My father-in-law passed away and left a Hot Wheels collection containing thousands of cars - all in their original package and kept in Rubbermaid tubs, so they are in mint condition. Since my mother is 85, I'm trying to sell them as an entire lot for her. Anyone interested should contact me, as I am in the process of making a complete inventory list. Nearest I can tell, he started collecting the cars back in the late 80's-current year. Thanks for your interest!

What are you asking for all??? Don't really need a complete list of everything, just need a breakdown list this way:::

How many ::::
T-Hunts
Number of cars from each year--(easy way to tell is look at the back of package & look for the copyright date, just add a year to that number & that should give a close year)

Any limiteds, boxed sets or other HW sets.

What kind of condition are they in, nothing is mint especially if it is in certain tubs, some tubs will destroy the edges & corners & if they are sitting sideways like in the original HW case cardboard boxes, the edges will be bent & frayed. Are they from a smoke free environment, easy wat to tell is open the tubs, if your a non smoker, you will smell the smoke regardless of how many years they been in there.

Also, where are you located, if it is too far, won't be in my best interest on postage. Thanks, James

This post was last modified: 12-14-2007 07:00 PM by SteeringRigsCollector.

Also, forgot to mention, some people will tell you to get a Price Guide of some sort so you will know what the value is. If you are new to Hot Wheels, your in trouble. Not trying to be mean, not trying to say your collection is crap, so I am not trying to offend you, just want to let you know what this stuff is hitting these days.

Give you alittle HW insight, 85% of Hot Wheels from 1995-Present isn't worth what the price guides say, most say the values are at least $2.00-$4.00 depending on guides you look at, but in the real collector life, that same stuff is worth about $.50ea or $.97ea if you can find receipts to Walmart to return the newer stuff.

That is EXCLUDING Hunts, limiteds & the other non mainline, series junk. Those will fetch a higher price depending on what they are, the condition they are in. Some people will tell you to stick them on Ebay, WRONG!!! Unless you want to spend the rest of your life listing 10,000 cars, you have a better chance of selling it as a complete stash ONLY!!! Also, I have seen a lot of stuff on Ebat not get bids for $.99. You have to pay $.30 just to list it regardless if it sells or not. So know your out $.30 more on the car. Ebat fluctuates too much to get an accurate value of a car unless it is limited.

I'll give you an example, I knew this fellow that was buying HW up, he passed away a few years back & left his wife(70) with about 100,000 Hot Wheels. They were selling cases of stuff from 1996-Present for $15.00 a case of 72 cars.

I might have gotten the rest cheaper if I bought it all, maybe around $.30a car.

A lot of people hate the idea that someone is only offering $.30 a car for a dollar car, I sell them to kids & Grandparents at the flea markets for $.50 acar. There is no demand for actually any of the 1995-2007 stuff that has been massed produced with the exceptions of Hunts, HTF Varies & the other stuff but if you piece it out & sell the good stuff first, you will be lucky to get anything the rest. James

This post was last modified: 12-15-2007 06:54 AM by SteeringRigsCollector.

Thanks a million for the great information and advice James! I hope you stick around and post more.

Sorry for the delay in answering your message, but our internet service was done and we just got back on line. I want to THANK YOU for such a jam packed email! This is exactly the kind of information we've been trying to obtain for the last couple of weeks. I will send a fuller reply in a few minutes. Thanks again! Bonnie

James - Firstly, I really appreciate your candor regarding the reality of getting what "we" think they're worth. Our interest in unloading this collection for our mother far out-weighs any interest in trying to sell them on eBay. Your breakdown of what that costs, not to mention the time it involves is much appreciated. Now for my questions....

What are "Hunts"?
How do we recognize "limiteds & other non mainline" pieces?
What is "HTF"?

When I say "mint" condition, I'm not exaggerating. They were kept inside a non-smoker's home, laid flat and placed face-to-face like a puzzle so they fit snugly, but not harshly into eachother. There is very little damage to any of the packages.

