Product recommendations- 1:18 Diecast Model Cars

Junk or treasure?

As live continues on after the death of my father, I’ve been attempting to focus my energy in helping mum declutter. All of a sudden, she found herself all alone, left to maintain a large house with only her in it, and surrounded by all of our old junk (my dad’s, my sister’s, and mine).

So, as it dawned on me that time is finite and we can’t put things off to ‘tomorrow’, as who knows if there is a tomorrow for any of us, so I spent the last 2 weeks of my summer holidays taking action to declutter mum’s place.

The first to go had to be  items which took-up the most space and potentially had some residual value- that being my 1:18 scale Diecast Model car collection. So, in 2010 I went a little crazy with my need in obtaining model cars. So, at this point I was finally earning an ongoing salary, so I had money to burn! I’d always been into cars, just being a boy, I guess, and losing my sight 7 years prior to that hadn’t dampened my passion for the four-wheeled automobile. In fact, I was even more curious about cars now wanting to know how each car looked like, now that I couldn’t see them. I would listen to motoring magazines being read out, and Youtube car reviews, and all the while I just wanted to see for myself (with my sense of touch) what these new generation of cars look like, as in how much had motoring design changed since the 90s when I could still see.

So, it all started with just one- I remember I was feeling particularly sorry for myself that year- I was 27 years old, very single, and still living at home. I remember I had gone to sleep early, perhaps 9pm or so, and this was the night before my birthday. And while I was in bed (probably listening to an audiobook), my parents came in and they wished me a happy birthday for the next day (as I would go to work quite early, and I’d leave home before they’re awake), so they wanted to be the first to wish me a good start to a new year. And then they proceeded to present me with a birthday present (which they hadn’t been doing so for the last few years, as I was no longer a kid). And what they got me was a 1:18 Diecast model car, to be specific, a 2001 Porsche 911 Turbo (996), it was in a silver colour (my dad’s preferred colour in cars- and he actually had a soft spot for Porsche 911s). And I remember at the time thinking to myself, “what am I going to do with this?” As I was no longer a kid who played with ‘toys’, and in fact I had been looking into buying a real car, just because, you know, just because. And thinking back on it now, perhaps my dad thought that if he got me a model car, it might appease my desire in buying a car? *Shrug*. As my dad had once deployed this same tactic, when I was newly blind, I had voiced the interest in getting a Guide dog. And months later, my parents brought home a Pomeranian Maltese cross puppy, as they thought I wanted a dog for the companionship. And yes, that did work, as I quickly gave up wanting a Guide dog after I had my cat sized four legged friend. But at the time, I just unboxed the model car, touched it a little bit to get a sense of the body shape, and I went back to bed and just kept the model car on the shelf. But unbeknownst to my parents, they had kick-started this unintended chain-of-events. Days later, I pulled out my 3 old 1:18 Diecast model cars, cars which I had as a teenager which then I dumped at the back of my closet, to make room for more clothing. And now I took them out, dusted them off and put all 4 cars on display on the top of my bookshelf. 6 months later I bought more, first it was a BMW M3 model, which I bought from London, on a trip visiting my sister. As months earlier, I ended up buying that real car (a second hand 2005 BMW 320ci), and I now wanted a model car which resembled the real thing. Then I got more models on my return to Australia, at the QVB Hobbyco store- and those purchases filled out my first bookshelf layer.

Then I discovered Bongo’s Basement, a Sydney based online retailor who specializes in diecast models, and as they had flat-rate shipping (I still remember, it was AU$8.90), so shipping cost was the same for one car, or for 5 cars! So, being the calculating Asian that I am, it only made financial sense to me if I bought more in one transaction, than just one or two! Right? And I was just buying and buying them, as if they were a rare commodity (which they kind of were, as each run of models were a limited run). I bought everything and anything, supercars! Sportscars! Sports Sedans! Hot Hatches! SUVs! Non-sports cars like a Mercedes-Benz E-class. I bought cars so I could ‘see’ them for the first time, I bought cars which I had clear memories of, just to re-confirm that my memories were correct (they often were, but I would be usually disappointed as those old 90s cars were so boxy in shape in comparison to the new sleek cars of the day).   I bought so many model cars that I literally ran out of flat surfaces in my bedroom to place all these 25cm long, 6 cm wide objects. They first took-up three layers of my book shelf, then they were all over my two study desks in my bedroom (I only had enough space for my laptop). And in the end my dad even built me a custom bookshelf with double the amount of shelving layers, so I could fit at least 45 cars on that shelving unit alone!

