January haul and strange exchange
Before I reveal my January activities regarding purchasing, I'm just gonna say that sometimes it takes retail therapy to get through whatever is going on. We have just about wrapped up an elder care crisis on my wife's side of the family and one has just popped up with my family. As you probably heard so many times before make sure you know who is gonna get what out of your stuff and that you have a real functioning will or trust. If not, those you leave behind are gonna have a tough time. Moving on.
my overarching goal in January besides avoiding reality whenever possible was to prepare myself for a second year of racing. And so I began by loading the eBay app on my phone.
Here is the first set of stuff that is primarily for racing, but I have added some collecting pieces as well.
here is the second group of shipments that arrived just a couple days ago and there's probably one more auction that I'm gonna win Thursday.
in the bottom row of the above pic are hot wheels tech tones. Is anyone familiar with those. They're pretty awesome. They are a bubble top series and I'm starting to collect bubble top cars. And in the pic above there is the Jay Leno's garage series, which has a couple of cool cars, including the Yenko stinger Corvair. But one of the main focuses was to get a lot of ultra hots and hot ones that are both classic muscle cars and JDM's.
Now for the strange thing I was at the dollar store perusing the hot wheels selection, and an older guy pulls up next to me and starts going through the cars. I should clarify and say we are both old guys basically ancient going through a bunch of toy cars. So I say hey how are you doing? He says I’m doing OK. So we chat a little bit about this car or that car and JDM versus muscle cars. I share that I'm a totally hip Internet racer which he had never heard about all this Internet racing. so naturally I gave him my card. Turns out this guy is buying cars for a guy in Japan, who he met through eBay. This guy in Japan mainly wants muscle cars JDM's mainlines with the occasional premium here and there. And this guy is sending him anywhere from 200 to 400 cars a month and on average he earns about a buck and a half per car. He took my card said nice to meet you and Waltzed off with about 15 cars and that was it. weird
Discussion
Ahhh yes, the exchanges at the pegs.
collector-"hey, just so you know, that corner is a little bent."
racer-"no worries, I actually race my cars, no need for nice cards."
Then you get looked and incredulously by said collector, followed by, "really?"
Classic clash of Diecast Philosophy.
- I've gotten that look a few times — JBlotner42
- Reminds me of a comic in NY. McFarland's Spiderman came out and it was in a collectors sealed bag! And no one would open it. So at our table we started the rumor that the inside book was nothing but blank pages. Later some kid came back yelling at us cause he bought one just to open it. — LordSyosset
I carry business cards for my youtube channel,
and on the back are other channels that I have cars in races
I am a legend at the ACE hardware store I mail cars from...lol
the PO gals write down the address and search for that channel later
I figure we are all ambassadors for our sport.
last xmas, saw a couple parents, 2 -20packs in the cart, and confusedly looking at the race sets.
told them for the $40 for the set, go to dollar store and just buy track,
"you can buy just track?" they both took off with a hasty thanks
felt like some kids were stoked with 80' of track at xmas...lol
nice work abby, and great scores!
dr
Never hurts to drop a business card at the pegs or in those bins at the grocery store. They have this little doube-sided stick'em dots at the dollar store...put one of the back of your card and when you're at the pegs, just peel and put it on the back of a mainline or two. Heck, I even leave them in books at the bookstore and library, particularly in the automobile section :)
And should anyone one a short stack of RLD business cards, shoot me a PM and I can send you some...I have a lot left over from when I was doing live events and mailers.
- At the bottom left of my card in small print is the URL for redline. — AbbyNormal
- Whatthehell ... send me a pile. I always get asked why I'm buying so many cars, and I always tell the, "Some are for friends, most are for racing." THEN the questions start, and I tell them about this site. — SpyDude
Nice haul, I see a lot of good ones.
- Thanks that was probably most likely due to luck than any planning on my part. But they are very nice and I am considering maybe a pick a car race or two once the permafrost melts here. — AbbyNormal
Hope the family is OK. Recently we had a few health issues and a bit of a fire situation that made me think what is really important.This racing hobby. Oh and family. But all mine are back on the east coast so I would've saved the cars and figures and a few buildings I made.
First... Cool cars you have there and it is a great Testimony you share there... Who knows maybe this guy will venture to RLD and join.. Sounds like he is in it for the money side sending cars that are hard to find in Japan?.. Maybe he became friends with him and helps him out for a bit of cash..
I have sparked up a conversation and shared pics of my paint jobs/builds with guys and gals of all ages.. For kiddos I ask parents if they can see my builds, show parents first get the ok then show kids.. It is a huge appreciation I get seeing kids eyes light up looking at my builds..
Way to keep out sport growing Abby... Keep up the great work and Love for Diecast cars..