Super Finds 2015: I walked into a Walgreens...

Gotta love a good tip.

I guess a good tip could be "Walmart is getting shippers", but there are so many collectors tapped into Walmart a tip like that probably wouldn't help that much.  Or it could be "Target has new cars" but that would probably apply to one store.  Target seems to get them when they need them.

But a tip like "Walgreens is getting mini shippers" is definitely a good one.  Not everyone checks Walgreens everyday (nor should they), so that could be your chance to find an elusive shipper.  That happened to me, and now I have one of the Supers I have really wanted to find.

It started with a tip from an Instagram friend who noticed a fellow collector had found a Super Corolla at Walgreens.  That seemed a little unexpected since we are not that far removed from the Christmas season when Walgreens were inundated with Hot Wheels shipments and lucky folks were finding Gasser Supers left and right.  It seemed a little soon, but the Corolla find meant maybe other Walgreens were getting new models.

So, while in my normal travels for work, I tried a couple.  The first?  A small shipper, but no new stuff (Although I had a really good find.  More on that in a second).  The second?  A shipper!  And there were definitely C case cars in it, but no Super.  The third?  Nothing.  The fourth?  I walked right into this:

There was no drama with this find.  I saw it right when I turned the corner.  So obvious in fact I stopped to take that picture before I even got to the pegs.  A pretty prominent spot.

I would love to embellish the story and say that the Corolla was buried on the last peg, but no, it had the most prominent spot on the endcap.  I was very happy to grab it, check the rest of the pegs, and head on my way.

I am very happy to check the AE86 off my list.  An update:

A. Kool Kombi - found twice in Walmart dump bins two days in a row mid-morning.
B. Rrrroadster - found 2 at successive out-of-town Walmarts, mid-morning.
C. Toyota AE86 Corolla - found at Walgreens around noon.
D. Ferrari 599XX - no luck
E. '69 Ford Mustang Boss 302 - found on the pegs at a nearby Walmart, mid-morning.
F.  Custom Dodge Van - no luck

That puts me at 4 for 6, with the Van just starting to hit.  Hopefully I can find a Ferrari, but it may take a random grocery store find or something similar.  But 4 for 6 is pretty darn good for mid-day finds.

About that cool find at the first Walgreens?  It was this:

That is the second time I have found this rare Supra wheel variation, and both times were at Walgreens.  I was happy to find it, because it being the second, and on a mangled card means this one gets opened.  Maybe I will save pics for the release of the Supra Super TH in a few months.

All in all, a good run of Walgreens visits.  Now consider this a tip, and go hit your Walgreens, and let us know what you find...

Super Finds 2015: 3 out of 5 so far, and my non-collector friend strikes again...

Don't call it an experiment.

That is what it was last year.  Could I find all 15 Supers during random daytime store visits?  I ended up 13 of 15, which was better than I thought I would do.

The problem with an experiment, is that the idea of "random visits" lost its definition over time.  My visits were still in the daytime, and only when I had time while working, but they were probably a little more frequent than I would like.

So this year is not an experiment.  All it is in 2015 is a documentation of any finds I have throughout the year.  But I promise to document them.

2015 got off to a good start, as I found two of each of the first two Supers.  2 Kool Kombis on successive days, and then 2 Rrroadsters on successive Walmart stops while driving home from an out of town trip.  Funny how those happened in bunches.

Afterwards I went on a typical dry spell.  They happen a lot.  I was really hoping to find the AE86 Corolla (for obvious JDMerrific reasons), and I would not have complained about finding a Ferrari 599XX.  But to this point I have had no luck.  There is still a decent chance I might find one or both.  My luck in small rural stores that stock old batches has been well documented.

But so far it has been about finding recently released Supers in 2015.  And that trend continued today.

I had a few minutes before I had to be on a conference call, and it was not enough time to visit a client.  So I decided to use the extra time to hit a nearby Walmart.  The first thing I noticed was the front endcap full of Hot Wheels.  It appears this has been mandated by several stores, as most that I have visited in the last couple of weeks have had this endcap.  Basics on the front, and Monster Jam/Star Wars on either side.

