Reheated Wheels!

 This week I'm going to show off some Hot Wheel restorations that I've done over the years! Now, this is actually a hotly debated topic in the Hot Wheels world, but I think a beater car deserves a second chance. So, let's take a look!

First, let's look at the typical condition of a car I deem ready for restoration...

These are Custom Firebirds. One has a broken grill and one has a missing hood and windshield. By the way, the one on the right was made in the U.S., and the one on the left was made in Hong Kong. That matters.

This is a Custom Cougar that was in worse shape than the Firebirds.  New paint she's pretty again! 

Remember those Firebirds? Here they are! Both of them! I combined the grill off of one with the other parts of the other. Now the trick was that since they were made in different factories, the parts didn't fit. So, I cut the nose off both and patched them together with metal epoxy!

See? The nose is grafted on! New paint and she's ready to roll!

Next we have a Deora that used to be purple...

And a Corvett that used to be yellow! 

This Lola G-70 was always blue...Well, what paint was left anyway. New paint and repop stickers make her stand out!

And finally, in honor of my childhood car, a purple Beatnik Bandid!

This one got new wheels and a new bubble as well as new paint!

I restore these simply for the enjoyment of it. It doesn't make them more valuable, in fact in some cases it can lower their value (I try never to do that, of course). It takes at least a couple of days to drill a car apart, clean it, strip the paint with fingernail polish remover, polish the body with mag wheel polish, spray a new color with an air brush, and reassemble.

And that's if you don't have to order anything.

So, it can be looked upon as a pain, but I love doing it. I don't display them with my original cars, but they have their own shelves. So, it's all about the fun.

And isn't that what it's all about?

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!

A Box O' Magic Kingdom!

This week I'm featuring a fun little item that I picked up a while back. A "Walt Disney's Wonderful Worlds" metal lunchbox from Alladin (the company, not the movie). Lets's take a look, shall we?

First, we have Mickey, Pluto and...uh...Hewy? Dewy? Heck, one of the nephews taking a spin on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (which seems to have been possessed by the spirit of Casey Jr....creeeeeepy!) It's nice artwork and one of the main reasons I bought the box. There's also an impossible to get in real life view of Cindy's castle in the background!

Ok, this part confuses me a little. All of the panels show the Magic Kingdom except this one. I remember the World on Ice Shows, but isn't this a little off theme? And it's the second most important panel on the box! I suspect "the suits" had something to do with this.

Ah, now we're back where we're supposed to be! And while I've never seen Goofy anywhere near The Jungle Cruise, at least we're back in the park!

Another great Magic Kingdom attraction! (although not as great as the Disneyland version) My first thought was "I didn't know Donald was a pirate!" But then I noticed which side of the bars he's on. Way to round 'em up, Donald!

And, of course, my favorite panel of all. I think the graphics for this one are spot on, with Mickey actually looking scared of the rather creepy looking ghosts. I also like the extreme upward angle on the Mansion. Good stuff!

Then we have a panel dedicated to Tomorrowland. Actually, it's pretty fun, with the gang riding Space Mountain, but the dang handle is in the way! Personally, I would have put the silly ice show under there instead. 

And, finally, the kind of beat up insides, which does NOT feature the thermos. Kind of like backstage, I guess. Move along, nothing to see here...

 And that's about it. Now this isn't an item that I would have used myself as a kid. It's from 1980, which means I would have been a junior in high school. Still, I like it a lot since my first trip to Florida's Magic Kingdom was in 1981! It was my second trip to a Disney property (the first being my trip to Disneyland in 1973) and The Magic Kingdom was all that was there! Epcot opened in October 1982...and I caught it in 1990...

So, there are some good memories here, and some fun graphics, so all is right with the world, I suppose. 

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!

Micro Loco Time!

 One reason I do this blog is to catalog items that I have collected over the years. You see, I know I'm not going to be around forever, and I want my daughter to have some record of what things are and why they are important. This, hopefully, will prevent her from just giving away items that may not look significant, but actually have quite a bit of actual or sentimental value. 

Case in point: we went to an estate sale a while back and I picked up the following item...

I knew this tiny train was Z scale. The last picture is it next to a typical HO scale engine. I also was pretty sure that the price they had on it (10 bucks) was way too low. I went ahead and bought it (I liked it even if it turned out that it wasn't worth much) and then did an Ebay search of sold items. What did I find? This...

Now I'm posting this not to brag (ok, maybe a little) but to point out that even estate sale companies can miss the value of certain items. Therefore, if you have any valuable things that you have collected, make sure that you document them in some way! My way? This blog. Plus, it's fun!

So, until next time, keep searching for (and documenting) treasures!

Another Redline Haul!

 One of the great things about being retired is that I can go to estate sales on Thursday mornings, when they typically start. Therefore, when I spot a picture like this on an estate sale site...

I can say, "Hey, there are a couple of Redline Hot Wheels in there! I should go check that out!" And, indeed, I did!

At the last sale, I was required to buy a whole big bag of cars to get the couple I really wanted. This time, they were selling them at about four bucks each. Actually, I got a discount, so they averaged 2.66 a car! Here's what I got...

Let's take a closer look, shall we?

These two Redline Hot Wheels were missing parts. More on that later...

First we have a great example of a 1969 Hot Wheels "Classic 57 T-Bird." This one in in aqua and is in pretty good shape!

Next we have a Hot Wheels Heavyweights "Tow Truck" from 1970. This is one that was missing parts, but reproduction parts are easy to come by, so here you go!

Now we have our other car that was missing a part (and the one I first saw in the estate sale picture) a 1974 Hot Wheels "Ice T." Again, reproduction parts finish it out.

Now this next car was originally a "Custom AMX II," but in 1975 it was renamed the "Warpath." I got two, but neither are in great shape.

Another 1975 Hot Wheels is this "American Victory." The bi-centennial was a big deal.

Now, let's switch to Matchbox, shall we? I only really like the standard wheel older cars. This is a 1967 release of the "Ford Galaxie." 

And we have a very nice example of a 1965 to 1969 "Dodge Wreck Truck." The paint is good and the plastic hook is still intact.

Finally, we switch to a 1969 Corgi Juniors Monkeemobile! I have a 1970 example with Whizzwheels, but this one, with standard wheels, is in much better condition. I also like the look of the standard wheels better.

With my other example...

That's about it for this week! I guess it's about time to start checking out the sales again. 

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!