# Anyone collect Diecast cars?



## 2manyGuitars (Jul 6, 2009)

I used to collect diecast up until around 8 to 10 years ago. Mostly 1/64 but I also have some other stuff all the way up to 1/18. I got burned out, packed everything up in boxes and stashed it away.

Well recently, after seeing some of the prices on eBay, I decided to pull out some boxes and no word of a lie, I almost have enough to open up a small store. Definitely enough to get a booth at a flea market once those are allowed again.

I’ve obviously got a lot of Hot Wheels but also a good selection of Johnny Lightning, Greenlight, M2, Maisto, Jada, Custom Crew, etc. For the Hot Wheels, besides the mainlines, I’ve got a LOT of the premium stuff.

The reason I’m asking if anyone still collects is because I’ve been out of it so long, I’m wondering if there’s a good place to sell other than eBay. Kind of like a Reverb.com for diecast. I’m looking to get rid of a few thousand cars and I don’t think kijiji is going to cut it.


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

Are there any main discussion forums like this, around that type of collectibles? Antique sites maybe?


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

got any beanie babies? thats where the real money is at


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## 2manyGuitars (Jul 6, 2009)

vadsy said:


> got any beanie babies? thats where the real money is at


Sorry. Sold all my Beanie Babies and sunk the money into Pogs.


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## DrumBob (Aug 17, 2014)

I have about twelve diecast cars, mostly all 50's stuff; Chevy, Hudson, Oldsmobile, Studebaker, Lincoln, Mercury, Tucker, Ford, Volkswagen, etc.

I don't have room for too many more and don't actively collect at the moment, but if I found something I liked at an estate sale, I'd pick it up. I collected ACL (applied color label) soda bottles for a while. I have always been a collector as far back as I can remember. That includes guitars, of course. Lately, and for the last few years, I have been buying and stashing away old plastic model kits. No plans to make them at the moment, but I will eventually. It costs a lot of $$ to get set up to build accurate models these days.


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

I prefer my model Lambos carved from solid gold. None of this die cast stuff.


















Gold Lamborghini: Yours for $7.5 million


Supercars are very common on the wide, state-of-the-art highways of Dubai. But a new record-breaking Lamborghini, made out of gold and gems, is sure to turn heads.




www.cnbc.com


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

There's a Facebook group that does trades and sales. I'll see if I can find it.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

When we had our first child, a friend bought us the Dave Barry book "Babies: And other hazards of sex". In the book, Barry gives a cost estimate of raising a boy from birth to the age of 5 or so. He budgets roughly $11,000 in total (in 1980s dollars), and breaks it down to $9,000 for "small metal cars", and $2,000 for everything else.


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## Verne (Dec 29, 2018)

I see many brands of hot wheels sized cars for sale on Marketplace every day. Seems much more common than on Kijiji. I think on Kijiji toys are such a common sale item that it's on page 3 before the day it out. FB marketplace is random. Seem to be a number of sellers just here in London alone. I see their stuff daily. Can always try there first, then maybe a virtual sale. I've seen many hot wheel ads being a virtual "garage sale" with hundreds of cars.


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## FatStrat2 (Apr 7, 2021)

I collect 1:18 die cast examples of previous cars I've actually owned. If I customized the real car w/ wheels or a type of wing, then I'll do the same to the model by buying another 1:18 model that has the same types of parts and transplant them.

At present, I have exactly as many 1:18 models as I do guitars.


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## Okay Player (May 24, 2020)

2manyGuitars said:


> I used to collect diecast up until around 8 to 10 years ago. Mostly 1/64 but I also have some other stuff all the way up to 1/18. I got burned out, packed everything up in boxes and stashed it away.
> 
> Well recently, after seeing some of the prices on eBay, I decided to pull out some boxes and no word of a lie, I almost have enough to open up a small store. Definitely enough to get a booth at a flea market once those are allowed again.
> 
> ...


I'm in a similar situation. There are a couple Facebook groups. Ebay prices are generally regarded as being out to lunch, and anything bigger than 1/64 is hard to sell. If the 1/64 is out of package it's close to worthless outside of some instances of very rare cars.