The pegs were full, but that wasn't alarming, since it seems most of the endcaps I have seen have been filled with old dump bin models.  What was alarming, however, was obvious Batch E models.  I noticed the blue E36 BMW down below, and quickly saw a McLaren P1 a few cars back on the top peg.  I had heard some had found Batch E models, including a friend, Ace, who had found the batch a few towns away.

I was happy to be able to grab some extra E Case models, but because it was almost 10 am, I figured these pegs had already been hit.  This particular store is well scoped out by some very nice, but very diligent collectors.  So I thought I would pick up a couple of 302 Mustangs that I needed, and then go on my very way.

That was until I saw the multicolored Beetle.  The Batch E Regular TH is bound to be popular among collectors, mainly because it is a VW.  There is no way the diligent collectors around here would leave it, especially on a batch that just came out.  So my interest was suddenly piqued.

And it paid off when I got the second row.  There, one model back, was what I consider the best Super of 2015 so far:

It was a complete shocker.  The collectors here are very good about knowing when new bins hit, but this small batch must have flown under the radar.  My thinking is that the main large bins have yet to ship, and my guess is they will contain zamacs.  Nonetheless, I happily grabbed the 302 Super, along with a few other regular 302's, looked for anything else (another Beetle, which I left), and went on my merry way.

The Mustang was definitely on my want list, and it was cool to find it so early.  From what I learned later from other collectors, only a couple of stores around here got a small bin.  My friend Ace found one of them (2 regs, no Super), and I apparently found the other, which was pegged instead of kept in the bin.

So where am I in 2015?

A. Kool Kombi - found twice in Walmart dump bins two days in a row mid-morning.
B. Rrrroadster - found 2 at successive out-of-town Walmarts, mid-morning.
C. Toyota AE86 Corolla - no luck
D. Ferrari 599XX - no luck
E. '69 Ford Mustang Boss 302 - found on the pegs at a nearby Walmart, mid-morning.

So we sit at 3 out of 5.  Not a bad start, but I hope to find the Corolla and 599XX to fill in the list.

One bonus note:

From what a fellow collector told me, only two stores in the area got the mini dump bin.  Well there was apparently a third.

Remember my work partner, we called him "Chad" for anonymity's sake, who found the Impala Super in a rural market dump bin just before Christmas?  He doesn't collect, but has what you could call a curiosity about finding Supers, and wanted to find a Super just to say he had.  After a few months of a stop here and there, he lucked out while we were on a business trip down in Moab.  I was great to be there when he finally found one.

Well, his luck continues.  While getting some groceries with his son at another nearby Walmart sometime after 5 pm today, he texted me this photo:

Bingo!  He had seen the Mustang Super on a Lamley post earlier this week, and when he saw the mini dump bin, he decided to dig a bit.  At the very bottom was the 302 Super.  Hot crazy is that?  He doesn't even collect and now he has more Supers than a lot of collectors I know.  We will see how long his beginner's luck continues.  A very cool find, especially since he found it himself.  I was definitely more happy about his find than mine.

So, in a roundabout way, another set of two was found today, just like the Kombi and Rrroadster.  We will have to see if that streak continues...

The Great Super TH Experiment of 2014: The final tally...

It is finally over.  The 2014 Super TH Experiment, where I try and find all fifteen 2014 Hot Wheels Super Treasure Hunts in random daytime store visits during my normal day-to-day.

The one detail in my day-to-day: I travel all around, in both urban and rural areas.  And if I have a minute, or have something to do in an area store, I will check the pegs.

The final tally?  13 of 15, which is better than I thought I would do.  The details:

Chevrolet SS - Found at a rural Walmart at 11:30 am (The only find that I forgot to get an in-store photo, but it was a sidekick.)

