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! :)