Sorry, to be the bearer of bad news and I really hope you can prove me wrong so I can move a bunch of stuff too.


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## 2manyGuitars (Jul 6, 2009)

Okay Player said:


> I'm in a similar situation. There are a couple Facebook groups. Ebay prices are generally regarded as being out to lunch, and anything bigger than 1/64 is hard to sell. If the 1/64 is out of package it's close to worthless outside of some instances of very rare cars.
> 
> Sorry, to be the bearer of bad news and I really hope you can prove me wrong so I can move a bunch of stuff too.


Yeah, my stuff is 99% 1/64 and all carded so I’ve got that going for me. ;-)
Also, it’s a lot of the premium stuff as opposed to the regular, $1 Hot Wheels. I only look at “Sold” listings on eBay because I don’t care what people are _asking_ for stuff, I want to know what buyers have actually paid. And bonus points when there are lots of results.

As an example, I have between 100 and 200 of the Hot Wheels Drag Strip Demons from 2009 and 2010. At the time, I was paying $5 to $7 each. Just looked a minute ago and with hundreds of Sold listings, a lot of the cars went for $60US to $80US each (plus $10 to $20 shipping) and I don’t think there’s many that sell for much less than $20US. It’s just a case of it being a big job to sell that much stuff so trying to figure where’s my best bet to get that balance between getting good money but also moving product.


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## LouisFNCyphre (Apr 23, 2021)

Probably eBay or Toy Peddler, maybe Facebook.

Lots of the different premium Hot Wheels series from the 90s are in high demand from people who were kids in that era. If you've got stuff like the Vintage Racers, Speed Machines or some of the other series with spotty distribution they've probably gone up in value like the DSD series.

Castings of Japanese cars from the mainline in that era have often become worth a fair bit, at least compared to most mainlines.

I used to collect a lot of Hot Wheels but often it's the more model like brands that attract my attention.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

The really nifty Hot Wheels are the motorized ones with built-in cameras, that let the user set up a stunt track, and film the course from the driver's POV, albeit in miniature. A micro USB port let you download the recorded video from the car. Before cam-equipped drones became a thing, one of our former neighbours would place one of these Hot Wheels in an RC plane, and use it as the video device while he and his young son flew the plane around.

I'm not sure how it survived all the water, but here's an example of one of those Hot Wheels cars.


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## JBFairthorne (Oct 11, 2014)

That was pretty cool.


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## Paul M (Mar 27, 2015)

Is that what those orange sticks are for? I only ever used them for sword fights. 

I'm not too old to learn.


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## Tim Plains (Apr 14, 2009)

I have maybe two dozen and my nicest / probably most expensive is an AutoArt Veyron. I sold a few last year on FB Marketplace. Kijiji was a bust.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I am of the generation well before Hot Wheels. What we craved were Matchbox cars, and if there was a little more money to spend Corgi toy cars, which often had things like doors and hoods that could open. This would have been the coolest Corgi Toy of all time.


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## Midnight Rider (Apr 2, 2015)

vadsy said:


> got any beanie babies? thats where the real money is at


My wife has a big bag full of these Beanie Babies that is vacuum sealed and has been sitting in a closet for at least 25 years. My kids would get them as gifts going back to about the mid 90's. I'll have to have her bust them out and take a look at what's there. Perhaps a couple high end guitars worth.


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## 2manyGuitars (Jul 6, 2009)

Well, it’s started.

Just sold a bunch of Hot Wheels to a guy (locally) on FB Marketplace for $1000.
There was a second batch he offered me another $1000 but he was lowballing me because “he needed to be able to make some $$$$”.


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## 2manyGuitars (Jul 6, 2009)

So...
You know how insane we are about our guitars? Well we ain’t got nuthin’ on Hot Wheels guy.

I found a great Facebook group that’s strictly buy and sell and just Canadian. It was suggested to me by the local guy who bought the $1000 worth off me the other day. He wanted to buy more but I told him I needed to do some more homework (and sorting) first.

I lurked for a bit to see how things worked and then posted 12 mid to upper end cars. Within 90 minutes I’d sold 10 of 12 for over $400. I also sold another couple hundred dollars worth because guys were asking if I had doubles for sale (I did).