Sand Blaster - Found at a nearby Walmart around 4:30 pm

Camaro Special Edition - Found at neighboring town Walmart around 3 pm

'71 Mustang Mach 1 - Found on a Saturday afternoon grocery run at Harmon's Market (I found two)

'07 Mustang - found at noon on Labor Day in a Smith's one-sided shipper

'55 Chevy Bel Air Gasser - no luck

'70 Chevelle SS - Found at two different Walmarts on the same day (one at 10 am, one at 5 pm)

Twin Mill - Found at a rural Walmart at about 3:45 pm

'64 Chevy Nova Wagon - Found at 5 pm at a rural Alco

'83 Silverado - Found at Target at 1 pm

'76 Greenwood Corvette - no luck

'69 Corvette - Found 2 at Dollar Tree around 11:30 am

'65 Chevy Impala - Found at City Market in Moab, Utah around 8 pm

Harley-Davidson Fat Boy - Found at Walmart just before lunch

'71 Datsun 510 Wagon - Found two at Target at 6 pm

Ironically, the only two I didn't find were two of Lamley's three Best Supers of 2014.  I would have loved to find the Gasser and Greenwood, and I definitely tried, hitting a few Walgreens the last few months, but to no avail.  But that is a small complaint.  I am happy with my 13 finds.

That was fun.  There is no doubt that finding a Super can be a thrill, especially if you happen upon one when you don't expect to find one.  Our favorite of those 13 finds?  Finding the Nova Wagon at a store called Alco in Blanding, Utah, which is now out of business.  There were not many Hot Wheels on the pegs, but the Nova Super was there.  What made it memorable was the location.  Look up Blanding, Utah.  It isn't close to anything, except maybe Monument Valley.  Those are the best finds.

And honorable mention to the Impala find in Moab.  It was found by a work partner, who is not a collector but has wanted to find one just for fun.  We happened to be together in Moab, and after searching through three sidekicks and one four-sided shipper, he found the Impala in the second to last slot we checked. 

We also saw a lot of uglies in our travels.  Collectors harassing employees, leaving messes, and raiding storerooms.  We documented that in what ended up being the most-read Lamley post of 2014. Supers are great, but not worth losing respectability over.

And lastly, over the year we saw more and more Regular TH's left on the pegs or in bins.  We see less and less embarrassing photos on HWC of someone's 13 Fangsters that were brought home.  This is a cool development.  The message is getting out - Silly Collector, Regs are for kids!  Keep leaving them.  Those fantasy casting hopefully make it easy to do.

Ok, do we do it again?  As an experiment, no.  Do we want to find more Supers in 2015?  Of course.  So we won't put this under an "Experiment" umbrella, but we will document any finds we have.  We have already found the Kombi and Rrroadster, but no luck yet on the AE86 and 599XX.  Let's see how we do.

How was your 2014 finds-wise?

The Great Super TH Experiment of 2014: In the evening, in a small town, by a non-collector friend...

It looks like we are taking the Super TH Experiment, my attempt to find all 2014 Super TH's during random visits to stores during normal hours, right to the end.  We have another update, and this one may have been the most fun of all of this year's Super finds.

If you remember, last year my neighbor had the best beginner's luck I have seen, when she pulled a Toyota 2000GT Super in the early evening the first time she ever visited the Hot Wheels pegs.  That was easily the best find of 2013.  This one was similar.

A work partner of mine, we will call him "Chad" to keep things anonymous, has been following the blog.  He is a bit of a car nut, but definitely not a collector.  He has enjoyed my documentation of my Super finds on the blog, especially since he travels to the same places I do.  Over the last few months, Chad has been trying to find a Super, just to say he did.

Every few days I will get a call or text from Chad, saying he is in a town and has a minute to look.  He will ask what store to go to, and then call to see what model he is supposed to look for.  Up to this point, he has had no luck.

That ended last night.  And I got to be there to see it.

Chad and I are both seeing clients in Moab, Utah.  We decided to grab some dinner, and afterwards thought it we should hit a couple of stores.  There are no Walmarts, Targets, or Kmarts in Moab, but there is City Market, which is part of the Kroger chain.  I have seen shippers in City Market before, but not too often.  Considering it is the holidays, we thought there should be at least something.

We were surprised to come across this mammoth of a display:

Obviously my eyes lit up.  We decided to split up.  Chad took the three shippers, and I would tackle the 4-sided monster.  Chad asked what to look for, and I honestly didn't know.  There was such a random mix of cars, it was hard to tell if there was specific batch.  After looking for a bit, it seemed to me that this was predominately Batch L and M, so either of the Corvette Supers would be the models to look for.

