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slusher

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Started collecting Hot Wheels again and some Matchbox cars new and old but the Hot Wheels are new. Will present day Hot Wheels have any value in years to come like Red Lines did???

Here's the rub. Just about everybody today buys stuff (comics, figures, etc.) hoping to get a leg up on the collectibles market. They bag the comics, keep diecasts, figures and other things in hermetically sealed containers in order to maintain that "brand new" look in the hope that they'll be able to retire on what these tchotchkes will sell for in the future. The problem is that these items are massed produced today in large numbers and there are at least 100,000 people doing this. What made items like the old Red Lines so valuable is that most were bought by kids and were played with until they fell apart or their mothers decided to throw them out, along with all those now priceless comics and baseball cards, when they cleaned up their kids' bedrooms. You might want to think this over.

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What he said. The redlnes are collectible only because all us old guys had them as kids and want them back. Not going to happen with the new ones for the most part. 

I was doing this with Star Trek stuff in the nineties until I realized that stuff would never be worth anything in my lifetime. Seeing what the stuff is going for now makes me want to give it away the prices are so low.

Russ

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Here's the rub. Just about everybody today buys stuff (comics, figures, etc.) hoping to get a leg up on the collectibles market. They bag the comics, keep diecasts, figures and other things in hermetically sealed containers in order to maintain that "brand new" look in the hope that they'll be able to retire on what these tchotchkes will sell for in the future. The problem is that these items are massed produced today in large numbers and there are at least 100,000 people doing this. What made items like the old Red Lines so valuable is that most were bought by kids and were played with until they fell apart or their mothers decided to throw them out, along with all those now priceless comics and baseball cards, when they cleaned up their kids' bedrooms. You might want to think this over.

Thanks Joe and Russ. One thing is i am not looking for any big money but really just was wondering if they would go up any but you and Russ answered my question. I guess just collect what i like and forget about the going up in value. Some Matchbox cars I had as a kid is not expensive and i had about 50/50 of Hot Wheels and Matchbox. So the fun of it is the value then I should just put them in a case...

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That's the ticket, Carl. Sometimes, it's the personal satisfaction and enjoyment that collecting anything brings you; and, that, in itself, is invaluable. You can always pass it on to your kids, grandkids and so on. By the time your grandkids have grandkids, they might have something which will, indeed, be worth oodles of do-re-mi. :) 

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That's the ticket, Carl. Sometimes, it's the personal satisfaction and enjoyment that collecting anything brings you; and, that, in itself, is invaluable. You can always pass it on to your kids, grandkids and so on. By the time your grandkids have grandkids, they might have something which will, indeed, be worth oodles of do-re-mi. :) 

Thank you so much for your input and that's the way I am going to do it after all I started picking them up for the fun of it.....

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I will look at the racks in stores. If one catches my eye I'll "invest" the dollar, just because it's cool.  I have a 100 car clear plastic display case on the wall in my den.   

Funny thing, notice that Hot Wheels sell new for the same price they did when we were kids?

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It seems Hot Wheels is releasing "reissues" of the Hot Wheels that were around when I was a kid...they're not "vintage" by any means, but I'm starting to see a lot more that are modeled after actual cars again...for a while, it seemed the majority of what you could find were the weird 'A+ #1 Super Fast Rocket Car' toys instead of something that I would deem actually collectible\cool. While I agree, they won't be worth a lot of money probably ever, at least they're fun to collect and display (and heck, it's probably one of the cheaper things a car-guy can collect!). I prefer the Greenlight and Johnny Lightning 1/64's myself due to their more detailed and accurate look, but I still pick up some Hot Wheels when I see one that catches my eye (heck, I can usually get like 2-3 Hot Wheels for the cost of a Greenlight).

Edited by MrBuick
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Does anyone remember the Hot Wheels Club? After you signed up you got a membership pack that included an iron on patch, decals and a chrome plated Boss Mustang....B)

I've still got my Mustang, and the 1970 catalog that came in the package.  Later they sold the "club" membership in stores.  I had one of those too, it included a chrome Camaro.

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I will look at the racks in stores. If one catches my eye I'll "invest" the dollar, just because it's cool.     

Funny thing, notice that Hot Wheels sell new for the same price they did when we were kids?

That's what i have been doing Tom and plan on putting them in a case so i can enjoy seeing them..

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I LOVE Hot wheels! I was into a collecting binge back in the '90's/early '00's, but I bought them not so much to make bigger money down the road. I bought them because they were a BIG part of my childhood as every kid I knew had a ton of 'em. I even have a couple of the playsets and unfortunately, lost a few sets when my place got flooded back in '11.