By the time I got married (2012), 2 years since I first started to hoard model cars, I had probably collected upwards of 70 model cars (the cost of each car probably averaged out to around $55 per car?). And after getting married and moving out, at first I only took with me 1 model car, my 2010 Felipe Massa Ferrari F1 model, and for the first few months of living out on our own, that single model car was the only ‘toy’ I had on my study desk. But of course, over time, I went back to my parent’s place and brought back with me my favourite model cars, and of course I continued to buy more as well. But I always left the majority of the collection at my parents place (80% V 20%). As after I had first touched a newly purchased car and had learnt how a Lamborghini Murcielago ‘looked like’, then my obsessive nature would then move on to my next car I was curious about (and wanted to buy). So those ‘older’ cars, would just gather dust on my shelf untouched and unloved (my parents would used to call it the ‘parking lot’).

So, fast forward to the present day, my dad has now passed, and talking to my mum, she expressed to me her feelings of anxiety each time she thought about maintaining and clearing-up such a large place on her own, with so much stuff in it that would eventually need to be given away or thrown out, as we’re all just getting older. Right? So, I wanted to help alleviate her stress, by just doing my part in clearing my clutter which I was responsible for creating. So, that was it, the cars which I had left at my parent’s place, in my old bedroom had to go!

The first task was just documenting all of them, as the plan was to sell it in one or two large bulk sales on Facebook (via a 1:18 Diecast model car buy/sell/swap group). So in one afternoon, I went about touching each car (they were so dusty), so from the feel of them alone, I could tell what it was, and add it to a spreadsheet which I was using to catalogue the collection which needed to go. The funny thing was that, just touching the front grill and bumper alone, I was still able to identify the cars, and even recall the colour of each (as I was a bit particular in which colour I wanted for each model). And after spending around 90 minutes, I had the full list and was a bit surprised to see that the number of cars which I had to off-load was 77 in total!

So, the next day as I was cleaning up the list of cars, in readiness to post a short add on the Facebook group, it dawned on me that I had a friend who might be interested in these things. He wasn’t into cars as much as I was, but he was into models, specifically model planes and trains, and he had the space for it as they had just built a new 5 Bedroom home, and they have 2 boys (who would most-likely eventually grow into the collection). So, on an off chance I dropped him a message, asking him if he might like to buy the entire collection off me, for a nominal price of $200 (the same amount I would of tried selling the collection for on Facebook). My thoughts were that I had never thought of buying these cars as something that I would one day re-sell for any real value, so if I could even get the smallest amount back for it, that would be satisfying enough. I had thought of just giving the entire lot away ‘free to a new home’, but I didn’t want that person to also feel like they were taking advantage of me either. So, after some back and forth, and coming around the next day to check out the quality of the collection, he agreed to buy the lot off me. I sold it to him as ‘buy 4 cars and get 73 cars FREE!’ Haaha. And I didn’t have a problem if he then sold each one on Ebay for a profit, as go for it! If you have the patients, which I do not.

So, after 90 minutes on Monday, helping him wrap and bag each car, before stacking them into several baby nappy boxes, the 77 cars were moved on to another home, to be enjoyed by another family, who hopefully would appreciate them more than I had ever. From accounts, my friend’s wife surprisingly has taken to them, selecting 12 models for herself, to be on display because she liked the look and the colours of them. *Smile*.

So, is one man’s junk, another man’s (or woman’s) treasure? Well, I probably wouldn’t go as far to say that, but a change in environment and ownership, can definitely add new and additional life to old things! Viva sustainability! I’m all for second-life for pre-loved things!