A Day in the Life of a Redline Archeologist

December 14th, 2023

Collectors and people alike always ask me “How do you consistently do it?”, “How does it work?” and the question most frequently asked is…“What’s a day in the life of a Redline Archeologist look like?”

Well, since everyone is so curious what it’s like to, well, be me for a day, I’m going to let you all in on a recent day in the life of this Redline Archeologist.  I’d like to say that this is not a typical day, but it truly is.

The date:  Friday November 24, 2023.

The location:  Somewhere in New Jersey.

The day started out like most days in this entrepreneurs’ life.  Wake up (hopefully 😉), brush teeth, shake the cobwebs from this 60+ body and mind, shower, coffee, and then check my email.  This is where most days get interesting.  Because of my passion for digging up the Redline Hot Wheels for over three decades, I get a lot, and I mean A LOT of emails daily, from not only passionate collectors like me, but also from fans. Yes, fans. I know it’s hard to believe, but I do have a fair number of followers in the hobby.  My two books on Amazon continue to do well and stay in the TOP 100 in the Collector Category for published books consistently, year after year. At last count, my YouTube Channel has over one thousand followers.  Doesn’t sound like a lot, but it does to someone like me who just wants to share all of my tens of thousands of discoveries over the years with fellow collectors who are in this wonderful hobby for all the right reasons.

Ok, let’s get back to my email account.  On this glorious day, I received an email from five individuals wanting to get their childhood memories (collections) of old Hot Wheels appraised and possibly sold.  As general practice, I responded immediately and accordingly.  Two of the individuals sent group shots and three did not.  The three that did not send pictures, I always respond with two options for sending me pictures:

  1. Direct email
  2. Text message to my cell phone
  3. Overhead group shots
  4. In Focus
  5. Well lit

This way, I normally get pictures of their collections sent to me sooner because of the texting option. Basically, it’s when it’s truly convenient for them.  I never ever rush anyone into sending pictures to me of their collections because I don’t want anyone to ever feel pressured at any step along the way.  There is a method, to what some call “My Madness.”  I just call it my Hobby or “JOBBY.”

Another text. Another find!

I consistently request additional pictures of the more desirable or rarer cars within each collection if there are any in the original group shots.  This normally can delay the appraisal process by a few minutes and sometimes up to weeks and is totally dependent on the individual owner.

On this glorious day, I also received a text message from an individual at 9:38am EST locally that wanted to meet me at 1pm EST to look at, appraise, and possibly sell me his childhood collection of the old Hot Wheels that we call REDLINES.  He was located in Northeast Philadelphia. As a side note, I always get pictures or Facetime with locals when meeting.  Also, I ALWAYS meet in a public place.  It’s call “Street Smarts.”

We agreed to meet at a local Starbucks halfway between him and me.  One o’clock rolled around, we met, I looked over the small collection of two dozen cars and the stack case, then agreed on a price.  The day was soon to get better.

I returned home around 2pm EST and as soon as I pulled in the driveway, a FedEx truck pulled up in front of my house and a collection I worked on for about two weeks finally showed up from Phoenix, AZ.  Sixty cars, three twelve-car Rally cases and sixty collector buttons.  All in phenomenal, lightly played with, condition.  Highlights of this collection are as follows:

  1. Three MINT Hot Pink CARABO’S
  2. Aqua Black Roof White Interior BOSS HOSS
  3. Hot Pink White Interior US PORSCHE 917
  4. Hot Pink SUGAR CADDY
  5. Orange Mantis, TNT BIRD, + FERRARI 312p

Another incredible find; all in a day’s work.

Not only had two really nice original collections come home, but a third from Arvada, CO was scheduled to be delivered this exciting day as well!  When it RAINS, IT RAINS REDLINES!  Needless to say, this collection reared its beautiful head of forty-seven Redline Hot Wheels with a few Johnny Lightnings mixed in as well.  The highlight of this collection was a GOLD Classic Cord in really nice condition.  For some reason, these Classic Cords always seem to show up in original collections in un-played with condition.  I never owned one as a child, but I guess they just weren’t that popular back in the day.  Maybe they didn’t hold the track or just weren’t as fun as say, hmmmmm, a SHORT ORDER! (My FAVE REDLINE 😉)

My phone began to “DING DING DING DING DING” repeatedly for the next 15 minutes as a slew of pictures were being texted to me from the owners of the three collections that I requested pictures of earlier this day.  My work was really cut out for me this day as sometimes it is in this great and fun hobby of ours.  I got out my pen and note pad and got to work on the appraisals.  My appraisals normally take a day to complete.

A great, yet typical day’s bounty.

You’ll need to stay tuned (and subscribe) to my REDLINE ARCHEOLOGY YouTube Channel as I have begun a really cool series of videos coined, “A Day In The Life Of A REDLINE ARCHEOLGIST” where I’ll go over the aforementioned collections along with many others that are on deck.

So, at the end of this day, I now sit here, with my favorite bottle of wine opened, and my favorite girl – my wife – toasting the wonderful memories that were just brought to light and soon to the collector hobby for all to enjoy.

😉  CHEERS

 

If you have the old REDLINE Hot Wheels and are thinking of selling them, Look No Further!

You now ask yourself the age old question,  “How do I sell my old Hot Wheels?”

Here at REDLINE ARCHEOLOGY, we will appraise your collection, at NO COST and NO OBLIGATION, and make the highest offer in the hobby for your cars, if they are from the years we are looking for, 1967 – 1977.

