[dipswell]

Hi everyone, I wanted to introduce myself and need alot of help getting started in the hobby. My main question is where to start when collecting hotwheels. I tried a few years ago to collect all...first ed....track aces..the whole nine yards. What I ran into was that every time I thought I was done, they came out with a variation to the card or color ect. I know the answer is to collect what I like, but what I like is completeness.
Any advise would be appreciated.

2nd: today I aquired a pile of new 2007 cars all from the same case. They are the long cards. All of the cards seam to have the same variation to them which is that the batmobiles and all of the 2007 first editions for example say 15/36 instead of 15 of 36....the taxis say 02/04 it is like this for all of the specialties lines. Then the goldriders humvee and unobtainiun 1 just say gold not goldriders and have the same 04/04 with no "of"
Is this an oddball case or just another way for hotwheels to make me by another version of the same car?
Either way I made out like a bandit with 4 batmobiles and a bunch of cars I did not have yet.

Any input would be great!!

Thanks and I'm sure you will be seeing more of me

 

[Analog]

welcome.

 

[Reddwarf2]

Welcome to HT. Hot Wheels are a good area to lose your Mind in. It's a good idea to start out collecting what you like then move on to getting every car from a series. You'll end up with a thousand and one cars you have no use for if your not choosey. Join the HWC, they have some of the best looking club cars out for a price but, they are worth it IMO. Lets not forget the TH's I'm sure you've heard of those.


Buy What you like.

:wave: :wave: :wave:

 

[Analog]

definitely get what you like. I cant find the thread in here with the guy who had a TON of camaros, the pictures he posted showed the cars in a semi-clear case. That is definitely camaro envy!

 

[lolaz28]

welcome i have found this to be one of the best diecast sites out there and i hope you will too

personally i try to stay away from the variations and just collect what looks cool

hope you feel welcomed
lolaz28

 

[htwhl-hunter]

i definetely agree that you should only buy what u really like cause like me when i started collecting i would buy everything that came out but then eventually sold alot of stuff cause didn't really want them in the end. so now i only but what i really like. and welcome to hobby talk im new too but enjoy this site alot.

 

[sschevyman1]

welcome. and buy what you like. Do not buy just becasue somebody told you it is going to be valuable!! :thumbsup:

 

[NYSWLHUNTER]

Buy what you like yes, but eventually you will change your 'likes' and start collecting other castings. I started with VW's now I do mopars. Have fun thats the main thing to remember!

 

[craftymore]

Welcome to the board. I've been collecting HWs since I was a kid but only recently started to buy new ones the last couple of years. I only buy what I like, in other words the more realistic HWs based on real cars. I don't collect any one certain area of cars. I'd start collecting the newer models and if you find you like a couple of certain castings, then go for those. VWs, Mopars and Chevys seem to have the largest following among HW collectors. Only buy what you like, otherwise you'll be stuck with a bunch of cars that have no meaning to you and are taking up valuable space for display.

EDIT: In terms of variations, they are nice but it's not necessary to collect all of them. That can be a big hassle that may not be worth your time. It's essentially a ploy by Mattel to dig deeper into our pockets.

 

[computer guy]

When I started collecting, it was to go for mostly exoctic sports cars. then I went into first Editions and then I became upset and went to another line but I drift back occasionally to pick up odds and ends.

As far as being a completist, I would just say that you will probably find more than enough variations in just the First Editions to keep you hopping.
As far as the rest of the series (Track Aces, Lift Offs, Mystery, Taxi's etc.) I would just nit pick so as to not get too many of the same casting. Just an Idea.
Welcome to the boards!
As a suggestion you might try Matchbox (which belongs to Mattel now) to satisfy your need of being complete. 1-75 mainline and very few variations ( I am not positive). But it might be a good start.
Another idea is that HW puts out a list of all the cars that will be coming out for the year and use that as a guide to get your sets.
Depending on the year, FE's were up to 100 cars, then you had the additional 100 in the other series. I just couldn't see me doing that.

Again Welcome.
I hope we helped in some manner.
Richard

 

[kadman]

WELCOME to ht boards.ok where to begin on collecting?when i started i HAD to have everything cause i was gonna get rich on hot wheels.that never happened an all igot was a bunch of cars i got stuck in toats under my stairway (about 18 of the 40 gal ones)i just collect ths and an ocasional muscle car now unless i want to customize it an than i get a couple to tear up an repaint.so id go with the collect what ya like ttfn johnny :thumbsup:

 

[dipswell]

hey thanks for all the info and the warm welcome... I'll be around and as long as I keep my budget of $300 or less per year, I should at least get most of the mainlines and maybe get lucky enough to find the TH's for .92 cents at Walmart

 

[ranugad]

~ My main question is where to start when collecting hotwheels. I tried a few years ago to collect all...first ed....track aces..the whole nine yards. What I ran into was that every time I thought I was done, they came out with a variation to the card or color ect. I know the answer is to collect what I like, but what I like is completeness.
Any advise would be appreciated.

I'll be around and as long as I keep my budget of $300 or less per year, I should at least get most of the mainlines and maybe get lucky enough to find the TH's for .92 cents at Walmart

Give up the idea of completeness now or major budget alteration is neccessary.

If you had only 300 to spend last year, you'd have less than a third of all of the variations that came out last year. The total is now near 1,000. And new one's (variations of 2006 cars) are expected well into June.

There's a few that, if you didn't find one yourself, you'll not likely get it for less than $50.
And a few way more than that.

Even if you bump your budget up to a grand a year, you'll still be hard pressed to get EVERY variation. First off you'll have to decided which ones(reported) are actually bonafide variations from the factory or after market alterations. Then there's the whole, is it a variation, error, erriation or varror. You could drive yourself crazy just trying to solve that riddle.

So the advice I'll offer pretty much repeats what's been said before.

Collect (don't invest) what you like.
Get the radar gun(I've seen em on clearance at Wally's for $10) get some track(there are 50 foot rolls of track available and www.racegrooves.com has great downhill 4 x racing) a few playsets, plenty of those accelerators and have fun.

 

[ASHTONSBUG]

Welcome to HT.