It was also quickly apparent that we were not the first people to the display.  A Regular TH was nowhere to be found (we found one a little later), and it was clear that the bin had been filled with models that had been hanging in the store for awhile.

We kept looking, but I told Chad not to expect to find anything, as this one had been hit previously.  He asked how I knew, and told him all the signs.  But we kept looking.  I finished the 4-sided shipper and moved to the three shippers to see if Chad missed anything.  He had been moving through them from right to left, and was just about done with the third.

As I continued to pontificate about how this shipper had been hit, and I knew because of my vast diecast knowledge, Chad stood up from the lower part of the bin, looked at me, and told me he just found one.  Then he held this up:

Wait, what?

How great is that?  A full 4-sided shipper, plus 3 stand-alone alone shippers, and Chad pulls a Super in the second to last slot we checked.  At the very back.

It was in the far left shipper, bottom row, behind a purple Mustang and green Mini Cooper:

He said he knew it was a Super because of the flames on the hood, remembering I had told him to look for that on the Impala a few weeks ago.  Well done.

How fun was it to be there when Chad found his first Super?  I was there, so this definitely counts as an Experiment find.  He kept saying he would give it to me, I kept saying no.  Chad has finally decided to keep it, and while his wife is probably praying that this doesn't start something, it should be a nice memento.

That in of itself makes this a great find for 2014, but add to that the fact that it was found in Moab.  The more obscure the place, the better the find for us here at Lamley.  Whether it was a Gran Torino in Glenwood Springs, an '07 Mustang in a highway gas station, or the Nova Wagon in the small town of Blanding near the Four Corners, we love finds like this.

So yeah, an 8 pm find in a Moab grocery store by a friend who doesn't collect?  Awesome find.

The 2014 update:

Chevrolet SS - Found at a rural Walmart at 11:30 am
Sand Blaster - Found at a nearby Walmart around 4:30 pm
Camaro Special Edition - Found at neighboring town Walmart around 3 pm
'71 Mustang Mach 1 - Found on a Saturday afternoon grocery run at Harmon's Market (I found two)
'07 Mustang - found at noon on Labor Day in a Smith's one-sided shipper
'55 Chevy Bel Air Gasser - no luck
'70 Chevelle SS - Found at two different Walmarts on the same day (one at 10 am, one at 5 pm)
Twin Mill - Found at a rural Walmart at about 3:45 pm
'64 Chevy Nova Wagon - Found at 5 pm at a rural Alco
'83 Silverado - Found at Target at 1 pm
'76 Greenwood Corvette - no luck
'69 Corvette - Found 2 at Dollar Tree around 11:30 am
'65 Chevy Impala - Found at City Market in Moab, Utah around 8 pm
Harley-Davidson Fat Boy - Found at Walmart just before lunch
'71 Datsun 510 Wagon - Found two at Target at 6 pm

That means we have three weeks to find a Greenwood and Gasser to complete the entire set.  The likelihood is rather small, but we might as well try...

Hot Wheels Collectors, we can be better...

I need to get a little something off my chest...

Yesterday, I put a post up on Instagram, mentioning a chat I had with a Walmart Toy Department manager.  There was a large response to the post, and I even heard from Mattel, so I thought I would take my thoughts to the blog.

A little background.  I visited a local Walmart yesterday, and while I was standing in the toy car aisle, the manager came up to me and asked if I was a collector.  I told him I was, and he asked what I was looking for.  I told him nothing in particular, just perusing the pegs.  I asked why, and he said he was trying to figure out what Hot Wheels had released lately that had turned collectors into frenzied vampires.

We got to chatting, and he told me that just in the last few days, he has been dealing with collectors sneaking into the stockroom, harassing employees for their scanners to see what was in the back, convincing employees from other departments to bring cases out, and completely destroying new bins to the point that they can't stay on the floor any longer.  Some bins were even destroyed before they made it to floor.

He mentioned a particular collector who would harass him by saying that he knows that there are Hot Wheels in the back because he has a tool to check, and said he would wait for someone to bring it out.  When the manager said no, the person left, only to be seen returning the minute that employee's shift ended.  The manager returned the next morning to find the dump bin ripped open in the back.

