Diecast 64 Magazine January 2018 | Page 27

I have a few distinct Hot Wheels memories. One is getting the Dixie Challenger Getaway playset...

What is your first Hot Wheels memory?

I have a few distinct Hot Wheels memories. One is getting the Dixie Challenger Getaway playset circa-1983. I was a big Dukes of Hazzard fan and the Dixie Challenger casting that came with the playset was the closest I had to the General Lee...not to mention Roscoe's police car. It was fun. I always remember painting my Hot Wheels. My mom always had paints around and being all crafty, so I would often take the paints and just cover my cars. Of course, this was before I learned how to take them apart nicely so the paint was just slapped on top. And lastly, I remember ending my Hot Wheels collection. It was probably in late middle school or something when my best friend and I would spend days smashing cars with bricks and throwing them against the ground. A few probably got an M80 up the tailpipe too...so you know, typical boy destruction...and my Hot Wheels suffered along with many GI Joes and others.

What does your

collection look like

now?

When I started back into collecting cars, my collection was pretty small and just made up of the ones I liked. It wasn't until I started racing and supporting the Redline Derby web site that I started buying cars in an effort to build up a collection. At this point I have several thousand cars in various forms. Some of them are just favorites that I have on the shelf, a lot are in cases ready for racing...and many, many cars are in the numerous play buckets we have throughout our house. I have my cars and my kid has all the rest. But you can find cars in every nook and cranny throughout our house, much to my wife's dismay.