The Great Super Treasure Hunt Experiment of 2014: A tip from a friend...

My mini-hot streak continues.  The last 3-4 weeks have helped my fill in some spots on my quest to find all 15 Super Treasure Hunts in the store, in the middle of the day.  Three weeks ago I came across the Super Twin Mill, last week the Chevy Nova Wagon, and this week the '69 Corvette.

The '69 Corvette was found yesterday.  In fact, I found two at the same store.  This wasn't as unique as my find last week at Alco in the middle of nowhere, but it wasn't a standard Walmart find either.

This came after a tip from a fellow collector.  A friend in Arizona, known on HWC as blackb13, posted on a forum I frequent that he had found the '69 Camaro Super at Dollar Tree.  That was a bit of a surprise, as Dollar Tree hasn't carried Hot Wheels for at least a couple of years.  But it appears they have changed their minds, as from what we have heard, all Dollar Trees are getting either Batch K or M in droves.

After Jason mentioned his find, I figured I would stop by the two Dollar Trees in the town I was visiting on business.  The first did have Hot Wheels, but it appeared they had been there for a few days.  The second Dollar Tree was bursting at the pegs.  Upon walking up I could see two Homers and a regular TH right up front.  It was definitely promising.

Peg after peg I went through, knocking my fair share on the ground (which I always put back, I promise), but only a few false hopes occurred when I thought I saw the Vette but it ended up being the mainline.  Ultimately I walked away leaving quite a few Homers and reg TH's.  Either someone just beat me to the pegs or the cases at that store were void of Supers.

That was Tuesday.  Wednesday I drove to another area for meetings, and had a few minutes to kill, so I decided to visit the one Dollar Tree in town.  I found the pegs were a lot like the previous Dollar Tree, bursting on every peg, with Homers all around.  So once again there was promise.

I was coming up empty after a lot of searching, and was starting to think that I just missed out when the third row from the bottom yielded a purple treat:

A few pics and it was in my hands.  I was more than happy to have the one Super, and was ready to leave when I decided to keep looking.  Sure enough, on the very last peg I checked, hanging right at the bottom:

Finding a second is nearly as fun as finding the first, but I rarely find two in the same store.  That was fun.

A lot of you have commented that I seem to find a lot of these.  Of course I have had my share of luck.  But it is not as crazy as you think.  That is why we are calling it an experiment to see if I can find them all without pallet-raiding overnight or door-warming every morning.  Most collectors that do that find Supers, find more than one.  I have happily found one here and one there, mostly by hitting rural stores, visiting certain Walmarts with toy managers that like to peg Hot Wheels randomly during the day, or randomly stopping by stores that are not on most collector's routes.

You might notice that I usually find Supers well after they have been released in dump bins at Walmart.  That seems to be the key.  Don't fret when the batches first hit, just be patient and see what comes later.  For example, the N case dump bins are hitting Walmarts around here, and of course when I found one the Supers were long gone.  I was happy to walk away with the Zamac Hakosuka Skyline and green Kenmeri.  Finding the Impala Super TH will come later.  If I am lucky.

Alright, the tally so far:

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 - no luck
'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

With the Impala just hitting, I am only missing three.  Like I have said before, finding the Gasser and '07 Mustang seems highly unlikely, but I am holding out hope I can find the Greenwood. 

We shall see...

First Look: 2014 Hot Wheels '64 Corvette Sting Ray...

If we are being honest, this is not a model to which we would normally dedicate an entire Lamley First Look.

But when a model has such a nice deco as this one, it merits some showcasing.

The '64 Sting Ray is a model that has been around a bit, and can easily be upstaged by other Sting Ray castings.  Occasionally it suffers from some stance issues, and can look a little flat.  But things can sure change when it gets a "less is more" outfit.

Prince likes his little Corvettes red, and we won't argue with that at all.  This one certainly applies, sporting a rich red with the only deco being a black hood stripe.  It also gets a Corvette badge and Hot Wheels logo on the rear.