While messaging with them to arrange shipping, they were asking what else I had. I leaked a few photos of my hoard and they were losing their shit! I had guys group messaging me with other buddies offering to buy tons of stuff.

Basically, it’s like I showed up here with pictures of a studio filled with vintage gear, all still in the original boxes.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

My old toys are so beat up, but they were very well loved. I keep them in the Hemi Under Glass box. I had lots of HotWheels but they’re long gone.


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## 2manyGuitars (Jul 6, 2009)

Mooh said:


> My old toys are so beat up, but they were very well loved. I keep them in the Hemi Under Glass box. I had lots of HotWheels but they’re long gone.
> 
> View attachment 367663
> View attachment 367664
> View attachment 367665


That’s a nice Dinky you have there.


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## Verne (Dec 29, 2018)

It's a stretch dinky.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

LouisFNCyphre said:


> Probably eBay or Toy Peddler, maybe Facebook.
> 
> Lots of the different premium Hot Wheels series from the 90s are in high demand from people who were kids in that era. If you've got stuff like the Vintage Racers, Speed Machines or some of the other series with spotty distribution they've probably gone up in value like the DSD series.
> 
> ...


I'd buy that entire image, right now.


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## 2manyGuitars (Jul 6, 2009)

cboutilier said:


> I'd buy that entire image, right now.


This pic here netted me $590...


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

2manyGuitars said:


> This pic here netted me $590...
> 
> View attachment 367677


I don't collect them for value or profit. I just buy all the ones I see in the store that I like. Especially anything involving pre-2000s Japanese cars. It's like a scale version of my driveway over the years, with all the 80s-90s Hondas, Acuras, Nissans, and Toyotas.


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## 2manyGuitars (Jul 6, 2009)

cboutilier said:


> I don't collect them for value or profit. I just buy all the ones I see in the store that I like.


That was exactly me 10 to 12 years ago. I bought them strictly because I liked them. When I got burned out, I put them away.

There were several times over the past few years where I didn’t even want to think about how much I had, how much I spent, and how I’d be lucky to get back even a portion of what I’d paid. Then a couple weeks ago for some reason, I happened to look on eBay and couldn’t believe the prices on some of the stuff I had.

There are cars I paid 3 or 4 dollars for back in 2010 that are worth $25, $50, even $100 now. Even certain ones of the plain old $1.49 Walmart Hot Wheels from back then are going for $30 or $40. I haven’t really started my sell-off yet because there so much to go through just to figure out what I have and values. I floated a couple ads just get a feel and in the last 5 days, I’ve sold about 60 cars and made around $1700.


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## LouisFNCyphre (Apr 23, 2021)

I also do customs:


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## 2manyGuitars (Jul 6, 2009)

LouisFNCyphre said:


> I also do customs:


Very cool. What scale are they?


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## LouisFNCyphre (Apr 23, 2021)

2manyGuitars said:


> Very cool. What scale are they?


The nice models are all 64 scale, like most Hot Wheels muscle cars.

Most of my customs are closer to 1:60, which happens to be the scale Hot Wheels uses for a lot of imports and a few others (Nova, Maverick, Fox-body). 
I don't have room for bigger model cars.


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

@LouisFNCyphre 
I have never seen a Maverick die-cast cast car before! Can't be many of them around. Pretty cool. 😎


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## LouisFNCyphre (Apr 23, 2021)

Lincoln said:


> @LouisFNCyphre
> I have never seen a Maverick die-cast cast car before! Can't be many of them around. Pretty cool. 😎


Hot Wheels has actually done three. There's an old Mighty Maverick casting, a stock Grabber and that kaido racer influenced one that's based on someone's real hot-rod.

Mine combines a stock body Grabber with the driving lights from the widebody Maverick. Hot Wheels reuses CAD design elements so sometimes parts made for one model end up being usable for another. If I had a 3D scanner and printer I'd try to make custom parts for specific castings, like race car interiors or glue-on wheel arches, or whatever.


