[1badgmc]

I was crazy into Hot Wheels collecting in the early and mid '90s when I was in high school. That's when I transitioned out of viewing my Hot Wheels as toys and viewing them as collectibles. I tried to buy every variation of every car I could get my hands on. Around '01, I took a semi-hiatus from collecting. I never stopped buying cars. The Hot Wheels aisle was always my first stop anytime I went to Wal-Mart, Target, Toys 'R Us, etc., but I just wasn't following the hobby, just picking random stuff up that I liked. I really got back into following the hobby and keeping up with things in '13 and it's my worst addiction. I try to narrow my focus to certain castings or series', but there are so many shiny things to catch my eye.

I keep an Excel file of my collection and the current count is just over 8,100 cars right now. That's just Hot Wheels. That's not counting Matchbox and other brands. I've been slowly going through my boxes stored at my parents' house so I can audit and reorganize everything and I'm adding the non-Hot Wheels brands into my spreadsheet as well.