Yes, you read that headline correctly. I’m a 32-year-old who collects toy cars, but they’ve become so much more than that for me.
This can all be traced back to my childhood. I grew up playing with G.I. Joes, LEGOs, and of course, Hot Wheels. My brother Sam and I would spend hours in our basement racing the cars around. Back then, a rug wasn’t a rug, and a box wasn’t a box. The rug was a vast roadway with hills and bumps; a box was a car wash or a fire station. Our imaginations ran wild, and I often reminisce on those times quite fondly; life was so much simpler back then.
Well, as the years went on, that roadway turned back into a rug, and I began breaking down those boxes and recycling them instead of repurposing them. And all those Hot Wheels, a plastic bin full of them, began to collect dust. They were first to be sent off as donations when we moved out of my childhood home. I think back to some of the awesome cars I had: a blue Honda Civic, a heavily modified Nissan Skyline with a turbo sticking out of the hood, and a Ford Escort that my dad got me from our local hardware store. I’m kicking myself for letting go of those beauties.
My obsession with these little, 1:64 scale, cars lay dormant in the back of my mind. That was until one fateful day while walking down Munroe Street in Lynn. I was covering an assignment within walking distance of The Item in the dead of winter, snow banks piled high around me, when a shiny black object caught my eye peeking out of the snowbank. I reached down and pulled out a black and white Toyota AE86 Sprinter Trueno. You see, while my love of toy cars had waned, my love of actual cars had grown… immensely. I’m no expert; I love to say that “I know a little bit about a lot of cars.” I love cars, particularly Japanese sports cars from the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s. There’s something about the styling and the lore around them that’s come from the Fast and Furious movie franchise or Initial D (a popular anime in the car world). There’s also a forbidden fruit aspect to these cars. Many of them were never sold in the U.S. due to regulations, so some of them are beyond rare in the States, and catching any glimpse of them is enough to get my heart racing. Unfortunately, that usually came through a post on Instagram or video on YouTube.
Finding this Toyota opened my eyes to another way of getting my heart racing, at 1:64 the scale.
My descent into toy car collecting has been swift. It went from occasionally checking the toy aisle at Target or Walmart, to spending my day off driving from store to store to see what’s in stock. I’m hunting for those rare Japanese cars that I’ll never be able to drive, but Hot Wheels gives me a chance to own them.
I’ve gone down quite the rabbit hole. Every other video I see on Instagram or TikTok seems to be someone talking about the newest Hot Wheels set to release, or the latest car they picked off the pegs. I’ve learned that even in the Hot Wheels market, there are rare cars and even rarer cars (Treasure Hunt and Super Treasure Hunt). When I first started collecting, I would peek at the packages on the pegs. Now, I go in and flip through every single package hanging on those pegs, hoping I find a car that piques my interest. Oftentimes, I leave disappointed because the pegs have likely already been picked through by other collectors or scalpers (yes, there are scalpers). I’ve waited “in line” on Mattel’s website to buy a remote-controlled Nissan Skyline R32, which sold out exactly a minute after I purchased mine. And I’ve sifted through bin after bin (often with the help of my wife Casey) of discards that couldn’t fit on the shelves just hoping a diamond might be hidden in the haystack.
In just a few years, I’ve built up a collection of mostly Japanese sports cars, replica race cars, and other cars that I would love to someday drive (or own). All 112 of them are on display on my desk at work. I marvel at the tiniest of details that they’re able to get on these cars and will roll them around my desk (making engine noises with screeching tires in my head) when I need to blow off some steam after a busy day.
Of my 112, a few stand out as my favorites:
- Toyota AE86 Sprinter Trueno: This is my absolute favorite because it reawakened that sense of childhood in me that I had been missing.
- LB-ER34 Super Silhouette Nissan Skyline: This was the first premium Hot Wheels that I bought. It comes at a slightly higher price tag ($6.99 instead of the typical $1.24), but the casting is more detailed, and it has more realistic wheels. A Nissan Skyline R34 GTR is my all-time (real) dream car, so getting this one with a Liberty Walk bodykit on it was a win in my book.
- Kodak Nascar: While this technically isn’t a Hot Wheels, it makes the list because it was a gift from my wife. She found it in a thrift store, and since we’re both photographers, she knew she had to get it for me. That was special enough, but this was when I knew for sure that she had embraced the craziness of having a grown man who collects children’s toys as a husband.
- Skyline 2000 GT-R LBWK Tooned: This was the first Tooned Hot Wheels I found. I love the squished, cartoonish look of the car, and again, it’s a Japanese sports car.
- Skyline 2000 GT-R LBWK: This Skyline was part of a four-pack that came with two other cars and a transport truck. I immediately grabbed the set because it features one of my favorite livery designs, Advan, to grace the side of a race car.
My favorite part about this journey (if you want to call it that) is that I’ve been reminded of what it’s like to be a kid. Walking out of the store with a new Hot Wheels (or three) makes me feel like it’s Christmas morning, and I’ve just spotted what’s wrapped under the tree. You’re never too old to embrace the little things.
Well, I’m off to Walmart to hunt for a Nissan Skyline R-34, which should be on the shelves any day now. Next time you’re walking past the Hot Wheels section of your local store and see a weird looking man digging through the cars, stop and say “hi” — because it’s probably me!
