Introducing '69 Hot Wheels Action Set

My mom worked on the assembly line at Mattel Toys when I was a kid. My aunt, Dora and my aunt Berta worked there also.  This is back when Mattel toys were made in Hawthone, California, USA! I loved the stories my mother would tell about working at the famous toy company. My mom described the Hot Wheels department as rows of tiny cars with ladies on either side working the assembly line performing some function such as polishing the cars, plugging the spoiler in place, bagging the cars, heat sealing the car on the card, etc. I pictured Lucy and Ethel on the assembly line at the chocolate factory only with Hot Wheels cars!

Every Friday, my mom brought home some little gifts for me. Sometimes it would be a few Hot Wheels cars. She explained that Mattel had a company store on the premises and they sold these cars to employees for a quarter because the cars had little imperfections or were molded in the wrong color (for that model) or had missing labels, etc. I had a greatest collection of 1969 year cars in all kinds of funky colors like hot pink, turquoise and yellow gold. I had about a dozen Custom Volkswagen cars in every color of the rainbow! Hot Wheels cars had the most amazing "Specratraflame" colors and finishes. Real works of art!

On Sunday afternoon, my mom and I would go to my aunt and uncle’s house to visit and have dinner. I loved to go to my cousin Bruno’s house to play Hot Wheels.  They had a big living room and we could spread out the Hot Wheels track set with the Power House, the corkscrew loops, the bank curves and watch the cars race. Bruno had some Hot Wheels cars that my mom had given him. We would lie on the floor watching the cars at eye level and play for hours! It was probably about 9:30 when my mom announced that it was time to go home. We begged for a just a few more minutes, my mom gave me the ‘look’ so finally I began to dismantle the track set and slowly put the pieces in the box. I started to collect up my cars and put them into the big Rally Wheel.

Well, Bruno started to pout and say he wanted to play more then he claimed that one of my cars was his. I said, “Bruno, I just brought that one over, my mom gave it to me a few days ago”.  “No!” I tried to pry it out of his hands but he was squirming too much. We started to wrestle then Bruno’s dad shouted from the dining room to knock it off.

My mom heard the commotion and came over to reason with Bruno. “Brunito, we have to go home now, honey.  Portate bien, and we’ll be back next week, okay?” He got up, started to stomp his feet and shake his little fists. Then, he kicked the Power House and knocked it over. Then he grabbed a couple of Hot Wheels cars, one in each hand. He started to cry and scream, “They're mine! They're mine!” All of the sudden, he threw the Hot Wheels and cars went flying. I don’t remember if any of the cars hit my mom but she was pissed off! She picked up an orange Hot Wheels track and swatted both of us across the butts. There’s nothing like the ‘whirring’ sound of a Hot Wheels track! Bruno screamed, jumped like a little squirrel and ran into the bedroom. Tearfully, I packed up the rest of the playset and my cars and my Power House. We said goodnight to my aunt, my uncle and my little cousin, Mimi and went home.

A few days later, my mom said she didn’t want any more fighting with Bruno about whose car was whose so she decided to paint my initials on the bottom of each of my cars. The only kind of paint she had was nail polish so to this day; I have Hot Wheels cars with the initials, OM, in iridescent pink polish.

Christmas in the Valley of the Dolls

Before we get too far along into 2015, I want to post a few photos of my vintage Barbie dolls dressed in their winter fashions and the party in the Christmas display. 

I've been collecting Barbie seriously as an adult since 1982 when my dear (and now departed) friend, Kurt Krause, took me to my first vintage doll collector show in September of that year. I had never been  'into' Barbie or any dolls really until I saw the vintage Mattel’s "Twiggy" doll in someone's booth. I flipped out because I distinctly remembered the MOD doll from my childhood and I just had to have one. I didn't have any dolls as a kid although my mom for Christmas bought me, the Ken Gift Set featuring handsome Malibu Ken dressed in his groovy flower print windbreaker, swim trunks, swim fins, face mask and boogie board. He was awesome and I considered him more of an 'action figure' and not a doll! 

Anyway, the Twiggy doll was about $100 and I didn't have the money for her so sadly, I walked away without the Twig. Kurt bought a few “bubble cut” Barbie dolls, a couple of pairs of spiked high heels and a red one-piece bathing suit for Barbie. I learned a lot about the collector’s mind and the world of collecting in general and I was hooked! I started to go to dolls shows with Kurt, which was in those days, every weekend. 

A few months passed until it was December then suddenly, it was Christmas. Kurt loved Christmas so he would make sugar cookies, decorate his apartment with little model houses, hang his Granny’s vintage decorations on the silver Mylar tree and play Christmas songs on the piano.  Kurt called me and asked me to come over to see his Christmas display. He lived up the hill from my apartment so I told him I'd be over in a few minutes. Of course his apartment was all decked out with boughs of holly, candles in the window, fake snowflakes in the corners, etc. and under the Christmas tree was a single present. Kurt ran over, grabbed the present and handed it to me. “Open it, open it!” he squealed.  I tore off the wrapping paper and slid open the box. There inside was the Twiggy doll! My first Barbie doll. Merry Christmas Kurt, I miss you.

A "Toy a Day" habit or how I became the American Toycoon

This is my exciting first foray into the deep, wonderful world of cyberspace! I can't believe that I finally made it here; it's been a long time coming.

Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I am an adult male who has been working as a toy designer for the past twenty years. Most recently I worked for the biggest toy company in the world, Mattel, famous for Hot Wheels, Barbie and Monster High dolls.

 What people don't know about me is that I have been obsessively collecting toys for about 42 years. I acquire a toy every day. Yes, every single day. Sometimes, the toy will be something bigger like a 24" plastic Godzilla figure or something really small like a mini troll from a vending machine but regardless of size, value or age, a toy is acquired every day.

It all started innocently enough one day when I was ten years old and I found a marble in the street. It was clear glass tiger-eye about two inches around with a greenish swirling ‘iris’ in the center. It was a little scratched and had a tiny chip but it was beautiful to me. What incredible fortune to find such a cool object for free! That was my first toy find.

The next day after school while I was sitting on the bench waiting for the bus when I spied a lumpy mass in the gutter. It looked like a dead lizard so I kicked it. There, laying in the gutter was a little rubber alligator caked with mud, leaves and twigs. I quickly grabbed it and shook all the debris off. A little rubber alligator! Wow! I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to find such a treasure.
The weekend was off to a great start!

Saturday, my favorite cousin, Bruno, came over to our house to spend the weekend. He rode all the way over on the RTD back when a ten-year-old kid could safely ride alone on the bus from Hollywood and Gramercy to Silverlake. Bruno started to unpack his overnight bag. He dumped out his pajamas, house key, underwear, toothbrush, two Hot Wheels and his socks and there among his belongings was a little orange figurine. I recognized it immediately as a cereal premium for the show, “Josie & the Pussycats”. Bruno said he got an extra ”Josie” in their cereal box and he asked if I wanted to trade for it. I didn’t have one so I said, yes. My mother worked for Mattel when I was a boy and she always brought home little gifts for me so I had a few Hot Wheels to trade. I swapped the “Beatnik Bandit” car for the “Josie” eraser with Bruno that day.

I didn’t know it at the time but that weekend had set the wheels in motion for my life as a toy collector.