For 40-year-old Thijs from Aarle-Rixtel, it is not cups, trophies, plants or books that are displayed at home, but toy cars. Thijs collects Hot Wheels, or colorful mini cars from the famous American toy manufacturer Mattel. He is proud of his collection, but it is now being sold out.
Thijs started his Hot Wheels collection somewhat by accident, he explains. “My son turned four years old. So I started buying him toy cars. He really liked that one. At some point I thought to myself: well, some of them are actually beautiful. And I thought that more and more often.”
And so it happened. “Then I started looking further and my own collection also grew. I just think Hot Wheels is beautiful. I would like to have some Hot Wheels models in real life, as a car. Of course that’s not possible, but within the world of Hot Wheels, anything is possible. Well, on a smaller scale then.”
There are many different models, Thijs explains. He now sells 178 cars from the new Flames collection. “Including T-Hunt and Real Rider models,” he explains. That won’t mean much to the average Brabander. Yet Hot Wheels is surprisingly popular, according to Thijs.
“There is a lot of Hot Wheels to be found, also in the Netherlands. I have also bought a lot of cars via Marktplaats. There are even Dutch fairs for Hot Wheels.”
“It could always be worse.”
Thijs has been to such a Dutch fair once. “I have to be honest: it makes you feel a bit small. There are people there with a big one man cave full of Hot Wheels cars. So it could always be worse,” he laughs.
Yet that ends now, he says resignedly. “Yes, they are all going out. It is what it is. In the end I was like: what do you do with it? A collection is all well and good, but those cars just sit there for a while. I’d rather have money for it. I can then put that money back into my other hobby: aquariums.”
Everything really goes away. There are no models he wants to keep. “No, zero. I gave a few to my son, but the rest is going out the door.” That makes you think: maybe it also plays a role that he is a 40-year-old man who invests in toy cars? What do those around him think of this?
“Nothing. People may think that people find that strange, but it’s not that bad. There are many adults who show interest in my advertisement. Many of them even search for specific models. No, as an adult Hot Wheels collector you are never alone.”
He does not say how much his collection is worth or how much Thijs wants for it.