Volkswagon Thing (Type 181)

Felt like a Hot Wheels.  Didn't buy one.  Went right to the old shoebox in the closet and plucked out the Volkswagon Thing.  What a smooth ride.  The new "faster than ever" wheels and a light chassy.  This Thing can roll.

'63 Corvette Stingray

fresh from the package, ready to roll!

I went ahead and photographed the rest of my Hot Wheels, but then they all went back in the box.  All but one.  A corvette caught my eye.  I didn't have any corvettes.  Even though I'd like a classic red one from the 80s or 90s, something caught my eye about this blue stingray.  Probably the line from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, "we were delayed on route when a stingray in front of us killed a pedestrian."

The Boat

Hot Boat Wheels?

When collecting Hot Wheels, you don't expect to see a boat, but when you do, why not a boat?  My brother got me this and even though I wasn't looking for a boat, I knew The Boat was the perfect addition to my collection.  Get boated today!

Swamp Thing

Says it's a dune buggy, but I think it's a moon buggy

First you end up buying cars that end cool, but sooner or later you end up with Swamp Thing.  Just look at this beast!  It looks more like a mars rover than an offroader and clearly has an attachment where a third set of wheels could go.  And it's rustic color scheme would be perfect for the Red Planet or any movie filmed in deep space.

Decepticons Car

more than meets the eye!

Alright, so it's not officially a Hot Wheels, but my friend Brian gave me this cool Decepticons car that he got for buying a pack of batteries.  When choosing your batteries, why not go with the one that comes with a toy car?  Also I have a Decepticons sticker like this on my real car...

The Mighty 17!

The Mighty 17!

And that's it for new Hot Wheels, because that's all I have!  The Mighty 17!  (well I guess that's not true, because I just spotted three more on my bookshelf and technically I still own quite a few more that are locked in the closet right now, and I was trying to get to open a new one, but now I found three more...)

Anyway. These are the first 17 new ones that I bought.  I have a few more to photograph and then a few more to open and then that's it.  Unless of course you donate.  If you want to see me open a new car, donate $1 to the Thunt.net Hot Wheels fund and I'll open one in your honor!  Sponsor a car today! (I'll set up a cool "donate a car graphic" and really get this thing rolling later, but for now here's a standard paypal button.  Thanks for reading!)

and then I bought the Bus

Yellow?  For a bus?  Classic.

When you start buying Hot Wheels just because they look cool, it's hard to draw the line at a bus, and not only a bus, but a super cool Surf Bus.  And just look at that front.  It didn't look near that cool when it was trapped inside the box.

Pontiac Firebird

it's all about the firebird

And then I started buying cars based on nostalgia.  I think I had a black and gold one like this as a kid and when I saw it in the Hot Wheels Classic line just down the row from the normal Hot Wheels at Walmart, I couldn't resist and suddenly a classic 80s car joined my collection.

Hot Wheels '57 Chevy

every Hot Wheels collection should have a car that says Hot Wheels on it

My brother got me this '57 Chevy, because it was time something in my collection overtly said Hot Wheels on it and I think it reminded him of a car we used to have when we were kids.  I think it was a MASH car or some other kind of weaponized or transformer car.  As far as Hot Wheels I mainly recall we had a set of Hot Wheels Crack-Ups that had rotating damage panels and tracks where you could force them to run into eachother.  It was a pretty cool set.

Lamborghini Collection

One is nice, but why not two at twice the price?

Once you start collecting Ferrarri's, it's only a matter of time before you start adding a few Lamborghini's to your stable.  I started out with the white one, and then I spotted the stylish yellow convertable.  My Hot Wheels collection was starting to get out of control.

Ferrarri Collection

Oh, you have only one Ferrarri?  I have three. :)

It was then that I really started collecting.  I decided to start collecting Ferrarris.  First a red one, then a black one, then a matching red race car.  The race car was especially awesome with it's domed glass, clear engine compartment, and great curves!

Aston Martin

classy and refined

After my brief flirtation with the seedy underground of street racing, it was time to return the collection to a more solid footing, so I chose a nice luxury car, the Aston Martin.  Great for curvy roads near the ocean or just touring about town, you can't top Aston Martin.

Streetracers

We have the need.  The need for speed!

I double-downed on a pair of streetracers.  I just couldn't buy one without the other.  The neon green reminding me of when I used to play Need For Speed: Underground.  They're a classy pair, Black NightRacer and Green NightRacer.

MiniBug and Sharkcar

funky fresh cool cars

Once I started buying cars because they looked cool, I started buying cars that I thought were unique and I had never seen before.  Enter MiniBug and Sharkcar.  Sharkcar was a multiple elimination survivor, as the first time I saw one I didn't buy it, but the next time I couldn't eliminate it.  Where else was I going to get a Hot Wheels shaped like a shark, I thought to myself and soon it was coming home.  These two are definately two of my best Hot Wheels as my brother pointed out, they're reminiciant of art cars from Burning Man.  Especially the Sharkcar.

Yellow Sportscar

It's yellow and it looks cool.

This is where it starts to go off the rails.  And all for a car that doesn't roll properly.  And it's not even a real car.  I just bought it because it looked cool.  Too bad it doesn't roll.  It has a small metal part that rubs one of the back wheels.  I wish I knew how/where to send it to get a replacement if that kind of service is even possible.  I know it's a common car, and I see duplicates of it all the time, but I'd hate to just buy a second one because this one has a bum wheel, because what would I do with this one then?  And it sets a bad precident of buying duplicate non-collectors (for sale) Hot Wheels that I just can't support (financially).

Batman Arkham Asylum Batmobile

nu-nu-nu-na-nu-nu-nu-na-na Batman!

Continuing the trend of movie themed cars, my brother got me this at SaveMart and tipped me off to their phenominal Hot Wheels collection.  One large rack and sometimes two or three standees, the store is suprisingly well-stocked.  I would later over buy this model, thinking it was a collectable like the Delorian (fingers crossed).  I currently have a shoe box half full with duplicate batmobiles.  My hope is to someday sell them for $5 a piece.  I currently think they're worth about $2.

Ghostbusters - Ecto-1

see more angles of Ecto-1 on flickr

And then I learned of the Ghostbusters car, released in 2007.  It was a little pricey, but I was able to score it in a 3-pack with another Delorian and an old 60s style Batmobile (3 for $15), which I both put into a shoebox for later.  Ecto-1, however came out to play.  I was impressed with the detail on the equipment and the weight of the car.  Though it may ruin their collectable value, I do love taking them out of the package, being able to see them from all directions and of course, seeing how they roll.

Back to the Future - Delorian

"Is this the face that launched a thousand ships and burned the topless towers of Ilium?"

This is the first modern (post-00s) Hot Wheels car that I purchased.  I was drawn to it by a post on Reddit where I learned that not only did it exist, but someone had drawn a playset at their cubicle and of course note that the playset was, not to scale.  I scored one on eBay for about five bucks and figured my Hot Wheels collecting days were over.  Little did I know I would be picking them off racks months later and storing duplicate copies in a shoe box for safe keeping and future eBay sales.