He said most collectors are fine, but that lately he has been seeing more and more of this kind of behavior.  That is not good.

I have found myself talking to toy managers and employees at several stores, and these stories seem to be getting more and more common.  It is too bad, because these folks are creating a bad name for the common collector who enjoys a good Hot Wheels hunt.

What has happened?  Why do folks think it is appropriate to act like that to find a Super?

We have stood on our little soapbox before, preaching the "Leave the Regular TH" word.  With that, we have always said that while Regs are kids, Supers are for collectors.  We don't blame anyone for taking all the Supers they find.  We do.  We also think the word "scalper" is used too much.  Many times fellow collectors will call the guy who found the Super before them a scalper, when it was just a lucky guy who found them first.  And we can't blame someone who finds a Super and wants to use it to either trade or sell in order to get a model he or she has been after.

We think the hunt for Supers is great.  That is one of the reasons I enjoy documenting my middle-of-the-day Super finds.  And if you can get to the pegs first thing in the morning, or overnight, or even right when a bin is being brought to the floor, more power to you.  But for those of you harassing employees, we hope you can stop.

One commenter on IG mentioned it is money thing.  I don't necessarily agree with that.  No one can survive on hitting stores daily to find a couple of random Supers to sell.  I think it is a collector thing.  The need to have more of something than another is one of those collector genes.  It can get out of hand if you aren't careful, and can turn a normal person into a Super-obsessed maniac.

Whatever it is, we hope you can rethink how you do things.  Is it really that bad if someone got to a dump bin before you?  Wouldn't it be more fun if those Super finds were a bit more random?

And more importantly, can't we show a little more respect to store employees, especially now?  If you have been in a Walmart or Target during the holiday season, isn't it easy to see how difficult their job is?  Crowds everywhere, product being thrown everywhere, questions and demands coming every minute.  The last thing they need to deal with is a 50-year-old guy asking them to bring a dump bin out so he can destroy it.

Oh, and those dump bins?  Notice the height?  The placement in the store?  It's for parents walking by with their kids in the cart.  An easy grab for a kid who wants one, and easily justifiable for the parents who don't mind the $1 price tag.  Crazy that a kid-targeted product is usually destroyed by adults.

Super Treasure Hunts are fun.  Finding them on the pegs is fun.  Let's keep it that way...

The Great Super TH Experiment of 2014 continues, and 2015 continues its great start...

It definitely happens in bursts.

My last Super find was the two Datsun Wagons I pulled at Target, the same week I found two Kool Kombis on successive days at different Walmarts.

Then:

Nothing.  But that happens a lot.  While I will admit to finding more Supers than most, mainly due to my travels in rural areas, it doesn't happen all the time.  I have gone several months without finding Supers.  In fact, the Datsun and Kombi finds were at the beginning of October, meaning I hadn't had any luck for two months.  I know, boohoo you say.  I'm just sayin', it's not all the time.

Well, it is the beginning of December and I have had another burst.  Three Super finds, two on the same day.

The likelihood of finding Supers increases a substantial amount in December.  Many think Black Friday is a good time.  It isn't.  Shoppers are looking for bargains on all kinds of items that they perceive are expensive.  Hot Wheels singles aren't, so there won't be a rush on them.  Hot Wheels playsets?  Yes.  $5 10-packs?  Sure.  $1 Hot Wheels discounted 16 cents?  No.  Hot Wheels are always a bargain.

And stores know this, so there is not a rush to stock on Black Friday.  But they also know that after the initial bargain run, shoppers are looking for stocking stuffers, so Hot Wheels will fly off the shelves.  That means stores are restocking singles all the time.  And that is what has happened this week.

Batch C is starting to appear, but so are many older 2014 cases.  On the pegs and in the bins.  So there is a good chance that a store will restock in the middle of the day, making a lucky collector very happy who walked in on a lunch break.  Or after work.  Or whenever.  That is what happened to me.

The first find happened Tuesday and filled in a 2014 gap.  I have spent the majority of the week is the southern part of the state, and while heading to a lunch meeting, I had a spare minute to hit a Walmart.  The pegs were filled to the brim, and right in front was a La Fasta Regular Hunt.  In fact there were three on the front of the pegs.  In between those was a Twinduction hunt.

