1:64 scale Diecast (Hot Wheels)

Marleysky wrote:Well arighty then, you've entered    the Twilight Zone!  

Fess up, How many hot wheel cars do you have? ??

Correct! "Rod Serling".. although I don't have proof. That voice couldn't be anyone else's..

I haven't counted.. but probably not as many as Dave.. I don't have any toys from my childhood.

Three or four years ago, Mattel produced a series of HotWheels that were American Muscle Cars. There were dozens of different ones. That's when I started collecting them. There were AMC, Ford, GM and MOPAR models. All very cool! I'd check the HotWheels "rack" at Walmart every time I shopped. At $0.94/ea. they were an affordable addiction. I bought a few other vehicles outside of the American Muscle series if I thought they were cool. I've also bought a few "Matchbox" (now owned by Mattel..) vehicles. I haven't spent more than $1.00/ea. on any of them. Some of the special-edition/theme vehicles are priced at $3+... but I'm too cheap to pay that.

If I happened to find this original 1967 Custom Camaro in metallic blue paint.. I might pay a premium for it.

I never had any "Sizzlers" cars or the "Juice Machine" charger for them, but I did have the "Rod Runner" dual-lane race set.

(all photos from Google images)




and later; the Supercharger Sprint Set (single-level/single-lane)




The Supercharger was a noisy toy.. powered by x2 "D" batteries. An electric motor drove x2 geared-together spools with foam-rings that would grab the car and shoot-it-out the other side! It had a variable speed control-lever.

I love this photo below. The "car" is not period-correct.. but I've always loved Chevrolet Monte Carlo's.. and actually have that model.




Mattel/HotWheels has continued to produce versions of the Supercharger.. but IMO... they're nowhere near as cool as the garage-building vintage version.




and this insane "Criss-Cross-Crash" set version.. (current)







Here's a 1978 "hand-crank" version..

This afternoon I decided to start cataloging my Hot Wheels/Matchbox miniatures. While in the process.. one of the more dilapidated packages opened.. and the car rolled-out for the first time.. so I thought I'd take a few photos.

It's a Ford "Thunderbolt".







It's one of approx. 75 different Hot Wheels American Muscle-Cars that I've collected over the last few years.

NEW222 wrote:Wow. Some of these cars are very nice. I agree that these could be a new addiction collection. New in the package cars like you have set up on the table roddie would also look nice displayed like that on a wall......

Thanks Chancey, I need to figure out a better way to at least store them.. until I can find a way to display them. There's nearly 100 miniatures. Pegboard/hooks makes the most sense for either.. but I don't have the wall-space. I thought about stringing "tie-wire" across the joist-bays in the ceiling of the new shed.. and hanging the packages up out of the way until I decide on a display. I've been collecting these solely for the enjoyment.. so I could remove them from their packaging if I devise some sort of curio cabinet for them.

I really enjoy photographing them.. but the packaging prevents getting any really good images. As I mentioned; 75% of the miniatures are American Muscle cars of the 50's through the 80's. The other 25% are utility-vehicles, foreign sports-cars and exotics. A few are "Matchbox Series".

some Mopars..




some Fords..




A Lincoln police cruiser..



some Chevys..




some Buicks..




some Pontiacs..




only one Oldsmobile so far..



a Cadillac..



only one AMC so far..



If I photographed 3-views of "all" my miniatures, There would be over 300 images.

Chevys, Fords and Mopars make-up the majority of the American Muscle Cars in my collection because Mattel produced many different models of these. Corvettes, Impala's, Nova's Chevelles, Camaro's, El Camino's, Monte Carlo's, Mustangs, Galaxies, Fairlanes, Torinos, Barracudas, Challengers, Chargers, GTX's, Road Runners, Superbirds.. the list goes on and on.

COOL STUFF guys!

Chancey, I hope you find that "mag-wheel" car-carrier suitcase. I remember those!

Rod, I like that "Sky Jack" set!!! I have about a dozen of the original (non-Super Fast) Matchbox miniatures. I remember vividly; playing with them as a very young boy before there was any type of track to run them on.

66 Malibu wrote:Roddie,
Very cool die cast of the 1964 Ford Thunderbolt..
Don't know if you were aware of it, but, one of the very first Thunderbolts was raced by Tasca Ford in Providence,RI.
As I recall, the first 11 or 12 off the assembly line of Dearborn Steel Tubing was painted Burgundy which denoted it was for a "factory" racer. The Tasca car was burgundy.
Each "factory" car had gold number decal attached to the outside of the windshield right behind the rear view mirror area.
I can't remember the Tasca car's gold number but I can find it easy enough on my second fav website after CEF, of course, called "George Klass Remembers".
WARNING...If you like old Drag Cars and Hot Rods, DO NOT go this website unless you have several hours to view the many thousands of 1960's cars of all US makes !!!!!
It may ruin the value to dress up the T-Bolt model that you have, but putting it in the Tasca colors would get a lot of attention.....
If you ever saw an original T-bolt running, you'd always remember it...They were quite impressive !!!
FWIW...Steve...

Hey Steve! Yes!! A buddy of mine has a 1:18 scale die-cast model of the Tasca Thunderbolt. I believe that Tasca had the models custom-made back in the day.

It looks like they might still be available..




I bought an "Ertl" 1:18 scale (non-Tasca) version to give as a "Yankee-Swap" gift at a Christmas party years ago.



Really nice detailing..