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

LouisFNCyphre said:


> Hot Wheels has actually done three. There's an old Mighty Maverick casting, a stock Grabber and that kaido racer influenced one that's based on someone's real hot-rod.
> 
> Mine combines a stock body Grabber with the driving lights from the widebody Maverick. Hot Wheels reuses CAD design elements so sometimes parts made for one model end up being usable for another. If I had a 3D scanner and printer I'd try to make custom parts for specific castings, like race car interiors or glue-on wheel arches, or whatever.


I still remember when Hot Wheels came out in about 1967. It blew our minds!


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## Verne (Dec 29, 2018)

LouisFNCyphre said:


> I also do customs:



OMFG!!! I want all of them. The CSL is to die for. Monaro......FIA GT classes. Cuda......OMFG !!!!!


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## LouisFNCyphre (Apr 23, 2021)

Verne said:


> OMFG!!! I want all of them. The CSL is to die for. Monaro......FIA GT classes. Cuda......OMFG !!!!!


I don't seem to have a good shot of my Monaro yet, but here's a Torana:










Interestingly, there's an L28 powered Skyline that shows up as some vintage racing events in the US and does pretty well against the 5 litre Trans-Am cars. This is the works '73 Skyline that never actually was entered into competition because of the gas crisis.


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## 2manyGuitars (Jul 6, 2009)

I’m officially at the 2 week mark of my sell-off and I just cracked $5k tonight.


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## Verne (Dec 29, 2018)

I have a few on a window ledge. Generally I prefer the classic 60s/70s touring cars, so it shows in my meager "collection". I don't (never really did) actively search out specific cars, or genre, just what I might happen upon that catches my eye. I have a few rubber wheeled hot wheels as well that I've had for a handful of years. I will clean them up and take a picture. All are out of their blister packs as they were never purchased as collectables or investment.


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## PGuitar6 (Apr 21, 2021)

I used to but now I collect other toys. The toy market in general has been getting crazy expensive lately.


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## 2manyGuitars (Jul 6, 2009)

PGuitar6 said:


> I used to but now I collect other toys. The toy market in general has been getting crazy expensive lately.


That’s why I’m cashing out.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

yup....when I was 8.


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## 2manyGuitars (Jul 6, 2009)

Diablo said:


> yup....when I was 8.


Well, on Friday night in about a 20 minute span, I sold 40 cars for almost $2000.

I wish 8 year old me had stashed some away. I’m cleaning up with just the 2008 to 2013 stuff. I can’t imagine what I would get for ‘70s stuff.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

2manyGuitars said:


> Well, on Friday night in about a 20 minute span, I sold 40 cars for almost $2000.
> 
> I wish 8 year old me had stashed some away. I’m cleaning up with just the 2008 to 2013 stuff. I can’t imagine what I would get for ‘70s stuff.


mine were in terrible condition, nobody would want them.

congrats on your sales....but between dinky cars, NFT's/crypto, carbon credits, sky high bidding wars for houses, rolexes etc I think people just have too much goddam money these days.


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

Diablo said:


> mine were in terrible condition, nobody would want them.
> 
> congrats on your sales....but between dinky cars, NFT's/crypto, carbon credits, sky high bidding wars for houses, rolexes etc I think people just have too much goddam money these days.


More like buying things they can't afford in the first place.


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## FatStrat2 (Apr 7, 2021)

I looked for years for a 1:18 diecast of my current daily. I even petitioned a few companies with some car board members. We scoffed at their demands for a minimum of a 10,000 volume sale guarantee.

The model finally came out a few years ago and it was priced nicely for a while - then production stopped. Now it's going from $200 to $350.


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## 2manyGuitars (Jul 6, 2009)

FatStrat2 said:


> I looked for years for a 1:18 diecast of my current daily. I even petitioned a few companies with some car board members. We scoffed at their demands for a minimum of a 10,000 volume sale guarantee.
> 
> The model finally came out a few years ago and it was priced nicely for a while - then production stopped. Now it's going from $200 to $350.


As someone who used to own “orphan model” classic cars, what was is?


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## FatStrat2 (Apr 7, 2021)

An MR2 turbo.

These diecast producers made all sorts of cars like Chevettes, Corollas even station wagons with simulated wood on the side. But they only started making this classic Toyota just a few years ago. Tsk tsk. The one below is like US$300, stupid pricing. And they still didn't get it right, the circled part should be rounder.


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