Found my first 2014 Camaro $uper in the wild!

While having my flat tire fixed in the tire shop, I decided to head over to the Hot Wheels area to see what I could find. I came across a bin and pegs filled past their limits full of C case cars. Looks like they put out 9 of them based on how many Fangsters I found. While halfway through the bin, I managed to find this...

I was starting to lose hope with how many cars I had gone through, but there it was. Fell out while I was 2/3rds of the way through the bin. Only found one out of all the cases put out, but I'm not going to complain!

Here is what the shopping cart looked like as I was using it to help go through the bin:

You can kind of see the chaos of the bin, haha. I found 4 Bat Pods, 9 Fangsters, 7 Herbies, and the 1 $uper Camaro. Not a bad hunt. Though the only ones I took were the Camaro and two of the Bat Pods.

I will leave you with this final pic of the Camaro as I am ready to head to bed!

Until next time,

Derek Twigg

John 3:16

PS FYI etc :P

Here is a video I made while there...

Super x3?

It's not everyday you are the first person to a freshly set up display of Hot Wheels, even rarer is when you get to help set one up. I ran across a Kroger that had their Hot Wheels Christmas display boxes sitting on top of some shelves in the same area they have a ton of other Hot Wheels cars.

I decided to go ahead and ask about them to one of the employees. He said that he would get some help to bring them down so I could go through them if I wanted. After waiting a few minutes, an employee showed up and got a ladder to take them down. He let me help set up two of the displays and go through the other two in which he put back up on the shelves after I was done going through them.

Here is what I was able to pick up:

I found several more of the Fire Eaters, but considering I have more of that Treasure Hunt than any other one I have ever owned, I gladly left them behind for the next collector. I even had fun hiding them in different locations to make the hunt all the more exciting.

First time finding that many $upers at one location. The '67 Camaro is definitely one of my favorite Treasure Hunts this year. If only I could be so blessed to find that many every time I went Hot Wheels hunting, haha.

Until next time,

Derek Twigg
John 3:16

B Case From Hot Wheels

I'll let the video do the talking this time as I got the 2014 B Case from Hot Wheels :)

Until next time,

Derek Twigg
John 3:16

What does it look like to find a Super Secret?

I can report to you first hand exactly what it looks like as I had the rare experience of finding one last night. Without wasting anymore of your time, I give you this...

I was starting to give up hope on finding this one. It was a big blessing to end a long day. I almost didn't stop at this Kroger as I didn't expect them to get another shipment for awhile, but I was literally across the street and couldn't help myself. I went to the place I found my last Super Secret at this Kroger (still need to post a blog on that) and found a display that looked like it had either:

A. Kids messed up all of the cars

or

B. An employee who has no idea how to set up a Hotwheels display was the one in charge of this project

Fortunately for me, it was B. Not the first time I have run into this. If you look at the left of the picture you can see how the cars are folded down. When I found two battle damaged Enterprises, I knew it had been untouched. That is when I found this...

It looks like the bed doesn't properly line up, but I'm not going to complain. I'm thankful I found one. I found another battle damaged Enterprise after finding this Super. Considering how many of those things I have found now, I decided to put all three on the outside of the display so that hopefully a kid walking by will be able to pick them up before a scalper comes and takes all three. I will have to post pictures later of those opened up and surrounding the Vengeance.

I'm not a Toyota fan at all, but this Super is really cool! The wheels in particular are pretty epic!

I need to head to bed, long day ahead of me tomorrow! Hopefully some good hunting to report on if I can make it to any stores on my lunch break :)

I will leave you with this picture of a Treasure Hunt I found at a Target that had just been stocked. It is one of my favorite Treasure Hunts for 2013 despite several other collectors claiming it to be one of the ugliest.

Good night all! As usual...

Until next time,

Derek Twigg

John 3:16

You gotta be persistent

One thing I have learned from being a collector where I live is that you must be persistent. I don't care what the manager of the store tells you, if you fail to keep checking, you will miss out on finding what you have been looking for. Way way too many times have I missed out on Supers and normal Treasure Hunts because I listened to the manager or thought a store wouldn't be refreshed anytime in the near future. Here is an example that just happened today. A Target manager told me that they were not getting anymore cars in stock for awhile because they already had their "magic" number (usually 400-500 cars). Some stores this hold true (Toys"R"Us being the worst). Despite what he said, the store is only a mile away from where I live and I drive by it to get home. It is just too hard not to pass up when I don't want to fight traffic at the intersection I have to turn at. Instead I can just go the opposite way and have no traffic and just relax looking through Hotwheels (even if I have done it almost every day and know what they have).

