Collection: Hot Wheels '09 Corvette ZR1 & Ford Mustang Fastback

The Corvette ZR1 is basically the car that is made to go faster than the car its based on, the Corvette C6. Like an E63 AMG to a regular E-Class, or the 430 Scuderia to the F430. Capable of going 0-100km.h in 3.3s, its pretty quick. What I like most about this car is that its able to go round corners as impressively as its straight line speed, which earned the 2009 Performance Car of the Year from Top Gear.

Which is impressive I must say, for an American car. American cars are only known to be good to go quick in the straight lines, and are rubbish round the bends. Which brings us to the other car that gave rise to this reputation, the Ford Mustang Fastback.

Mustangs are exceptional for going in straight lines, and this one is no different. Labelled the Fastback because of the shape of the car by Caroll Shelby, this car was also meant to be the high performance version of the original Ford Mustang.

I got most of these cars of the pegs, which wasn't too hard and the exclusive recolours off a trade with a collector from Singapore.

Collection: Hot Wheels Nissan Skyline

Keeping with the JDM theme from the last post, I will be featuring the Nissan Skyline this time around. One of the first few castings that lured me into collecting Hot Wheels, this casting is a thing of beauty. This car needs no introduction, and if you do not know this car, you should really not call yourself a car enthusiast.

This R32 casting made its debut in the Hot Wheels line in blue and white along with racing tampo, and a huge APT across the side. For the next recolour in the basic car line, Hot Wheels was on top of its game producing the casting under the Dropstars Series. And as if that was not good enough, the Treasure Hunt version one year later was even more fantastic. Orange, white and a very well detailed racing design has made it a huge hit amongst collectors, notably those on the east side of the world. Unfortunately, the flame tampo in black and gold recolours after that was less attractive.

I managed to get most of these R32s by means of trades and buying them off other collectors. I think being in a community of other collectors has helped me expand my collection greatly. I have yet to obtain the T-Hunt$ for the Skyline, can't wait to get my hands on one!

Collection: Hot Wheels Honda Civic Si

The Honda Civic Si, one of Japan's many automobile icons. Now in its 8th generation now, the car is still popular as ever if not more. This line of cars under the Honda badge has served as a race car, a rally car, making it into a popular drift cartoon and simply a family car ferrying people from point A to point B. Hot Wheels made this new casting to replace the older Honda Civic Si casting from 2001.

I have completed my First Editions of Honda Civic by Hot Wheels nearly a year ago, together with the three All Star recolours in 2008. This casting has also been customized by me twice already, another testament to its popularity. Ironically, it was this casting that got me started in customizing 1/64 cars.

We all know that there is a SEMA version of the green FE Civic. Since I couldn't afford nor find one off the racks, I decided to make my own, spraying the hood and bonnet flat black.

Now that the Honda Civic Si has evolved from this model, perhaps Hot Wheels should follow Matchbox or Tomica and update its Civic too?

Collection: 2003 First Editions Enzo Ferrari

To be honest, I am an avid First Editions collector. I have this obsession for being first, I guess. : P

Anyway, this came in the mail today, courtesy of a click and a few keystrokes online. I enjoy collecting Ferraris and First Editions, so seeing this one a good price was too good to pass up. I have been looking on and off for this piece for a while now, and prices have been pretty high. I'm pretty happy I got it at less than half the prices listed. : )

So thats another Enzo off my list. Joy.

On a side note, Hot Wheels do make a lot of red Enzos don't they?

eBay Watch: Hot Wheels 2011 Happy New Year VW Drag Truck

On the last eBay Watch article I wrote about how a peg warmer can increase in value over time. In that case, the Chevy Silverado took more than 3 years before it appreciated in value. As collectors, besides the value of your collection appreciating, we also look out for bargains. And on eBay, we always hunt for bargains.

And in this 2011, are you looking to step up your game and start collecting those collector chase models?

Like, say a VW Drag Truck?

2011 Holiday Hot Rods Chase: VW Drag Truck (image from southtexasdiecast.com)

A highly sought after model and a chase piece in the series, one would imagine the price to be pretty high. Surprisingly, that's not always the case. Looking at the prices that this VW Drag Truck has been selling, they have been sold from as high as US$10 per piece (equivalent to RM31) to as low as US$4.46 (equivalent to RM13.70). Not too expensive, considering that the Ecto-1 First Editions are going for US$10 (equivalent to RM30).

So keep an eye out for pieces like these on its initial release, when they are still on the pegs they go for a pretty reasonable price and increase in value over time pretty rapidly. As I write the Buy It Now prices for these are around US$8 and the bids are holding steady at that amount too. If you are looking to start collecting VW Drag Trucks, that piece may just be the starting point for you.

P.S.: There are even cheaper VW Drag Trucks if you look hard enough, such as this and this and this and this.

eBay Watch: 2007 First Editions Chevy Silverado

Here's a new column that I will be adding to my blog. We all know that one of our favourite spots to purchase our Hot Wheels online is eBay (or also known as evilBay to some of us). People look at eBay to find those cars they cannot find on the pegs, be it Walmart/Kmart Day Exclusive Recolours, Super/Regular Treasure Hunts, other series not available locally, older basic cars no longer in production or simply cars that are supposed to be on the pegs but they are no where to be found.

Today I will be featuring a car that I have seen regularly on the pegs back home in Malaysia two years ago when I just started collecting: 2007 First Editions Chevy Silverado.

Hot Wheels Chevy Silverado (image from southtexasdiecast.com)

The Chevrolet Silverado is a popular pickup truck in America, selling in excess of 800,000 units worldwide yearly. I would imagine the sales figures would be hard for Hot Wheels to replicate since I have seen many of these on the pegs. Hot Wheels have manufactured this model with a motorbike model on the rear trailer in four colours: Dark Orange, Dark Red, Black and Blue.

Over the last two weeks, this First Editions Chevy Silverado has seen a rise in price. The Dark Orange variation was sold for US$6.50 (equivalent to RM20) to US$8.50 (equivalent to RM26), and the Black variation sold for US$5.50 (equivalent to RM16.80). The lowest of which is now equivalent to a majority of regular T-Hunts on the market, and a whopping 500% gain in value from retail price. Not bad for a local peg warmer two years ago, I'd say.

Currently, eBay sellers are selling these starting from US$4.88 and there are active bidders for it on the market.

Do you have a 2007 First Editions Chevy Silverado in your collection? Share your thoughts with me in the comments section!

Happy New Year from Gee's Garage.

Happy new year you guys, to those who has been visiting this sit for the last 10 months and found this site dead: I'm sorry! I decided to take a year's break away from Hot Wheels collecting and customizing since I lack time due to commitments. Also, I felt that I was a bit burned out on ideas and the 2010 line of cars weren't really exciting to me. I guess that happens when I don't pace yourself in collecting, and see too much of the cars.

Anyway, this year I hope to be able to bring more customizations and share more of my collections here. I have a new column in the works as well, I'll trial it out and see how it goes from there.

I have been shopping the past few days and got myself up to speed with the latest cars and got those that I missed out last year. A lot of places are having sales for these basic cars over here in Australia, with Big W selling AU$1 for one basic car (this equates to RM3.15) and Crazy Clark selling AU$1.60 per basic car (equivalent to RM5). So I got a couple for collection and another few to be ripped apart later for customizations.



That's all from me for now. Happy new years to everyone, and especially those who still visits!

Cheers,
Eugene.