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| hwdan2 | Apr 30 2008, 03:46 PM |
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First, there will be 5 Father's Day cars out soon as a Kmart exclusive set. The cars are: Dairy Delivery, Rodger Dodger, 1955 Nomad, 1963 Split Window Corvette and a 1957 Chevy Bel-Air. More details will follow later. Thanks to Agent Air for the heads up. Next, it seems that there are VARIATIONS now for the Designer's Challenge Set and all of the cars are not out yet. Below is the list of what is available right now. Dodge XP-07: metallic red body, black plastic Thailand base, chrome interior, smoke windows, 6 spoke co-molded wheels, Dodge logo on hood. Dodge XP-07: gloss black body, black plastic Thailand base, chrome interior, clear windows, 6 spoke co-molded wheels. Ford Gangster Grin: dark metallic red body, chrome plastic Thailand base, black interior, red windows, 6 spoke co-molded wheels, lavender flames, gray stripe side molding. Ford Gangster Grin: pearl pinkish purple body, chrome plastic Thailand base, black interior, smoke windows, 6 spoke co-molded wheels, purple flames and stripes, gray stripe side molding. Honda Racer: pearl white body, white plastic Thailand base, red drivers, black windshields, detailed engine, 6 spoke red chrome rimmed co-molded wheels, red side stripes, "HONDA". Lotus Concept: metallic orange body, black plastic Thailand base, black interior, clear windshield, unpainted wing, 6 spoke chrome rimmed co-molded wheels, detailed headlights, Lotus logo on hood. Mitsubishi Double Shotz: metallic gray body, dark gray plastic Thailand base, chrome interior, red windshield, detailed engines, 6 spoke chrome rimmed co-molded RED wheels. Mitsubishi Double Shotz: flat black body, satin red plastic Thailand base, chrome interior, smoke windshield, detailed engines, 6 spoke chrome rimmed co-molded RED wheels. And finally, our local hometown paper did a story on the 19th of April about our local HW club and my collection. Check it out below. Die-hard for die-cast: These collectible toys aren't just for little boys By Jessica Wiant -- Daily Staff Writer STEPHENS CITY,VA — Dan Hammond, wearing a denim shirt, sleeves rolled up, an embroidered Hot Wheels Racing logo above the pocket, opened a folding door to a room in his basement and the sight was overwhelming. Taking up almost half the room, boxes were stacked from floor to ceiling, not that different from other basements. But it's what's inside them that's mind-blowing. Hammond's boxes house just some of his collection of at least 10,000 Hot Wheels die-cast toy cars. He stopped counting when he obtained his 10,000th, around 1999, he says. Most of the cars, in boxes and Hot Wheels cases, tucked in safely and in a systematic way, are hidden from sight and damaging sunlight. But others, in plastic bags, in their original packaging, in plastic, rectangular cases, hung on cardboard display cases, behind glass cabinet doors and displayed in neat rows on the sand-colored carpet, overtake the room. A series of large binders contain the catalog of his cars. Though the collection looks chaotic, Hammond knows where every single car is located. The Hot Wheels logo is everywhere. Hammond's computer monitor is Hot Wheels red, yellow and blue. The room flows over with soda bottles, books, magazines, a McDonald's Happy Meal toy display, posters, books, lunch boxes, a beach towel, Christmas ornaments — all Hot Wheels. An entire case holds nothing but different versions of Hot Wheels 1967 Camaros, including one made in 1968, the year Mattel founded Hot Wheels. "I'm like the local HW guru," says Hammond, of Stephens City, proud to show off his collection. "I'm known around the world." The floor in another room in the basement is covered with just the miniature cars that he has cataloged but has yet to file away. "I've got enough sitting in that room to put away that I need never be bored for a long time," he says. Several years ago, Hammond collected Matchbox cars, too, but he agreed to give them up as a compromise with a fiancee who insisted that Hammond's cars were more important than her, he says. The marriage never happened, but from that point on, he continued to focus on Hot Wheels, he says. Propped against the wall in his upstairs bedroom, is the big daddy of them all — a hefty, 6-foot-tall Hot Wheels car — that once marked the Hot Wheels section of the Fair Lakes Toys "R" Us store in Fairfax, VA. He purchased the car, which he first saw in the store, for $200, about a year ago. He calls it his "holy grail." "Everybody has a holy grail," he explains. It wasn't always this way. When Hammond, 41, was a boy, Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars were, as they are for most boys, merely something to destroy. Toy racetracks ran from room to room throughout the house. Hammond and his four siblings raced the cars, smashed