Here are just a few of what I have..........like Carl, I'd like to keep mine in a case, but for now, they're wrapped up in individual tissue paper, and put in a box. A few I have sitting out---------I don't mind dusting them off occasionally. It's easier to dust them off instead of model cars! :D

P9062645

P9062643

P9062642

The Charger in the above pic I no longer have-----I sold that to a fellow in Australia a few years back and now I wish I had kept it. I'll probably get another one down the road, but the prices for them can be outta sight!

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Started collecting Hot Wheels again and some Matchbox cars new and old but the Hot Wheels are new. Will present day Hot Wheels have any value in years to come like Red Lines did???

Don't think so......

WAY too many produced today and kept in package. 

I am an original Hot Wheels kid.......about 6 months before they came on the market I was picked to 'test' some new Mattel toys....turned out it was Hot Wheels.  They had me play with htem...then asked me a bunch of questions. As payment I got a strip pack set, track, clamp and car, about a month later....before they hit the market.....I was a popular kid!!!! THAT set kept mint in package would be worth the price of a good used Honda today.......

Today's stuff, common mass market stuff......nope. 

I will spare you a story about how I had some Hot Wheels items worth a NEW Honda today and lost them all.........:o

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Anybody remember Sizzlers? I dumped a sizable chunk of my allowance over three years to buy all 22 cars. Not only did they work on the regular Hot Wheels tracks, they were even more fun letting them loose on the street. They ran great on asphalt. Unfortunately, most of mine were casualties of falling through the holes on manhole covers and getting flattened by unexpected cars driven down the block.

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I've been collecting Hot Wheels since they started the "Series". I still try to collect the entire series of cars. I also buy the ones that catch my eye. The ones I've been lookin for, hard, are the Final Run cars. The molds they're no longer gonna have. The last series i completed was the Fast and Furious series. I have a couple thousand in my collection, majority of which are in the package, a few that I played with as a kid, that I didn't smash with a hammer to make it look like it was in an accident.

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Joe, I've got a number of the old Sizzlers (non running), as well as a few of the new ones reissued a number of years ago that were in Target stores. My favorites are the 'Cuda, and Camaro! 

There's a guy out there (he sells on eBay but I can't remember his username) that makes all of the restoration parts for those old Sizzlers. He even last I knew had the batteries for 'em. If nothing else, they're great to play around with-------I LOVE to here 'em run! :D 

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Sizzlers were friiggin' fast little mofos, Bill. That high pitched whine meant business. There was a really smooth and level asphalt topped softball field, along the East River, down the block from my house. My friends and I would race ours there. Half of us would hang out in the outfield in order to snag them. Otherwise, they'd run through the cyclone fencing and end up getting run over by the gantry trucks (those weird looking chain drive vehicles with spindly wheel extensions on each corner and carried lumber stacks slung underneath and between the wheels) in the lumberyard.

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One of my favorite sets I got as a kid was something called "Road Chase" for Sizzlers. It came in three sections that you fit together, and it was basically a country road but in miniature. I see them for sale on the 'Bay occasionally, and sometimes they go for a reasonable price. The box is usually yucky, but I'd like to find one sometime that has a decent box, and not go for an arm and a leg. :rolleyes:

Edited by MrObsessive
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Started collecting Hot Wheels again and some Matchbox cars new and old but the Hot Wheels are new. Will present day Hot Wheels have any value in years to come like Red Lines did???

Just what everyone else said. The ones that were worth the most survived from 40 years ago. There are lots of new ones out there and people hoarding them. 

Here is an interesting co-subject. I found a bag of cereal premiums (toys) I stashed in 1978. There were close to 50 toys in there. I had many duplicates because I ate only 5-6 types of cereal. 

I was able to track down the origin and a price on every one. By e-bay listed prices, they were worth close to $500.00. I sold them as a lot except for one Nancy Drew short story which I sold separately. I made close to $90.00 after shipping. 

Now here's the interesting part. Yes, a few people save those toys. Lots more save them now. What people did not save back then was the box. The boxes that those toys were in now go for a couple hundred when they are flattened out and preserved. The price of nostalgia is always amazing. I should know because most of the models I bought as an adult replaced what I had as a kid. 

I still have my old hot wheels from the 70s because my Grandma gave them back to me years ago. They are pretty beat up, but fun to look at and remember when I played with them.

Scott

Edited by Scott Colmer
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allthree

I have some survivors from my youth.  The VWs were a racing team since they were short and heavy. The decals were from AutoWorld. The '57 has one of my typical modifications. The hood was painted with Testors black.  Well played with and fond memories! They are in my display case.

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