Instead I've been collecting the cars Hot Wheels made from pop culture.
It all started when I found the Jetsons car in one of the King Kullens I worked at (it's the local supermarket chain around here). So of course I bought it and wondered what else was out there.
Well it turns out that I wasn't the only one looking for these neat cars, so finding them in stores was near impossible. I should know from my years of working in a toy store that the Hot Wheels collectors go nuts for new stuff, so I had to turn my search to flea markets, conventions and of course eBay when my patience started to run out.
But my quest to find tiny versions of the Flintstones car
And the Mystery Machine
Would prove to be successful. Oh, and it turns out that Hot Wheels had a crap load of licenses on them, like James Bond and Star Trek. Since James Bond's cars were all real and that I'm not that into collecting six versions of the Enterprise, I managed to find other goodies nonetheless.
Like the A-Team van!
The Back To The Future DeLorean!
And of course Adam West's Batmobile. Hot Wheels made every version of the Batmobile in tiny form, even the Batplane from Dark Knight Rises and one from some theme park live show. But the second I laid eyes on this one, I HAD to have it.
And this, the Ecto-1, is apparently the coup de grace of the collection. This one's from 2010 and goes for no less than twenty bucks. I told the guy I bought this from that I'd leave it in the package since I just spent twenty bucks on a damn Hot Wheels.
Before I leave you guys for now, I bet you're asking "wait, didn't Hot Wheel make toys out of Simpsons cars?"
You bet your ass they did.
New for 2015, there's finally a tiny version of the pink Simpsons car! Lack of antenna aside, it's a damn good faithful recreation.
And yes, The Homer is finally real and spectacular. Forget what I said above, THIS car is incredibly faithful to Homer's original vision, right down to the three horns that I'd bet would play La Cucaracha if they worked. There's a special version made for SDCC, but the only thing special about it was the package, so buy this version if you can.
With these two cars, can other Simpsons vehicles be far behind? The Canyonero? Chester Lampwick's Rocket Car? Or dare I say it, the Monorail?!
Hell, they made a car out of a bobsled
And a roller coaster car
A monorail cab doesn't seem so far fetched in comparison. Get on it, Hot Wheels.
(NOTE: I didn't buy those last two, although now I wish I did. I have that "reverse buyer's remorse" feeling again.)
(NOTE: I didn't buy those last two, although now I wish I did. I have that "reverse buyer's remorse" feeling again.)