We won't go so far to say that all Hot Wheels should look like this, but we love it when they do.  Yes, the side silhouette and deco matter to the kids and parents that walk by the pegs.  Something has to say "BUY ME", and maybe the thought is one color doesn't do that.  But can you argue that this is a pretty one, and "pretty" gets bought too?

A surprising winner from the 2014 Hot Wheels N case.  Who would have predicted that?


Hot Wheels '64 Corvette Sting Ray (2014 Mainline):

First Look: Hot Wheels '69 Corvette Super Treasure Hunt & Mainline...

Alright friends, you are going to have to give this one a chance.  Or not.

Super THs generally garner a lot of excitement, especially Corvette Supers.  But it seems that the Greenwood Super got a bit of a mixed response (we absolutely love it, many of you don't), and early indications on the '69 Vette are that there are not a lot of fans.

We get that.  Cars with flames really aren't our thing here, so this definitely isn't out favorite of the year.  And it is probably safe to say that metallic purple cars aren't our thing either.

But, on the other hand, the blue flames over the spectraflame purple with black-rim real riders actually makes for a cool-looking model.  Or maybe it just looks better than the basic version, making us believe we really like it.

Alright, we are probably not huge fans, but we are trying to stay positive.  This car will definitely pop on the pegs.  Can we say that it has grown on us, and we like the lowered stance of the Super compared to the basic?  We have no idea how that happened, whether it is a fluke with the examples we have, or something to do with the wheels, but we can get behind the stance.

We may not like it a ton, but we reserve the right to like it more as we go along.  Let's see if that happens...

(Find the Vette and rest of 2014 Batch M at Wheel Collectors...)


Hot Wheels '69 Corvette (2014 Super TH & Mainline):

Basic:

Super:

The two Vette Supers:

Lamley Case Report: Opening a Hot Wheels L Case (and a special deal for Lamley Readers)...

We are really starting to look forward to this...

On the heels of our K Case Report, we have another case to break down for you.  Our Hot Wheels L Case arrived from Grana Toys on Saturday, and in Lamley fashion, we photographed everything as it was pulled.

Before we start the report, remember the Grana Toys has SEALED Hot Wheels L Cases for sale as we speak, and if you buy on their website and use the promo code "LAMLEY", you can get a special discount.  Just follow the link:

GranaToys.com Hot Wheels L Cases for sale

If you would like to use eBay, they are available there as well, although the Lamley discount does not apply:

GranaToys HW L Cases on ebay

And hurry, there are only 7 cases left last we looked...

So here it is, our unabridged photo account of the what is in our 2014 Hot Wheels US L Case, pulled three models at a time:

Enjoy...

The case:

(crack.)

The first 36:

New Model Alert - Poppa Wheelie

The next 36:

New Model Alert - '14 Corvette Stingray

Treasure Hunt Alert

Recolor Alert - Fast Bed Hauler

So there it is.  All 72 models.  Our thoughts:

• Once again, no Super, but that is ok.  The Super in this case is the '76 Greenwood Corvette, and if you read Lamley, you know that it is one of our favorite models.  So we made sure we already had one, and we gave it the First Look treatment last week.  The mainline version is great on its own:

• The New Models in this case are heavy on Hot Wheels originals, with the '14 Corvette Stingray  being the exception. (First Look pics coming soon.)  As far as the originals go, the Poppa Wheelie will garner a lot of curiosity, but the Fast Bed Hauler should be the most popular.
• The heavy amount of non-licensed models is made up for with easily one of the best Regular Treasure Hunts of the year, the Custom El Camino.  We have seen a lot of Regs left behind.  That will probably not be the case with this one.
• As far as existing castings making their 2014 debut, we think the '99 Mustang and Mooneyes Beetle will be the most popular, outside of that Supercool Greenwood.
• The L Case will also have Zamac Exclusives at Walmart.  Look for the Chevelle Wagon, Lincoln Continental, and Custom '69 Chevy.

We want to see what you get.  Those of you who are lucky enough to buy a case from Grana, let us know what you get.  Maybe one of you will be lucky enough to pull a Super...