My First Hot Wheels and Early Childhood Collection

 

My first Hot Wheels was a Custom Cougar received in 1969.

I remember watching Hot Wheels commercials on my folks black and white TV. Seeing older kids race those slick cars down the track I knew these machines were way cooler than the small collection of Matchboxes I had.

I kept pestering my mom until she bought one for me. My parents didn’t have money for the orange track because they were keeping the family business going and building their dream house. I created my own track out of used popsicle sticks which the car straddled nicely.

As you can see, I wore the wheels on this Custom Cougar down considerably. The damage to the paint is battery acid from a Super Charger that had been left in the on position while in storage causing the batteries to explode. (This happened to several of my Super Chargers as it was too easy for the sliding switch to get bumped to the barely on position.)

Here’s the rest of my childhood collection. Maybe someday I will unpack my totes full of Hot Wheels to show off the rest.

Memorial Day Races at Grandmas

We took my daughters Hot Wheels collection and some of my old track back to my childhood home and set up a long raceway for the cars. I had done a similiar thing in my youth, racing my collection to see which one would go the farthest. The basement of the house is one long room about 30ft in length.

Here is my daughters collection. She started collecting around 6 years ago. She'd watch me buy Hot Wheels for myself and I felt guilty if I didn't get her one as well.

2/3 of my Hot Wheels track and accessories from the 70's.

The first qualifying run. Here you can see the full extent of the track. All the cars off to the side did not make it to the final round.

The winners of the first round.

We were going to do three rounds but ran out of time. Instead we added a few more bumps to the track and ran a final round. Above are the finishers with the Custom 69 Chevy Pickup and Prototype H-24 tying for first place.

Some day I will dig out all my old Hot Wheels and we'll go back and run this track with my cars. (I think I know which tote full of toys they are in....)