Today, it paid off. A Treasure Hunt I have wanted more than any other Treasure Hunt in the history of my collecting, a Subaru Treasure Hunt. I found it, a 2014 Subaru STi WRX Treasure Hunt.

I just could not believe how hard this thing has been to find! I heard from one collector that he had found enough to start giving them away and here I was with zip, zero, nadda. That changed today, woo hoo!

This Treasure Hunt is for those who claim they can't find the logo. Hotwheels decided to not just put it in one place, but three!!! You can see the first one right above STi, the second above the front wheel, and the third is on the hood above STi.

So there you have it. If you want to find a car you have been hunting for, you have to ignore the employees of the stores and keep hunting! Though in some cases they can actually be right. Toys"R"Us must have the worst schedule when it comes to getting new cars. I'm guessing they get one big order each month and do not order anymore until they are almost completely wiped. Ugh, oh well. That is what makes the hunt so exciting I guess, haha. Just never truly know when a store is going to get a box in. Just gotta keep hunting and have fun at it. I have had countless days where I didn't even find a basic car that I wanted. Sometimes you get a streak going on, then other times you will find nothing. Have fun, it isn't the end of the world if you don't find what you are looking for. If you put all of your burden of having fun on finding a single car, you will never truly have fun being a Hotwheels collector.

Until next time,

Derek Twigg

John 3:16

A Hotwheels rant

One of the biggest drawbacks of being a collector is that the world around you doesn't understand your passion. Surprisingly many do not even know what you are talking about when trying to ask where the Hotwheels are located in their store. I've lost track of how many puzzled faces I've seen. It would be nice if all stores had a convenient layout for their Hotwheels so I didn't have to ask all the time, but sadly this is not the case. For example, Publix. They are the absolute worst when it comes to track down where they hide their Hotwheels cars. One store in particular that really bugged me was that they hid the one Hotwheels car they had by putting it with the school supplies. No other toys in sight, just randomly blending in with the other items hanging up.

I have found a answer to finding help quicker than before. I can usually find one Hotwheels car pretty quick and once I have done so, I will take it with me to ask for help. I can show the person what I'm looking for and at least 3 out of 5 times they can help. The other two, well...I think some employees should stick behind the cash register and not be on the floor trying to help people find things. Even when showing them the car, they still look at you confused and then will take you to a section with other random toy cars or even the 5 packs despite you asking for the basic single pack.

Another fun one to deal with is when you go to a Walgreens, CVS, or Rite-Aide. I think they all three have the same hiring manager that trains them as they all three have a word for word knee jerk reaction when asking if they have any more Hotwheels. It goes along these lines, "We do not have any in the back, all of the cars we have are already out." I finally got a worker to give me an explanation that they only order two cars at a time. I'm not sure how they do that, but I believe she was speaking the truth. She even asked how many I wanted and she would order them. Based on where that store was located, I doubt I will be back there anytime in the foreseeable future and didn't request any.

My least favorite experience is dealing with employees who feel the employee is always right and the customer has no say. A Wal-mart employee is the perfect example of this. For their sake, I will not mention the store, but I believe it is safe to say I will not return to that store for a long time. I've been to it a couple times and the first, the pegs were almost completely empty. I asked the employee if they were getting more, with an attitude, she told me that they had no intentions of putting out anymore until the dump bin was empty. Being curious, I visited the store a week later and the bin had been filled again. The last time I was there, the bin was gone and so I asked if they were getting more to the same employee (unfortunately). This resulted into a lecture about how they will not put out another box until the pegs are almost empty like before. Fortunately their are several other stores that can keep me occupied to help me stay clear of this location.

I am done for tonight, I could go on, but sleep sounds pretty amazing right now! Though I do want to post one more blog, I have some new Treasure Hunt finds to report on!

Until next time,

Derek Twigg
John 3:16

New collector friend?

