 7 of these cars called: Pass'n Gasser
Now the guy I bought this lot from may have just liked them and/or collected them for 'his' reason; but I was just curious if they have any special detail that I am unaware of. Like are they great for the track, do they have good wheels, or anything of that nature.
Can anyone think of anything special about these cars other than for collectable reasons because the guy liked them? Are they special?
Just finished entering all of the cars that I bought that day, turns out to be a total of 285 cars. Roughly .35 cents each after it has all been tallied.
There are quite a few that I pulled out for testers on the track, and one I found today entering the last of the cars. It is called: Cat-A-Pult. I can wait to find a race for this car. It is small, metal on metal, and has room for a driver. :-)
- that is based upon a real car built to beat the shelby cobra's, it called a cheetah from the 1960's — dr_dodge
- oh, you can get a new one, too — dr_dodge
- The Cat-A-Pult (aka the Cheetah) was known as the "Cobra Killer", built by Bill Thomas back in the 1960's. Hot Wheels changed the name to sidestep copyright issues. It's a sweet little car--I have two of them myself. — SpyDude
The pictures looked better on my phone. These seem a little blurry when blowing them up. Sorry.