Adam@Home by Rob Harrell for July 12, 2023

Stay the path Clayton

i feel that way about hot wheels from the early 70’s!

that’s the spirit

Matchbox cars were fun to play with.

Clayton is dropping some truth right there. His folks would be proud to hear him .

For me it’s 1967. All those Redlines! By the early 1970s I was painting and smashing them. Who knew?

BTW, Relines from the late 1960s are the true collectable. If you have a new Hot Wheels or Matchbox, then go ahead and open/play with it. It will never be worth much, and they rarely increase in value over time. Too many cars on the market. Real Redlines in or out of the package are rare.

I have to wonder if civilized humanity will still be around in 2063. Or will high tech and AI be ruling the world??

To think that I wasted my youth enjoying my toys.

I’m with Clayton.

One of my favourite YouTube channels is Marty’s Matchbox Makeovers, where an insane English transplant to Australia restores old Matchbox cars with the assistance of his koala puppet Kevin.

In a world filled with climate disaster, war, and the rerise of fascism it’s nice to spend half an hour with someone whose greatest concern seems to be whether the 1958 Steamline had wheels with 16 or 18 spokes, and if the latter where he might be able to source them,.

Nothing wrong with that Clayton as I still build LEGO and I’m 59.

We already have AIs in charge of huge amounts of the world and its economy. It’s just that those AIs are called ‘corporations’. Inhuman intelligences who do not have human interests at heart.

Matchboxes, baseball cards, comics, I’d be a trillionaire in cash but poor in childhood memories.

I totally agree with Clayton on this one. I have a whole load of Titanium class models of Sci Fi craft from Battlestar Galactical and Star Wars. Some of them are actually fairly rare and could even be worth a decent amount in the future. However, I have them on display and look at them every day at one time or another. Enjoying them now for years is more important to me than keeping it in a box unseen for many years just so I can get some money back.

All my how wheels and matchbox cars are in the original packaging all the way back to 1998.

I never understood kids who “collected” new toys, but I noticed right off they were more than ready to “play with” and tear up my toys.

Always buy 2 of each.

When I think back to all the “collectibles” I destroyed, I just shake my head. With a smile on my lips…

Enjoy yourself Clayton, that’s what toys are for.

The same year we make first contact with Vulcans… coincidence?

We’ll blow ourselves to smithereens long before that; enjoy your cars, Clayton.

Atta boy Clayton…attaboy,

I agree! I have some classic cars and I drive them a lot.

Way to go kid…….

Clayton’s figured it out: not everything is about freaking money.

I don’t even wonder about tomorrow. I just enjoy the day.

And I suppose her Barbie dolls are still in the boxes.

That’s so true what Clayton said.

The only reason some “ephemera” is worth anything is because it is an example of one or two that has lasted…not because it was collected for that purpose.

About the value, though, it still isn’t worth all that, unless someone is willing to pay that much for that item. I remember watching the updates on Antiques Roadshow, and the apparaisers always qualify the value by saying: “on a good day”, “on a well attended auction” or something like that…

Clayton is dead on.

The fiery crash scenes are definitely more realistic when they’re out of their packaging.

We played with ours too. And I played with them at church with a boy when he was too young to pay attention to the sermon, and frankly, at times so was I.

Did decide to keep rather than garage sale my Matchboxes when I saw some at antique shows, but they definitely have had more play than collector’s value.

MeTV did a version of A Christmas Carol in which Scrooge hoarded all the world’s Charles Dickens Action Figures, but when time came to cash in nobody wanted them because they had no memories of playing with them.

Wow, I’m agreeing with Clayton! That may be a first. You go, son. You go!

Keep being awesome, Clayton. For my part, I can remember having a lot of fun with Matchbox cars as a kid, but I don’t recall ever doing so outside. Time spent outdoors was time spent on other things…

I still have my first Matchbox that was given to me in 1957. No. 32 Jaguar XK120. It’s had a hard life and multiple paint jobs, but I still have it!

I had something like a 2nd or 3rd edition Barbie doll. When I got it I had never heard of her (the girl who gave it to me at my birthday party was the daughter of a business associate of my dad’s who lived in NYC – not out here in the burbs, so she knew about “sophisticated” things like Barbie). She is here in our house – somewhere, along with first edition Ken, Midge, Skipper, Skooter, Ricky, Tammy, Pepper, and Dr. Littlechap. All extremely well used.

Also (living in the “Teddies’ Room”) are first edition Cabbage Patch Kids from Coleco and three “Original Appalachian Artworks” CPKs

And LOTS of teddy bears from all different companies – including Original Appalachian Artworks – hence why it is called the “Teddies’ Room”.

Never collected them for value – they are all “our children” (as we have no human children) and live a very good life.