Finding myself in a bit of a lull in regards to Hot Wheels purchases, I decided to take some short road trips this month. Goodness knows I'm fortunate to live in a city like Fort Wayne, IN that has countless superstores, grocery stores and drug stores, but when you are on a quest to locate a particular model that has disappeared from store shelves or you're a new collector interested in finding older models that are still languishing on the pegs of a secondary display somewhere, a nice little road trip is just what the doctor ordered. And if you're like me -- someone who is woefully ignorant of the surrounding area -- it can be an exciting adventure to boot. One must first do a bit of research to determine where the stores in a given city are located and how best to reach them without getting lost of course, and it's a good idea to keep an eye on the weather as well. A warm sunny day is far better for exploring new places than a cold, rainy one. Even if you don't find any Hot Wheels to purchase, it can still be a pleasant day. I always keep that mind, even if in my case the problem is more likely to be not having enough money to buy all the cars I want to get. Here are a few of the Hot Wheels I have purchased on the road.
I was in Huntington, IN when I finally happened across the 2011 new model "Danicar" -- a car designed to the specifications of race car driver Danica Patrick. I have mixed feelings about Danica these days since she more or less abandoned the IRL to try her hand at NASCAR (yuck). But this car is kind of cool looking, and at least it looks more like an Indy car than a stock car. I have since seen it in at least one store locally, but that doesn't change the fact that I was thrilled to find it when I did in Huntington.
CVS charges an arm and a leg for their Hot Wheels, and is therefore an excellent place to find really cool older models that have gone untouched by other collectors due to sticker shock. That's where I found this 2008 model Double Vision with the always popular Hot Wheels tampo. I'm always especially pleased with myself when I find a 2008 car since that was the year of Hot Wheels 40th anniverary. I may have missed the celebration, but I can still purchase some small part of it when I'm lucky.
I found this 2010 Super Van in a Walgreens in Decatur, IN. Walgreens is another retailer that charges more than usual for their Hot Wheels, and because of that, can be a good place to find older cars, or in this case, sold out recent models. The funny thing is that I had recently been lamenting that the 2010 Super Van was one that I had simply missed -- end of story. It had obviously been released early in the season and looking for it now was like searching for a "Turbo-Man" doll on Christmas Eve. When my eyes fell upon it at that Walgreens, the additional 29 cents might as well have been chicken feed.
This 2008 version of the Greased Lightin' was another CVS find, this time in Decatur. And I got extra lucky at that particular store, because I also happened across a black Track-T and a black and white Ferrari FXX, also 2008 models that I had never seen anywhere else.
The Volkswagen Type 181 (a 2009 model) was a car that I had seen in Fort Wayne, usually in blue, though I did see the orange version a couple of times. It took a long time for me to decide to go ahead and buy it since it isn't a particularly cool or fast-looking vehicle. But I considered it anew each time I saw it because some part of me did find it appealing. I suppose it was inevitable that within a week of deciding to purchase the blue and orange versions, I happened across it in the original tan -- arguably the best color for it -- at a Scott's grocery in Kendallville, IN. Now I have three of the car I kept passing up time and time again, but that's okay. It's grown on me now.
Another rule broken. "No motorcycles". Eh, rules were made to be broken, right? This 2010 release (found on a half-card at the Kendalville Walmart) is probably the least interesting paint job the Scorchin' Scooter has ever had, though the redline tire is kind of flashy. The truth is that I decided to buy it after picking it up and feeling how heavy this model is. In recent weeks, I've started paying much more attention to weight, since the more a casting weighs, the more metal it contains. Needless to say, heavy cars in the mainline $1 releases are becoming rarer and rarer. This "scooter" weighed more than a lot of full size cars do and certainly more than any of the other motorbikes I've seen. In my research after the fact, I discovered that this casting had been Hot Wheels' first mainline motorcycle, which came as little surprise. They would never design such a substantial motorcycle now.
And finally, a CVS find from Kendalville -- this 40's Ford convertible from 2008. Granted that it had been available in several more interesting colors that year. Maybe I'll happen across one of them in my future travels. As it is, this color variation has a certain warmth to it. My parents were still young when the real version of this car was tooling around, yet something about it feels comfortable and familiar. This is a car to bring the Thanksgiving turkey home in. In style.
Will my next road trip, wherever that leads me, be as productive as these were? Who knows, but I look forward to the journey.
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