With almost 30 years of diggin’ up original one owner childhood Hot Wheels collections from the sixties and seventies, REDLINE ARCHEOLOGY is the only place to have your old Hot Wheels appraised by one of the most successful collectors in the hobby, Bob Young.  Bob has now authored two books:

 

REDLINE ARCHEOLOGY: A History of Diggin’ Up Original Hot Wheels Collections and REDLINE ARCHEOLOGY 2: The Dig Continues

 

Available on AMAZON, Barnes & Noble and now WALMART!

Call us anytime @ 856.912.2463 or visit us @ www.RedlineArcheology.com

/by

The “CRAZIEST & RAREST” Finds of My Career

April 22nd, 2023

People always ask me, “What are the most valuable and rarest car(s) you have ever found in a collection?”  I always have to take a step back and gather my thoughts and think about all the collections and amazing cars I’ve uncovered over the last thirty years.

Over the last three decades I always wondered what my collection would have looked like today if I had kept all the cars that I’ve dug up.  I would definitely need two museums to house the collection for sure!  My collection to date only has about a dozen cars in it.  I only keep what I like and have always been much more driven to hunt down the cars in their original collections and capture them in the wild.  In other words, I’m passionate about the “Hunt” and finding the original one owner collections in people’s basements, attics, and storage lockers.  This is what truly motivates me, not the collecting part.

So, let’s get to the juicy part of this blog: the rarest and craziest cars of all the thirty-five thousand plus cars I’ve discovered to date. The top of the heap, the rarest of the rare, the craziest of the craziest, and the unknown or never known to exist cars.  This is almost starting to sound a bit like a suspenseful drama or horror story.  😱

For me, finding variations of interiors, rare colors for a casting, and just plain rare cars is pretty commonplace with the amount of collections I discover.  Occasionally, I’ll come across an original one owner collection of Redline Era Hot Wheels® that just blows me away almost as soon as I lay my eyes on it, whether in person or in the myriad of pictures sent to me via text messaging or through email.  I always make a point to gather the provenance on every collection I appraise and/or purchase. ALWAYS!!  This is so important to me in gathering all the proper and accurate information that continues to move the hobby forward.  Over the years, with my learned line of questioning, I’ve uncovered over two dozen original one owner collections that either directly or indirectly originated from a former Mattel employee back in the Sixties and Seventies.  I just purchased one recently from a nephew of a former Mattel employee of the Sixties and there were some amazing, crazy, and rare cars found within.  A few examples of these cars that were found within the sixty-eight-car original collection are as follows:

  1. White Enamel Camaro with White Interior US
  2. (2) Jack Rabbit Special “Track Test Cars”
  3. Green Mod Quad “Track Test Car”
  4. Naked Police Cruiser

Here it is. The rare Custom Continental Mk III

Regarding finding an original collection, whenever I hear from the sellers or original owner(s) mouth that there was a connection with a former Mattel employee and the “Factory Store” my eyebrows immediately raise, my heart rate goes up, and I begin to sweat just a little bit.  This time was no different and I had the pleasure and honor of seeing this particular collection and these cars first-hand before striking a deal with the owner.

So, what are some of the craziest and rarest cars I’ve ever found? Well, I’m glad you asked because here we go: (drumroll please, Maestro) In over thirty years and tens of thousands of cars later, here are what I consider the BEST OF THE BEST in the crazy world of Redline Hot Wheels DIGGING:

  1. ORANGE Classic Cord (YES, I have witnesses, and someone out there still owns this car!)
  2. BROWN Custom Camaro
  3. BLACK Roof Magenta Custom Continental
  4. RED Classic Woody (Fully Customized to look like a “Huckster Truck” and from a Mattel Employee collection)
  5. KIDNEY BEAN Camaro (Probably one of the nicest ones in the hobby)
  6. LITE GREEN Custom Camaro with a BLACK METAL BASE (Yes, it’s not toned, it’s black metal)
  7. WHITE ENAMEL Custom Camaro with WHITE INTERIOR US

Lucky Number Seven: the crazy custom white enamel Camaro.

Number seven has always been lucky for most of us, but there you have it folks, the cars I consider to be the “TOP 7” cars ever discovered in my career in original one owner collections.  Trust me, there are plenty more simply amazing, crazy, and rare cars that absolutely could make this list and blow your mind, but I could be here all day and the list would be tremendously longer.  Maybe I’ll save that list for another day and another blog.

Please be sure to check out my YouTube channel, then Like, Subscribe and hit the Notifications button so as not to miss any of my future discoveries!

 

If you have the old REDLINE Hot Wheels and are thinking of selling them, Look No Further!

You now ask yourself the age old question,  “How do I sell my old Hot Wheels?”

Here at REDLINE ARCHEOLOGY, we will appraise your collection, at NO COST and NO OBLIGATION, and make the highest offer in the hobby for your cars, if they are from the years we are looking for, 1967 – 1977.

With almost 30 years of diggin’ up original one owner childhood Hot Wheels collections from the sixties and seventies, REDLINE ARCHEOLOGY is the only place to have your old Hot Wheels appraised by one of the most successful collectors in the hobby, Bob Young.  Bob has now authored two books:

 

REDLINE ARCHEOLOGY: A History of Diggin’ Up Original Hot Wheels Collections and REDLINE ARCHEOLOGY 2: The Dig Continues

 

Available on AMAZON, Barnes & Noble and now WALMART!

Call us anytime @ 856.912.2463 or visit us @ www.RedlineArcheology.com

/by