Am I the only one here who doesn't understand adults collecting Hot Wheels?

"KnowsAboutCars" (knowsaboutcars) 11/27/2013 at 12:54 • Filed to: None

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No offense to anyone who collects them but I just don't understand. Hot Wheels, Majorettes and other similar die cast models were great as a kid and I have quite healthy collection of my own that I do not plan on departing from as they have sentimental value. My dads vintage matchboxes are also cool. I understand collecting accurate scale models and owning bunch of Matchboxes from childhood but why buy inaccurate Hot Wheels when you can buy more accurate scale model for little more money?

Please enlighten me

MonkeePuzzle > KnowsAboutCars 11/27/2013 at 12:55

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it's the only way to get all the cars we really want in our garage.

I don't really understand adults playing with them, that's why I have kids :)

JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 > KnowsAboutCars 11/27/2013 at 12:57

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People like collecting Hot Wheels because... Hot Wheels!

Can the hyper realistic models move and be tiny and cheap? I think not.

area man > KnowsAboutCars 11/27/2013 at 12:59

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Define "little more money." The kind of scale models I'd want are at least $80 and above - spend less than that and you're just getting something bigger than a Hot Wheels, not necessarily more detailed. What's the point, then?

I personally do not have any interest in the fanastical/alien/futuristic looking Hot Wheels anymore, so that's another thing. Also, if I have kids one day hopefully they will enjoy playing with them.

daender > KnowsAboutCars 11/27/2013 at 12:59

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Because you can own an Aston Martin DB5, a Datsun 620 pickup, and a Greenwood LeMans Vette for only $3.

Jonathan Harper > KnowsAboutCars 11/27/2013 at 12:59

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I like to have many sizes, on my desk I have a 1:18 Z8, a 1:48 507, and a 1:72 (Hot Wheels size) Z4 GT3.

KnowsAboutCars > JayZAyEighty thinks C4+3=C7 11/27/2013 at 13:00

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Yeah, I was guessing that the size and cost were main reasons.

Nibbles > KnowsAboutCars 11/27/2013 at 13:01

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Why do people [A] [B]?

TheJWT > KnowsAboutCars 11/27/2013 at 13:04

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They're cheap, decent replicas of some of my favorite cars. I've got plenty of scale models, but whenever I'm in Target or Walmart I always wander over to the Hotwheels aisle to see if there's anything new or interesting I can proudly display on my desk. Also, many of mine are from my childhood, and I plan on saving them for when I have kids some day.

ddavidn > KnowsAboutCars 11/27/2013 at 13:04

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Cost, mostly. I want a lot of cars, and $0.97 is about my typical price range. Plus, I give them away to kids all the time. Not in a creepy way. They don't take up a lot of space, and they're fun to buy. I have the mind of a child, so it makes me happy. That's about as well as I can explain it.

Aaron James > KnowsAboutCars 11/27/2013 at 13:04

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I would guess for the same reasons adults play video games. They get enjoyment out of it, want to pass them down to their kids, things like that. It gives them something to do that doesn't cost a shit ton of money. It's generally harmless when compared to other adult hobbies like hiring prostitutes and snorting cocaine off their asses. You know, things like that.

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > KnowsAboutCars 11/27/2013 at 13:04

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Well, not all of them are inaccurate replicas or fantasy models, and not all of them are festooned with over the top decos either. Same goes for Matchbox, which tends to even farther in the realistic side of things.

For example, one of my latest purchases:

It's not a hyperdetailed replica model of a Corvette Stingray, but it is a nice scale model nonetheless. It's well made and detailed for its size, the paint quality and printed graphics are spot on and it wasn't too costly in terms of money and space, two things I don't have a lot of to support a collection of large scale precision models. What I really like about it though, odd as it may seem, is that it stays halfway through a model car and a toy car, and toy cars were part of my childhood in ways model cars weren't. Toy cars played a major part in why I like cars today and they may an equally big part in why kids will still like cars tomorrow, and I still believe they're an important part of car culture worthy of some recognition, I guess that's why I collect them.

$kaycog > KnowsAboutCars 11/27/2013 at 13:05

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I have a 60+ collection of unwrapped 1:64 scale Ford GT/GT40's hanging on my garage wall. Most of them are Hot Wheels, because the stores have a bigger selection of them than Matchbox, etc. My favorite ones are Matchbox though.

Nothing > KnowsAboutCars 11/27/2013 at 13:05

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I have friends that ask why I work on cars? Because I can.

Hot Wheels, I buy for my son and they get played with, so I don't consider myself a collector. However, I do buy what I consider "cool" ones. Mostly muscle cars at the moment. A while back it was all Ferraris. I won't get started on my past 1:18 addiction. I only have a few Exoto/Minichamps Ferrari F1 cars remaining. However, for "little more money"? A cheap Maisto is $15-20. A Hot Wheels can be found at the dollar store for 40 cents, and are routinely available in the 90 cents range.

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > area man 11/27/2013 at 13:09

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Agreed on all accounts. Some 1:24 and 1:18 models look really nice from a distace, but not so much upon close inspection. In Brazil, the price gap is even wider and premium brand models just aren't available locally, so collecting large scale stuff is kind of a dead end.

I think the only larger scale models I like are plastic models, because of the time spent researching and building them.

KnowsAboutCars > area man 11/27/2013 at 13:11

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Isn't there middle ground there? I found some 1:24 scale models that cost around $40 that were more detailed than Hot Wheels.

area man > KnowsAboutCars 11/27/2013 at 13:12

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Not detailed enough in my opinion. It's hard to beat the satisfaction of getting four or five really awesome/rare 1:64 models on eBay for the same price as one halfway-decent 1:24 one.

PRBot II > KnowsAboutCars 11/27/2013 at 13:13

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I used to have a tiny toy Viper when I was a kid. Then after driving a real car, I stopped caring about the thing. I don't get it either.

pauljones > $kaycog 11/27/2013 at 13:19

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Skaycog, were this the real world rather than the intertubes, I would probably have proposed by now.

Just sayin'.

Also, whose turn is it to cook Thanksgiving dinner?

$kaycog > pauljones 11/27/2013 at 13:24

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What a sweet thing to say! I do believe it is your turn to cook Thanksgiving dinner........turkey, please. Oh, and pumpkin pie with whipped cream. I hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving, pauljones!

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > KnowsAboutCars 11/27/2013 at 13:39

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Because $30 for one 1:24 scale model or 30 pretty damn accurate Hot Wheels/Matchbox.

cazzyodo > KnowsAboutCars 11/27/2013 at 13:45

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I worked in a toy store as my first real job. We would get shipments in on Wednesday to update our stock throughout the store and, like clockwork, the same guys would come in while I haven't even opened the boxes to price the cars. They knew each other and would try to get there before each other on the off chance there was one they didn't have.

I was so confused then but whatever, the guys would often pack up the box exactly as they found it...unlike the average shopper who just tossed everything to the ground.

SpeedSix > ddavidn 11/27/2013 at 20:21

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Damn, they cost ~$1.35 in Toronto Canada.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > KnowsAboutCars 11/28/2013 at 20:14

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Because I'm too broke to actually buy any of the cars in my fantasy garage so I have to settle for buying them in miniature.