On lunch today, I ran to the Target closest to where I was at. As I'm walking up to the Hotwheels display, I see another person standing there going through the cars and holding a few. What do I see in his hands? The '07 Ford Mustang Super, a RX-7 Regular Treasure Hunt, and two battle damaged Enterprise models. If I had been there one minute sooner, I would have been able to pick those up. But it wasn't meant to be. He had been looking for the Mustang and I already have one, so I believe it went to the right person :)

I got to talk to him for awhile and enjoyed getting to know him a little better. He recommended that I go to a collector show coming soon. I'm thinking about it, he is the second person to tell me I should go to this event. We shall see.

Fortunately today was not a complete loss! I finally found a Treasure Hunt I've been hunting for awhile. The Dodge Challenger Drift Car Treasure Hunt, BOO YAA!!! I didn't find any Supers, but there is never a guarantee of finding them. I also found another Custom Dodge Van Treasure Hunt. Guess today was a Dodge collector day!

The logo on this TH blends in with the other logos. Not as bad as the custom Dodge Van, but still pretty good.

I actually saw the back of the first one before the front and knew instantly it was a TH since it is the only Dodge Challenger released this year. After having a let down of being beat to the Mustang Super, this definitely made up for it and then some!

Until next time,

Derek Twigg

John 3:16

Unexpected finds

I knew that the Big Lots by where I live was getting Hotwheels today and so I decided to make a run shortly after they opened the store. I arrived right after they had installed two different shelf holders of cars. Upon first seeing them, I thought they had already been raided because all of the cars were facing down. But I didn't want to waste the trip and started to go through them. About halfway through the first one, I found a car that I have been looking for a long time. The Sting Rod II Treasure Hunt. It looks much cooler in person than in the pictures I have seen online.

It has been one of the more frustrating cars to try and find as there are two models out on the shelves that look similar, but obviously are not the same. I get excited every time I find one, but of course there is no Treasure Hunt logo. But today I was very blessed! I didn't find any supers, but I'm more than content with what I found.

You can see the HUGE Treasure Hunt logo in red/white on the back. Pretty hard to miss if you are a collector. While I was there I decided to pick up a Enzo and a Mustang that I did not have.

After going to Big Lots, my wife (she is pretty awesome for putting up with me on these adventures) and I went to a Wal-mart that claimed that they were going to have a new shipment of Hotwheels cars on the pegs this morning. When we got there, the pegs were still pretty much empty, so no luck there. We then decided to head over to a movie theater grill place to watch a movie and have lunch. But...the movie we wanted to see was sold out. Since we were in the area, we headed over to that Toys'r'us because I know one of the guys there would let me buy a case that he showed me earlier this week.

I talked to one of the guys I had spoken with before and knew the guy helping me with buying a case. He went straight to the manager and apparently the case had been stored in some random place as they could not find it. I decided to do some detective work and hunted around the store for it. What I came across was another box instead. It was for some reason hidden under the Customer Service desk. It had been opened, but it look like most of the cars were still in it. I decided to dig through to see what I could find and ended up finding another old Treasure Hunt car.

When this one first came out, I remember finding two or three of them at a Wal-mart. My gut feeling told me it was something special but I ended up leaving it behind because I figured it was just another basic car. After I had got back to school, I did some research on it and come to find out, it was a Treasure Hunt. I went back to that Wal-mart later that week and went back to the bin I had found them. I was only successful in finding one of the ones I had seen previously. I guess a collector overlooked it or was content with having the ones they found.

I still couldn't believe it was a Treasure Hunt and decided to tear it open to look for myself. Sure enough, the card said that it was indeed a Treasure Hunt. Who knew? My wife was able to point out the symbol after I couldn't find it. You deserve a cookie if you can find it quickly. I'll give you a hint, it is toward the back. Of course this picture makes it a lot easier to see because of the flash, but in person, it is super hard to see.

Here is my haul for the day:

Fun fun! :)

Hotwheels at work?

Who says you can't have a cool desk at work? The rare occasions I'm actually in my cubicle, I get to enjoy these three Hotwheels cars I have on display.

The Aventador is my favorite Lamborghini, the JJ Enterprise is my favorite Enterprise, and the 599XX is my favorite Ferrari.

Derek Twigg
John 3:16

A good day to be a collector

I got to do some for the very first(ish) time today. I say the ish, because of K-mart day I did get to open a 36 count box to search through.

