Mattel Hot Wheels fans or collectors?

[airdave]

First off, I've never asked if we have any serious Hot Wheels collectors or life long fans here?

I bought the very first Hot Wheels track set (1968)...had most of the original 16 cars.
Was nuts about Hot Wheels for 2 or 3 years until electric Sizzlers and Fat Track came along.
Then I bought and played with Sizzlers for a year or so.

By age 12 I was into other things.
And I never bothered much with Hot Wheels again until my Daughter showed an interest in the late 90s.
Her Grandpa would constantly give her blister pack cars which she opened and played with (much to his dismay! lol)
I started buying Hot Wheels track for her and we had many "drag races".

After my Father died in 2014, I sorted all his collectables and collections.
For some unknown reason he started collecting Hot Wheels toys in the mid 90s.
He had never shown much interest in them before that...even when I was a kid.
And he never bought much in the way of "vintage" stuff.
Over the years he collected a lot of different things, but his main focus was the current mainline series.
Basically those blister packs that anyone could buy at Walmart?
He had more than 3500 of those, along with another 3000-4000 Hot Wheels items.

I sorted and started selling the Hot Wheels toys at various Toy and Collector shows.
I quickly got rid of the new stuff...the post 1990 stuff...
and kept whatever vintage stuff (pre1990) there was...to vend at Toy shows.

Now I get to look at them, handle them, even play with them...but then I sell them.
I'm a collector in reverse!

I have acquired a new-old interest in everything Hot Wheels.
Not only do I enjoy reliving part of my childhood, but I still find everything about Hot Wheels is very KOOL!



....
On another note, I am trying to find out more about this Hot Wheels Toy Chest.
Nobody seems to know anything.
I've asked around, but have been unable to acquire any information about its age, where it came from, how it was sold or distributed.
I even had one Hot Wheels collector suggest it was a homemade box.

Its not.

Its molded plastic...with the Hot Wheels logo molded into the top.
Its fair size...like big enough to sit at the foot of a childs bed and hold all their toys.
And it has to be at least 20 years old (mid 90s I'm guessing).

I don't know if its meant to be a toy chest, a foot locker, or just a storage bin.
There are absolutely no other markings or information on it.
Not a word, letter or number, anywhere on it, other than the lid logo.

Its a breakdown assembly, held together by corner "clips"...although I am missing some of the clips.
(Thats why the string)

Anyone got any clue about it?



...
Bigger pic attached.

[airdave]

oh...I guess I forgot to mention...2018 is Hot Wheels 50th birthday!

[Wad Cutter]

When I was about to become a father I was working in S.F. and came across a interesting toy shop. Inside I found the biggest Hot Wheel collection I have ever seen. I bought a lot of them. I mean, a lot! I bought the a multi car carrier. I put the cars into the carrier and kept the boxes the car and truck came in. Warp it up and waited till Mathew came into the world and then till about the time he was 6 or 7 and one Christmas gave him the works and told him to take extras good care of these because one day they might be worth money. He was always supervised when playing with them. Didn't care to much what happened to his other toys, just these cars. That was over 30 years ago. No idea where the cars and boxes are today and my son has no idea what I'm talking about. A subject that really bums me out today. Am I a fan, yea I think so. wc

[Don Boose]

I was the Dinky Toy generation, and I don't remember older son, Ed, playing with Hot Wheel, but Don3 had a substantial collection and a LOT of track. In my memory, there were orange tracks and loops snaking through much of the house in the late 1960s and early 1970s in Korea, Hawaii, and Fort Leavenworth. You can ask him about it at the IPMC.

Don

[airdave]

Coming from England in the sixties, I too was into Corgi and Dinky toys first.
Especially the TV and film related diecasts.

But then I came to Canada and had more access to North American Custom Car shows and Drag Racing.
I went to quite a number of events in 1967 and 68.

And I can remember walking with my dad in the Niagara Falls or Buffalo area sometime in 1968,
and we passed a small Toy shop with this new product in the window.
The first Hot Wheels Track set (single track with one car).
And I was so excited by it, my Dad bought it for me right there.

I can remember Hot Wheels having a very "California" feel.
Does that make sense?
California and Hot Wheels went over real big in southern Ontario.

[airdave]

Originally Posted by Wad Cutter

No idea where the cars and boxes are today and my son has no idea what I'm talking about. A subject that really bums me out today. Am I a fan, yea I think so. wc

My parents took my "box" of Hot Wheels cars and extras
and gave it all to the kid down the hall (in my Apartment building)
when I was about 12 years old.
I didn't think much of it at the time, but it pissed me off later!
Oh to have all those toys now.

I also had a lot of real cool...and rare...plastic kits, that I wish I still had.
Also secretly tossed by my Parents! lol
My favorites were two very rare Aurora kits: Big Frankie, and Vampirella.
Both since rereleased by Mobius models.

I digress...

[JohnM]

During a brief stretch of civilian life in the sixties I worked in a plastic extrusion factory for a week or two. One of the machines was extruding a yellow Hot Wheels type track. I think it was for a similar rip off trade name set, not authentic Mattel, but I could be wrong. Anyhow, my young sons were well into Hot Wheels cars at the time, so I shut down the cutter one night and ran off several 30 ft reels of track, which they ran all over the house and garden.

When I re-enlisted in the Army it was over a year later before my family joined me and the track didn't come with them ... so I've no idea what happened to it.

[whulsey]

Never was into them myself. But know several people here in the Phoenix area that are, think they have a club and know that there are a couple of swap meets each year that are heavily Hot Wheels orientated.

My racing buddy said he had hundreds of them as a kid. His dad owned a tool and die shop in Orange County and did a lot of tool repair for Mattel. So every time he dropped off a repaired mold, he'd come home with a big box full of Hot Wheels for George and his brother and a bunch of Barbies for his sisters.

[JohnM]

I ran across this a few days ago and just couldn't resist ordering a couple. They've not arrived yet, but I've no idea which car they will end up on.

[airdave]

ooh an unlicensed hot wheels logo sticker!
Mattel does not produce cut vinyl stickers.

I've made many for myself! ...never sold any though.
Thats a no-no.