I will gladly supply you with a full list when we are done counting them all. I appreciate your instructions for listing them - it will save us time! You will, also, like to know that we are now finding his "old" Hot Wheels, dating back into the 70's, 80's and 90's. Many of those were kept in those soft blue packs. Unfortunately, he took most of the cars out of their original packaging and set them inside the little pockets of the case. There are full sets of certain years, though. There are also "limited editions" (or so it says on the packing of the newer car sets) and there are plenty of full "series". We know what "red lines" are, and there are some of those. For instance, I just found one last night from '93 that's beautiful (even to a non Hot Wheels collector). Its a 25th anniversery collector's edition with 6 cars and they're all red lines. Somebody told us the pink cars are more valueable and there's a very nifty looking pink Classic Nomad in that set. The Red Baron is pretty sharp, as well. At the same time, we've found about 2 dozen old Hot Wheels that have obviously been played with and are worn. Anyway, that will give you some idea of what we're working with.

The hard part for any buyer will be shipping costs. We live in northern California and if somebody can't come pick these up in a truck...a big truck...then shipping costs will be horrific.

Thanks, again for your great information and the time you put into it. I'll let you know when the list is complete.

Thanks.
Bonnie

For those of us that grew up on HotWheels, I think everything made after 1973 is worth 50 cents. Hee hee.
Red lines RULE !!

Faves:

TNTBird
Boss Hoss
Nitty Gritty Kitty
Heavy Chevy

Bonnie, as far as shipping - if you can paletize the whole collection, you could then ship via Freight, which is quite simple with UPS.

[quote=Cars4Sale]
James - Firstly, I really appreciate your candor regarding the reality of getting what "we" think they're worth. Our interest in unloading this collection for our mother far out-weighs any interest in trying to sell them on eBay. Your breakdown of what that costs, not to mention the time it involves is much appreciated. Now for my questions....

What are "Hunts"?
How do we recognize "limiteds & other non mainline" pieces?
What is "HTF"?


Hunts or Treasure Hunts are from 1995 to present. From 1995 to 1999 I think, will have a green stripe across the center of the card just above the blister(Plastic case holding car)I think year 2000 was when they went to the side stripes( Not positive on that) but will have either Treasure Hunt on a green stripe on the RH side of the card, next to the blister & some have a picture of a little pirates treasure chest on the green stripe oon 2000 & later. As for those, 1995 & 1996 were the best years, certain cars like the 1995 Hunt '67 Camaro still are fetching $300.00 depending on wheel variation & 1995 VW Bug Hunt is about $100.00-$125.00. 1996 Hunts fetched $20.00+ & the prices go down from there but is also depends on which car it is, there are a few 1997 Hunts $10.00-$25.00 since most didn't have Real Rider tires & they wasn't a great car either like the Blimp, Street Cleaver.

As for HTF's--(Hard to Finds) which are variations that if you have the right one can fetch $100.00+ depending on the ones you have. Those, I couldn't tell you too much since I haven't been keeping up with them so I couldn't really tell you which ones which. They best way would be to get a Lee's Price Guide & kind of make a note of certain ones & then compare to Ebay, but if you did it this way, you will pretty much be going through each & every car & take up the rest of your life.

If you got kids, if the person is a close relative doesn't really care too much about money at this point, could give them to your kids & have your kids put them away until they get to an age where they can either collect them from that point or sell them.

On the limiteds, it also depends on what it is. Certain cars were massed produced so they were more out there than people collecting & they don't really fetch very much money. After 1998-1999, the bottom pretty much feel out of the Hot Wheels market on stuff after 1990.

Also, on the loose ones, you can't go by the date on the base of the car. The date on the base is when they made the mold for that base, not the car. The only time you can use the date is on the actual package, most models are a year behind so you will have to add a year to the date on the package.

The redlines(Vintage) or the 25th Anniversary versions are OK, there are some people that collect them but they don't really fetch very much on them, I have seen them sell between $2.50-$5.00ea depending on which ones.

But the biggest problem when trying to sell a large collection like that is you only cater to a very small select individuals because of the cash involved & the bad thing about that is they dictate the price.

But you need to find a trustworthy person near you that can help you out on what to ask for but don't sell anything to them, or at least figure out what they are trying to get from cheap.

I seen way too many sorry people try to help someone sell their collection, they will get them to ask for top dollar for some things that is actually worthless while they are on the sideline telling the person this is only worthless just so they can buy it up at dirt cheap prices.


I posted a few pics for to see a few different ones just so you can get an idea.

Here's a Hunt with the treasure chest on it, this thing is worth around $3.00-$5.00


This Hunt is from 1996 & is better for one it was limited more & I want to say it was hitting on Ebay around $40.00.