New Keychain and Hot Wheel! Ironman Stewart would be proud!

Bought the TriColor keychain off eBay to match my grill badge and a day later found the Hot Wheels truck at Target! I also grabbed a purple Tundra they had.

I love the fact that the tires on the truck are brown - but the spare is still black. Great attention to detail.

Can't wait for more manufacturers to get on the Toyota Truck bandwagon.

eBay link:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Heritage-T...Logo-4Runner-Tacoma-Land-Cruiser/124658188849

 

That's pretty sweet, but you kinda gotta go back a few more years.

My stripped and painted ACLB Matchbox and a HW Tundra Baja:





It is crazy with the popularity that Toyota doesn't have good scale stuff out there. Even stuff sold at dealer parts departments. They could make a killing.

 

There was a quicksand Tacoma matchbox at Target a couple of years ago, I think it's OoP now, but I've got it stripped and looking at a way to get a paint that'll actually stick to it (the blue chrome cover I found looks perfect... but doesn't stick well at all)

 

That was what I started with. Paid like $12 back in 2017? The going prices now are nutz:
https://www.amazon.com/Matchbox-Toyota-Explorers-Die-cast-Vehicle/dp/B01N1T60NF

It was surprising how many details where hidden by the thick paint.

I used the Toyota touch up spray paint, but like you said it doesn't stick well. Maybe a light coat of etching primer first?

 

Ah, I couldn't remember the exact model, but yep that's the one! I took some polish & fine grit sandpaper to mine, and hit it with, I think Rustoleum blue metallic. I went to add black detail paint on top and the stuff just wiped right off. Gonna have to pull that little model out and give it another try sometime soon

 

Keychain is nice... I use this one because..... I'm bad... I'm Nationwide

 

Those Hot Wheels are killer!

No idea how I missed the Matchbox Taco!!! So cool!

 

Thanks!

I think the Matchbox production ended in earlier 2017? I keep looking in stores from time to time. It would have been a shame to trash such nice molds.

The Tundra Baja was from 2000 as a two car set:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Hot-Wheels-2-Car-Set-Xtreme-Trucks-Hummer-Baja-Racer-/333808875389

 

That's great.

I'd love to see a comprehensive list of Hot Wheels / Matchbox Toyota trucks. I wonder if something like the exists?

 

Apparently, there are:
https://hotwheels.fandom.com/wiki/Toyota_Baja_Truck

https://matchbox.fandom.com/wiki/'16_Toyota_Tacoma

 

I'm in awe that they've gotta 21 years out of the same 'Toyota Baja' mold!!!

 

It is pretty cool.

 

I got back into HotWheels collecting (had tons when I was a kid in the 70's, wish I had some of those redlines now), when my son was born almost 16 years ago. Amazing cut-throat hobby with grown men (affectionately called "door warmers") who hang out at retail stores, in the mornings, to try and be the first to get at the new stock looking for Treasure Hunt cars. There is a site that Mattel runs (hotwheelscollectors.com) and they sell special edition pieces that can run $20 - $30 each and sell-out in minutes. Covid seems to have propped-up the hobby again. I've got several thousand cars stashed in boxes at home with a few that are likely worth some money. I also collected other "chase pieces" from Johnny Lightning, Maisto, Greenlight and even have box full of Ertl John Deer "Muddy" pieces somewhere. It was fun, for a few years, but as my son got older and lost interest, I did too.

 

Oh boy! I do wish I took better care of some of the rare ones when I was a kid.

I grabbed a few when my girls were little, thinking that they might be interested as they grew up. Not really. Just stuffed animals and Lego for a short time. Now, I need to start clearing them out.

The other day, my wife saw a couple guys having words around the lady that was restocking the shelf. It sounded pretty embarrassing.

 

Crazy to fight over toys on a shelf. I get embarrassed just digging through the stacks to find what I want.

 

Hahaha! Yeah. That's crazy.


I did get a bit excited for the recent Pop Culture editions just because I'm a big Zep fan. Every time I strolled by the pegs were EMPTY. I ended up just hoping to grab the one from the first album, but struck out the times that I looked:

$70 Hot Wheels Premium Pop Culture 2020 - Led Zeppelin Set of 5 - Mattel

https://www.amazon.com/Hot-Wheels-Premium-Culture-2020/dp/B084GXZ633

 

Back when they used to have Hotwheels Days at K-Mart, you never saw so many grown men acting like babies. The store staff would typically hand-out raffle tickets just for the chance to open a fresh box, no freebies, just the first in the box. My wife once had a winning ticket and had no clue what to look for, when I told her to look for a card that said "Treasure Hunt", I literally thought there were going to be punches thrown from other guys there saying I was "cheating"......LOL

 

If I was 10, I would have enjoyed the shit out of the Treasure Hunt stuff, and would likely never know the reason that would never find one.

 

As stated, I pretty much quit collecting several years ago. I might look through the pegs when I'm in the grocery store (grocery stores were good hunting grounds because they did not seem to get the "ebay collector" pressure that other, big box retail stores got). Grocery stores and Dollar General were probably 1 & 2 for places I would find T-Hunts. At the time, a Hotwheel case was 72 cars and only 1 T-Hunt so they were super rare. I think it was really ebay that blew-up the hobby. Finding a $1 T-Hunt on the pegs and post it up on ebay for $50 is better than the stock market..... I actually had a lot of fun trading with some folks, all over the country. There are some really good people in the hobby too.