Why Hot Wheels are still hot

Steve Elson is the first to admit he is the very definition of a fervent collector.

“I think you’re born with the passion,” he said. “I’ve always liked old things and I’ve always collected things, ever since I was a kid. My mom used to drag me around to garage sales and antique shops when I was quite little. I collected everything. It’s the passion of it. I still have a little box with the bird skulls and mouse skulls I found as kid. I kept everything.”

The East York resident has been collecting Hot Wheels cars for 20 years and said he has amassed 700 of them. Like with so many other collectors, his interest in Hot Wheels – those die-cast cars first produced by toy company Mattel in 1968 – has roots in his childhood, but Elson only began seriously compiling his selection of miniature cars two decades ago.

“Hot Wheels came out when I was eight years old, the perfect age for toy cars,” Elson said. “I took pretty good care of them, so, when I found them 20 years ago, I went on eBay and I was amazed. These cars were selling for $30, $40 or $50 (U.S.). I probably had eight or 10 original Hot Wheels in good shape, so right then and there I decided I was going to start collecting and get all the ones I never had, as a kid.”

The popularity of collecting Hot Wheels has grown in recent years, and Elson said there are as many kinds of collectors as there are models out there. “My vision for Hot Wheels is pretty narrow. I only collect from 1968 to 1972.”

The cars he collects are the ones with the red line wheels, which have a red strip on the tires and were only produced for about a decade, and those with Spectraflame paint finishes, a process that gave the cars a realistic metallic look.

“I know a guy in California who only collects blue cars with white interiors. That’s it.”

Elson said the nature of collecting has changed over the years.

He cited huge shipping charges and rising auction prices as game-changers. “I don’t want to get into an auction with a guy and spend $4,000 on a car that I think is worth $1,500, but that’s what’s happening.”

He said people who get into collecting these miniature cars should have a personal reason to do so rather than just a financial one. “If it’s only about money you’d probably be better off in the stock market. Take a few flyers on the tech stock here and there. Some of the medical stocks are probably going crazy right now.”

Still, there are finds to be had, he said, as collections are unearthed from basements and attics. Even with the shift in the collector’s market, Elson said he thinks the hobby will continue.

“Hot Wheels have the advantage over other collectibles because they still make Hot Wheels,” he said. “The kids today that are growing up with Hot Wheels are going to still (have them) when they’ve got a career, a family, kids and they need a hobby. They discover their old cars and here we go; they’re back in.”

He also admits these 2.5- and three-inch miniatures take up less space than his former hobby – which was collecting antique glass bottles.

“Seven hundred bottles take up a lot more space than my 700 Hot Wheels. That was another thing that led me into this,” Elson said.