Hi everyone, my name is Justin Vazach, I've been into die cast for about 3-4 years now. I mostly collect 1:24 scale. I've spent so much on my collection that the guys over at Franklin mint probably can recite my credit card number faster than I can.

Other than that, I'm an Industrial Design major at Columbus College of Art and Design. (CCAD). Which is one of the reasons (other than chatting about cars) that I came to this board. Right now I’m working on my senior thesis. I’m designing a series of custom die cast collectables, but I keep having a problem. In my paper I have to prove the legitimacy of collecting. Unfortunately I can’t just say, “Well I collect, therefore others must as well.” So I’m hoping some of you would be kind enough to talk a little bit about why you collect. What drives you? And if anyone is feeling extra generous they can tell me their gender and age to help me define my "target market." I know this is a lot to ask but I'm hoping a few people out there are willing to take a minute to help out a stranger. Thanks in advance to everyone who responds, I'll be sure to post pictures of my finished project, and a link to my thesis.

Hi Vice552 and welcome to the forums. People collect diecast cars because they love cars, of course. More than anything I think that seeing a specific model reminds me of the time in my life when I became attached to it, ie. my Dad picked me up from the hospital when I was born in a '67 VW Van and we drove it across the US 14 times from California to Florida and back by the time we retired the old gal. Obviously, I have a VW Van (or two) in my collection. Also, once you start collecting a certain make of car, or type, say american race cars, or mopar for example, you naturally want to build out that genre. If you have a Corvette C5R or Porsche GT3 race car, you naturally are attracted to new versions of that model.

In my opinion it's an intense love of cars and the memories that the models evoke. Hope this helps.

Hey Justin,

I'm not sure this will help as I've only been collecting for two days and have two models but have another dozen coming soon. I've been addicted to searching online for diecast models and I was only made aware of them when I saw the Godfather 1:18 scale Cadillac with the Godfather figure. I'm now on my way to make a collection of movie/tv show cars only and of course the cars that I've had. I'm in the film industry so if when I see a car, I think of the movie it resembles and cars like the yellow Cadillac in Scarface means a lot more to me than just the cadillac. I think of cars in a manner of what movie they were in and who drove it. Examples that everyone knows are cars from Dukes of Hazard (General Lee), Ghostbusters and many more. Not sure if that helps and I'm a rookie in collecting but my drive to collect is my passion of my career, movie and film.

Hi Justin - I have a son who is entering college next year, looking to focus on industrial design as well! His main interest is automotive design. Hmmmm....wonder where he got that! :-)

Anyway, I think another reason people collect is that they can't afford the real thing! It's nice to at least have the scale version of the cars that I'll probably never own.

Value is another consideration. Folks like to collect things that are going to rise in value, looking forward to either selling at a higher price, or just knowing they have a true collectible car that is always rising in value. The hunt for the true bargain or gem is part of the fun factor. I'm sure the same is true for 1:1 scale cars as well.

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to thank Diecast247, entertainment_diecast, and mark for their input about collecting. Your responses are helping a lot.

Keep us posted on your progress Justin...