.... Can make you go loco!
This weekend at Sherwood Forest I bought a Hot Wheels car. There were loads of great loose Matchbox cars and Corgi Juniors on the car boot stall but the Hot Wheels brand and more crucially the year, 1971, made me go with my gut and not my brain.
The car said underneath '1971 Buick Riviera'. The colouring was a nice old looking but somewhat battered metallic blue. The year and the colour made me think of Redlines and the magpie in me swooped and like Robin of Loxley I handed over my taxes, the princely sum of one pound.
Not long afterwards on another aisle I realised my blunder and knew instinctively that this was no Redline. For a start it didn't have ... well, red lines! It also had a swirling silver Hot Wheels logo and most telling of all it said in capital letters, MALAYSIA!
Looking the thing up later I could see that 1971 was part of it's name and nothing to do with the date of its Hot Wheels release, which was in actuality sometime around 2005 onwards.
I blame the blazing sun!
I could have swapped the car for another one pound special but I'll happily donate it to Junior's scrappers pile for re-conditioning next time he's over!
Have you been flummoxed like this readers?
Hot Wheels are an absolute nightmare to collect, especially as they sneakily re-released commemorative redlines recently too. Also, they probably account for more than 50% of any diecasts on ahow at any time as the output of models is prolific. If you are after vintage models, the wheels are the giveaway, even if the red stripe is faded, they are usually very matte finish, due to the softer plastic.
ReplyDeleteI should have known better. It the heat of the morning I forgot all the rules I know!
DeleteA few weeks ago at a car boot, I shelled out £2 for a mint, still shrink wrapped, hardback graphic novel of The Trigan Empire. A little relaxing reading in the shade with a cold beer thought I, until later in the day I removed the shrink wrap only to discover the text was all in Spanish.
ReplyDeleteha ha, I like that story Tone, what a shock when you got home!
DeleteMy own fault really, Woodsy. Had I taken a moment to read the blurb on the back cover I would've realised. Oh well :)
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