So apparently I collect die-cast vehicles. If someone had asked me a week ago if I collected Hot Wheels I could have easily said “no” without any hesitation. There’s no malice in that statement either; it’s not that I dislike these little die-cast metal vehicles. I just never thought of myself as a connoisseur of the medium I guess. I know that I had a handful of cars as a kid, but by and large I was an action figure guy and whenever I found myself in a toy store, I was never drawn to that aisle. I’m not even sure where I came across the handful of cars and trucks I did have, though if I had to bet I’d say they were most likely stocking stuffers.
Over the past couple of years I’ve found myself picking up a Hot Wheels car here and there, mostly due to some awesome pop culture vehicles popping up unexpectedly on the pegs. I happened to see an Ecto-1 Ghostbusters ambulance one day in Toys ‘R Us and thought to myself, “Neat, wouldn’t it be cool if a few more die-cast cars like this started showing up?!?” Within six months I was alerted to the fact that the Back to the Future DeLorean was released, and then shortly after the A-Team van. At that point I was downright craving more miniature pop culture rides, and even though I found myself gravitating to the Hot Wheels section more and more it always seemed like a pretty fruitless endeavor. There just weren’t enough of these to really keep my interest in continuing the search…
But then here and there I’d find something that caught my eye. Whether it was some of the Tron Legacy vehicles, or a retro Hot Wheels Hot Ones release (like Spoiler Sport) that reminded me of a very similar Incredible Hulk-themed version of the car I had as a kid, I couldn’t help myself and before I knew it I was checking out at the register with two or three cars…
Shortly after Halloween was over last year I stumbled upon a set of Monster Cereal branded cars, which I felt obligated to own as I don’t have any MC merch and this was a fine way of keeping that Halloween-y feeling alive for another week or so. Honestly though, even at this point I didn’t consider myself a collector of little toy cars. But after picking up a slightly expensive new Hot Wheels K.I.T.T. (I didn’t want to wait the eternity it seems for this little guy to hit the pegs), and splurging on a few more of the retro Hot Ones cars last week I think I now have to reconsider my stance on collecting.
I think the final nail in the coffin is that I found myself scouring Hot Wheels wikis and eBay looking for specific cars I had as a kid. After placing a bid on one of them (keeping my fingers crossed) I think it’s pretty clear that I’ve passed a line of demarcation. I apparently collect Hot Wheels.
So, in honor of this realization, I thought it would be fun to do a giveaway of some of the extra Hot Wheels pop culture cars I’ve picked up over the last year. I have two sets to give away, one featuring the 2010 Ecto-1, the 2011 Back to the Future Time Machine, and the 2011 A-Team van, and a second with just has the A-Team van and the BTTF Time Machine. So what do you have to do to win one of these sets? Well, you can send me an e-mail with the subject line “Pop Culture Hot Wheels” and list your favorite Hot Wheels toy or experience. Be sure to include your name and mailing address. I’ll be picking the winners at Midnight on Thursday, May 31st, 2012. Good luck!
**UPDATE** Consider the giveaway pot sweetened! I found two 2012 Knight Rider K.I.T.T. Hot Wheels today, so I’m adding one to each prize pack!
Now, I’m just going to sit back and hope that there will be a Hot Wheels release of some of my other favorite vehicles soon (including the General Lee, Airwolf, and Street Hawk)…