But anyways, today I got to be the first person to search through a 72 count box of Hotwheels cars. I was going to buy the box, but ended up putting most of the cars onto the pegs at the store I was at. It was like working at a retail store all over again, just this time I was not restricted from being able to purchase the cars I was putting up. Someone even stopped to ask me if I could help them find something and I had to assure them that I did not work at the store. I did end up helping the lady anyways, it was kind of fun. I do miss getting to work retail and helping customers. Fortunately the job I have now I get to meet new people almost every week, not quite the same, but still fun!

Moving along to the actual opening. I didn't know what to expect and honestly I thought the box would be much larger. But it was a tiny box that somehow packed 72 Hotwheels cars. After peeling away the flaps, I looked inside with a long glance to see if I could spot anything I wanted. I quickly noticed a STAR TREK battle damaged Enterprise (I have way too many of these things now). I decided to start pulling cars to get a closer look at what was inside. To my surprise, I finally found a car I have been searching for months to find.

I found the 2007 Ford Mustang Super. I keep hearing from collectors that you do not always find a Treasure Hunt in a case. But this was not the case for this case (pun intended). I found the Mustang super and also a normal Mazda RX-7 Treasure Hunt.

It was a good way to end the day after visiting several other stores that had clearly been wiped before I had a chance to walk through the door. Here is a picture of what all I grabbed from the box:

I'm sure the other cars have no value, but they are fun to have! My wife has already opened the plane and claimed it, haha!

The Mustang will be the 7th Super I have found while collecting. The first was a Ferrari Enzo that I already sold on ebay earlier this year. The other ones I have will be harder to let go, especially the 599XX I found last year. It is my favorite Hotwheels car I own, I wouldn't even take it out of the protective shell for the picture, it stays protected!

(Quick Edit) I realized that in the final picture that one of the cars is not a Super, I do have two Supers of that car but accidentally took a picture of the normal one. Another quick edit, I really need to go to bed, but I actually have been blessed enough to find 8 Supers! The Camaro Super is a pretty funny story on how I found that one, I will have to make a post based on just that experience! :)

Here are the other two that I have:

Until next time,

Derek Twigg

John 3:16

How it started

I have always been a fan of Hot Wheels cars thanks to my father buying them for me when I was a toddler. My father started my collection shortly after I was born. He passed away when I was three; yet 25 years later and I still have the cars he gave me. They are not in the best of condition anymore, but their sentimental value is priceless to me. They are currently stored at my parent's house, I will have to get a picture of them one day to post on here.

Even though I had Hot Wheels cars growing up, I didn't actually start seriously collecting them until the mid-90's. I do have hundreds of them before that period, but they were all opened and heavily played with. Nothing like having an adventure with your cars or maybe setting up a huge dealership to sell your cars. When my brother would join in on the fun, I had it set up to where my cars were on the dealership lot and that every three minutes or so, he would earn fake paper money we had (the kind you find at the dollar store). He could then use that money to purchase a car to drive around in. It never lasted long because he would want too many cars and three minutes seemed like eternity for him.

And here we get to the point of my first post in this blog, how on earth did I become a serious Hot Wheels collector. Ironically enough, it was because of Matchbox cars. I kid you not, I became a serious Hot Wheels collector by a birthday gift of Matchbox 1 in 25,000 series cars. My grandparents and mom gave me a ton of them for my birthday one year. I, being a young child who loves playing with cars, of course wanted to tear them open and play with them. But...just hang on one second, there was a stipulation to these prized birthday gifts. I was not allowed to open them. How can you tell a child that they are not allowed to play with toy cars? I didn't know what Limited Edition was, I just saw cars enclosed in their plastic prisons that needed to break free and hit the tracks.

So it started, my Hot Wheels collecting bug that hasn't been killed even to this day. It wasn't because of Hot Wheels cars, but because I was not allowed to open Special Edition Matchbox cars. When buying Hot Wheels cars from that day on, I almost felt like I would be punished. Talk about a mental scar. It did seem like punishment but yet it somehow blossomed into a fun hobby. Cars that I buy today, even if I buy them with no intentions of selling, are very difficult to open. Fortunately my wife has no problems with opening them and I can let her do it for me (I'm such a great husband, haha).

My collection is relatively small compared to many collectors I've run into, thus the reason why I call my blog Part-time Collector. It is a fun hobby that I do when I have some free time, but nothing that I live by. I hope you have enjoyed this short first post. I will leave you with a picture that contains most of my collection, the rest of them were in other locations and it has grown since I took this picture earlier this year (I blame you K-mart day! That will be another post).



Until next time,

Derek Twigg

John 3:16