them, attempted to blow them up with firecrackers, and once, Hammond remembers clearly, he melted one in the grill, burning the shape of a tiny taillight into his finger when he retrieved it from the scalding heat. It was only later, when Hammond was a teen and inherited a collection of cars from a relative, that Hot Wheels turned from toy to collectible. "That's what got me started, and it's been down from there," he says. Hot Wheels seem to have that effect on people. Hammond, being the "guru" that he has become, presides over a Hot Wheels trading club he founded 10 years ago. Club members —up to 40 at a time, just from this area — meet the third Sunday of every month to buy, sell and trade to round out their own collections. One of the faithful members, Sal Venanzio, 48, also of Stephens City, VA, has a collection of about 5,000 Hot Wheels, he writes in an e-mail. Another, Bob Royal, 51, of Waterlick, VA, boasts a Hot Wheels tattoo on his right forearm and a collection of between 18,000 and 20,000 cars, which make up "a mini Toys "R" Us" in his basement, he says. Each member has his own motivations, his own list of the cars he is looking for. For Kerry Hopkins, 48, of Fairfax, VA, the focus isn't on quantity, it's on 1960s muscle cars. He has between 200 and 250 cars, mostly displayed in a glass-front case in his home, he says. Similar clubs exist throughout the country, there are multiple shows and conventions, too, and there's even a national convention every year in the eastern U.S. This year's convention will be held in Chicago at the end of the month. Royal pays for his Hot Wheels hobby, making a profit by selling the cars on the side. He goes to as many as two shows a month during nice weather, he says, and will be attending the convention, which he does every year. Hopkins will be there, too. On most weekends, Hopkins goes to one show or another seeking the many other things he collects, including coins, stamps, vinyl records and Star Trek memorabilia and baseball cards, he says. But with Hammond, it doesn't stop with the cars and the club. He also sends out a weekly Hot Wheels newsletter, "Wheels Are Spinning," via e-mail to more than 1,000 collectors all over the world who share his passion, including Mattel employees and the author of the book Hammond calls the Hot Wheels "bible," the "Tomart Price Guide to Hot Wheels". It can be a lot to keep up with. This year alone, Hot Wheels maker Mattel is slated to release around 190 cars, but including all the variations, paint colors, number of tire spokes and other modifications, as many as 600 unique cars can end up on the market, according to Hammond. Hot Wheels have been around for about four decades. These days, Hammond, who works nights for the U.S. Postal Service, ends each shift by making a run to Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target and Toys "R" Us, to check on any new Hot Wheels stock. He also looks online frequently, but doesn't shop eBay or other auction sites as often, otherwise, he'd be broke, he says. "Some people just want one of each car, but I want all the variations, too," he says. "Someone said that it's obsessive ... I just think it's a habit," he says. "I'm not drinking, smoking or running around on you. It's cars," he recalls telling his ex-fiancee. But is it addictive? Royal answered a resounding "yes." "We're crazy," he says. "There's a competitive edge to it. The old adage is, the guy who dies with the most toys wins." One thing that makes Hot Wheels easy to keep collecting is the cost, according to Hammond. "What else can you collect that's a dollar?" Venanzio agrees. "The addiction is a sense that it's a cheap hobby, the cars are still around $1 when you buy them in a retail store so you think, 'Aw, it's only a dollar,' but it adds up through the year." Hammond estimates he spends at least $1,000 a year on Hot Wheels. The most he's spent was for a rare set of 1995 "Treasure Hunts" Hot Wheels cars he bought from a collector for $900, he says. "Every year, I go, 'Well, I should probably stop this, I'm running out of room,'" he says. There is at least one way that he saves a little space in his basement: At the end of each year, Hammond and the others in the Hot Wheels club gather up all the duplicate cars they've ended up with and donate them to Toys for Tots. The donations fill a minivan every time, he says. The Winchester/Shenandoah Valley Hot Wheels Club meet the 3rd Sunday of each month at 3 p.m. at the Shockey Co.'s conference room at 219 Stine Lane in Winchester, VA. For more information about the club or to receive the "Wheels Are Spinning" weekly newsletter via e-mail, contact Dan Hammond at hwdan2@earthlink.net. * Contact Jessica Wiant at jwiant@nvdaily.com  Dan Hammond |
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| Father's Day, Designer's Challenge, Article · Hot Wheels Discussion | |
11:39 AM Nov 25