That means one of two things.  Either the pegs are untouched, as a lot of collectors still bafflingly grab every Regular they find.  But many are starting to leave them (more on that in a minute), and this could mean a collector was using the Regs to say these pegs were checked.  I definitely thought the latter.

But as I kept checking (across from bottom row to top), I kept finding more La Fastas, making me think that I might be perusing untouched pegs.  And then, top row, to my left, second model in:

Could it be?

Bingo.

A Super I haven't found in the wild.  I might not be particularly fond of the Harley, but this is a nice version, and more importantly it allows me to fill in another box:

So the update on the 2014 experiment (for those that don't know, can I find all 2014 Supers just by randomly hitting stores during my normal day-to-day):

Chevrolet SS - Found at a rural Walmart at 11:30 am
Sand Blaster - Found at a nearby Walmart around 4:30 pm
Camaro Special Edition - Found at neighboring town Walmart around 3 pm
'71 Mustang Mach 1 - Found on a Saturday afternoon grocery run at Harmon's Market (I found two)
'07 Mustang - found at noon on Labor Day in a Smith's one-sided shipper
'55 Chevy Bel Air Gasser - no luck
'70 Chevelle SS - Found at two different Walmarts on the same day (one at 10 am, one at 5 pm)
Twin Mill - Found at a rural Walmart at about 3:45 pm
'64 Chevy Nova Wagon - Found at 5 pm at a rural Alco
'83 Silverado - Found at Target at 1 pm
'76 Greenwood Corvette - no luck
'69 Corvette - Found 2 at Dollar Tree around 11:30 am
'65 Chevy Impala - no luck (although found in a purchased case)
Harley-Davidson Fat Boy - Found at Walmart just before lunch
'71 Datsun 510 Wagon - Found two at Target at 6 PM

So where do I sit?  I have found all the Supers except the Gasser, Greenwood Vette, and Impala (although I did find the Impala in a purchased case).  There is always a chance I could find those in some in-fill cases, but I think the places everyone has found the Gasser (Walgreens, Dollar Tree) have been hit.  But stranger things have happened.  The 2014 experiment ends on December 31st.

But 2015, if I want to do it again, is off to a nice start, thanks to a couple of mid-day Walmart trips.

Word was out that Walmarts were putting out bins containing B and C case cars.  I was still traveling, so on my way out of town today around 11:30, I stopped at the same Walmart that had the Harley two days prior.  Sure enough, a bin was there, bursting at the seams:

Looked picked over to me.  Until I started looking and found Jeep Reg after Jeep Reg, and I started to wonder if was lucky at the same store.  I was:

My first Rrroadster find.  Yeah, I was hoping to find the AE86, but this bin was all B case cars, and to be honest, the Rrroadster is a really nice looking Super.  So the same Walmart produced two different Supers for me, essentially at the same time of day, two days apart.  Not bad.

Of course an hour later I was driving through another town, and decided to see if they got a bin as well.  And they did, and it was a B, and it was full of Jeeps, and guess what?

#2 on the day.  And yeah I took it.  Or bought it, to be specific.

So the final haul:

The final tally?  One Harley Super, two Rrroadster Supers, a Regular Jeep to photograph for the blog, a couple of Datsuns.

And if I want to do the same experiment in 2015, here is where I stand so far:

A. Kool Kombi - Found two in Walmart dump bins two days in a row mid-morning.
B. Rrroadster - Found two on the same day at two different Walmarts around lunchtime.
C. Toyota AE86 Corolla - no luck.

And in the process I left a lot of these:

That is our little cause among Hot Wheels collectors: Take the Supers, leave the Regs.  Of course if it is a casting you like, and the Jeep is nice, grab a couple, or as many as you normally like to get of favorite castings.  But if it isn't, leave them for kids.  Make a kids day when he or she opens it and gets a message that they found something special.  It is better than all those Regs taking up space in your closet, and you hoping that you can resell it for $1.50.

Anyway, it was a nice little burst.  Let's see if I can get lucky with the Corolla...