The “CRAZIEST & RAREST” Finds of My Career

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:

White Enamel Camaro with White Interior US
(2) Jack Rabbit Special “Track Test Cars”
Green Mod Quad “Track Test Car”
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:

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

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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: