Collecting of die cast toy cars like Hot Wheels and Matchbox grew out of a passion for cars and childhood memories. Until the early 1990′s, collectors were constrained to just a few options: collecting variations and errors, collecting every car in a series or year, and collecting special limited editions not sold in stores. It wasn’t until 1995 that die cast toy car makers started producing cars for sale in stores that were packaged specifically for collecting. It was the introduction of the Treasure Hunt Series from Hot Wheels that started it all.
The series consists of twelve cars, typically hot sellers in the past, which had new paint and graphic styles applied and sport ‘Real Rider’ tires. Real Rider tires are actually rubber and can be removed from the rim like a real tire. Often times the tires had ‘Goodyear’ or ‘Treasure Hunt’ printed in white on the side of the tire. These cars were produced in limited quantities, 10,000 at first, but were released with the regular series each year. This created an interesting aspect to the Treasure Hunt Series since they were also sold for the $1 price of the regular series. The only exception to this is a box set of the entire series sold exclusively at JC Penny stores around the Christmas and holiday season. The series did experience a few variations over the years. One example is the standard practice from the regular series of re-releasing models with a different paint style. In 2005, in honor of the tenth anniversary, the series released the most popular model from each year of the previous ten years. It was also in this year that a thirteenth car was offered through a mail in offer, which required proof of purchasing twenty other cars.
The value of the Treasure Hunt cars typically spiked for a particular model when it came out. Often times a car found on the ‘pegs’ in stores for a dollar could immediately be sold for fifty dollars. The value would then slightly decrease when the next month’s cars were issued and the spotlight moved to the next model in the series. As is common, the cars for the inaugural year are valued highest. The ’67 Camaro released in 1995, for example, is the most treasured model and is worth over $300.
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The 2010 Mazda 3 has been highly rated by some of the country’s top motoring publications and journalists.
The latest Mazda 3 is proving to be as popular as previous models, and Mazda has had the wisdom to enhance the features that have been praised in past models. The new elongated exterior, which improves the aerodynamics of the car, has been favorably received, but the front grill has been described as “goofy” and “grinning” in some reviews.
Part of the Mazda 3′s appeal has been its extreme sportiness and all-round fun driving experience, and Mazda has been able to retain the performance and handling that enthusiasts have come to expect. The Mazda 3 proves that a small car doesn’t have to be boring or plain; that small can be sporty and powerful.
Upmarket amenities have been included in the 2010 model, like Bluetooth and heated front seats. There is an optional navigation system, which some reviewers noted was too small to be effective. The materials used in the interior have been scaled up, and the newly designed supportive front seating is sure to make long distance travel very comfortable.
Available in a four-door model and a five-door hatch, the 2010 Mazda 3 comes in a narrower range of colors than previous models. It has a three year/36, 000 mile warranty with a transferable powertrain warranty for five years/60, 000 miles.
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The Matchbox brand of cars dominated the die-cast toy car industry for decades. In fact, they had no real competitors during their reign as the only prominent die-cast toy car maker. That is until Mattel introduced their line of Hot Wheels in 1968 and had immediate success. Matchbox’s sales in America dropped from $28 million to $6 million in the following year. There are a number of reasons why Mattel’s new line had such an immediate success.
The first and primary reason for their overnight success was the wheels. Co-Founder of Mattel, Elliot Handler, had created new wheels that are described as ‘friction-less.’ These new wheels allowed the cars to race at up to 200 mph (for the scale of the car). These ‘hot’ wheels allowed Mattel’s line to quickly surpass all competitors, both car to car and sales to sales. Children simply enjoyed having a toy car that ran much faster down the plastic track.
Mattel’s new line also had a great advantage starting out. The Lesney company (forerunner to Matchbox) started from scratch with a condemned building, limited funding, and grew out of a die-casting company’s slow season. Mattel was the leading company in many toy categories and had highly successful lines of toys like ‘Barbie’ and ‘See N Say’. In fact, when Mattel introduce Hot Wheels, they did so with a $10 million advertising campaign. They also had an advantage in the production of their cars. They had their models build in places like China and the Far East, where labor costs were significantly less than in England, where Matchbox originated.
Another huge factor that caused Mattel’s cars to be successful in America was the fact that it was an American company. Their initial success was limited to the United States and sent Matchbox sales in America plummeting as stated earlier. Matchbox was able to maintain a foothold in the die-cast toy car industry due to its worldwide sales.
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If you’re buying toy model cars for the car loving tyke in your family, let us make a humble recommendation: Go with diecast car models.
Simply put, they just plain last longer. They’re more durable, and the dog won’t want to chew on it!
How many times have you bought plastic toy model cars for your kid, and the darn things are broken less than a week after Christmas? Even one time is too often. The plastic they use to make toy cars tends to be kind of cheap and brittle, easily broken.
The thing is, plastic is cheaper and easier when it comes to mass production, so more and more, it’s becoming the choice material to create toy model cars with. Unfortunately, they don’t last as long, they’re not quite as fun to play with, they don’t look as good… but, the bottom dollar is preserved. Plastic toy cars are more profitable to produce.
If you were a gearhead as a kid, you probably still have some of your die cast model cars from your childhood. Maybe you’ve passed them on to your own kids, or even your grandkids. How many plastic toy cars get passed on from generation to generation? Not many.
Besides which, the fact remains that diecast toy cars are usually much cooler.
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Die cast model cars are just another one of those things that’s gotten better and better with modern technology. There was a time when someone modeling a die cast scale replica had to get in there on a piece of clay armed with nothing but a few metal sculpting tools to scrape and shape. Quite often, scale model sculpting still comes down to that hands on method, but with modern technology, they can also create such precise, intricate details that the end results would’ve been thought to have been the work of witchcraft only twenty years ago.
Take for example laser etching. This technology has been around for decades, but it was prohibitively expensive until recently, so you weren’t likely to see it being used to create souvenirs for race fans.
Today, though, laser etching is cheap enough that you see it being used in pretty much every collector’s market. If you collect coins, you ought to see what they’re doing with the works of Augustus Saint Gaudens these days. His silver dollar designs have been recreated in such glory and detail from the original models that even the first run of the coins would pale in comparison, all thanks to laser etching.
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