The Great Super Treasure Hunt Experiment of 2014: 3 for 3...

Some of you are under the impression that I have a lot of luck with Super Treasure Hunts.

Maybe I do.  And that is the basis of a fun little experiment I have been doing since the 2014 Hot Wheels year started.

I am basing it all on luck.  Lamley Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram friends know that I post my finds whenever I come across something interesting, and that has led many of you to think I find Super TH's all the time.  That is surely not the case.

But I have had some success, and it is all random.  It is hard to say how many Super Treasure Hunts I have found, but I can say that they have all been found in the middle of the day.  I have never door-warmed a Target or TRU, and I have tried overnight pallet-hunting three times.  While I was successful in one overnight Walmart visit with a friend in Arizona (two '07 Mustang Supers), all I encountered in the other two overnight raids were other Super TH-starved collectors.

So here is the experiment: How many of the 15 2014 Super Treasure Hunts can I find during my normal daytime travels?

I travel all over the state as part of my job, and find myself near a handful of Walmarts, Targets, and other stores.  I don't always stop, but if I have time and a reason to stop I will.  Many of these stores stock randomly during the day, and that is where I have had my luck.

So let's see if I can find all 15 2014 Super TH's this way.  I will update this experiment here on Lamley as the experiment progresses.

And I am off to a good start.  2014 Batch C has been out for a couple of weeks in my area, and we are waiting for Batch D, which has appeared in other areas of the US.  That means there have been three Supers released, and here is an update:

1. Chevy Opala SS:

Found in October at a rural Walmart in a sidekick at about 11:30 am.  This town has a crazy collector scene, as told to me by the Kmart toy manager, who said she dreads Kmart Days because of the large number of collectors, and how they behave.  This was the first time I have encountered a Super in this town, and I think it was because the sidekick was placed in an odd place in the toy section.  It was on an endcap, but was placed way too high.  The bottom row of the sidekick was at my eye-level, and I am six-feet-tall.  I was able to reach up to the second row from the top, and pulled the Opala (photo taken in my car afterwards):

2. Sandblaster:

Found in November at a Walmart close to my house.  I have had success at this store before (3 previous Supers, plus the Fast & Furious Mustang), mainly because the toy manager stocks the Hot Wheels at different times during the day.  His night staff is instructed to keep the Hot Wheels off the floor overnight, and he stocks them the next day.  I found the Sandblaster on some endcap pegs at about 5 pm.  I saw the manager soon after and he told me he had pegged one case about 3 hours before, so that is as long as it hung:

How I found it:

Moved to the front of the pegs:

3. 2013 Hot Wheels Chevy Camaro Special Edition:

Found yesterday at a Walmart in a suburb about 30 minutes from my house, at about 3 pm.  This Walmart sits right in the middle of typical urban sprawl, which means a lot of young families, and a very busy store and toy section.  Especially during the holidays, the staff is constantly roaming the toy section cleaning up and keeping the pegs full.  There was a dump bin around the corner overflowing with several batches, but it appeared well-picked-over.  It is clear, based on the look of the pegs, that someone had recently filled some gaps with all or part of a case, and the Camaro was right out in front:

How I found it:

And placed next to the Fangster Regular TH I left behind:

So I am off to a good start so far, with Batch D yet to hit.  Can I go 15 for 15?

We would love to see your mid-day luck.  Please be sure to share with us on Facebook, Twitter, or on Instagram (hashtag #lamleyfinds).

Lamley News: New Holiday Exclusive 9-pack is out at Toys R Us, plus other finds...

This will be a quick post, as it doesn't need much in terms of write-up.  I took a quick stop at the local Toys R Us, and while there was little to get interested in, this new 9-pack was interesting:

A closeup of the exclusive:

Not much that sparks too much interest for me personally, with the exception of the Hurst Chevelle Wagon.  That model is a much have, and we still do not know if it is a multipack exclusive or in set to be released in the mainline.  Until we know I will leave these packs on the pegs.

In other finds that I actually took home, my ongoing pursuit of 2013 Boulevard brought a surprise.  In one of the Shopkos I visited, I came across this shipper:

The state it was in suggested it had been well picked-over, but it did not take long to see that it contained a few goodies.  I ended up leaving the store with these:

Not a bad day.  Anyone going to get the TRU Holiday pack?

Lamley News: Time to head to Walgreens...

Looks like Walgreens is the place to be right now.  After a hint from a fellow collector, a visit to Walgreens proved fruitful, as you can see above.  The mustang remains one of our favorite Supers for 2013, and I am sure none of you would be surprised that the RX-7 is by far our favorite regular TH this year...

I don't know if this is their holiday shipment,  but it appears most Walgreens are getting shippers equalling 2-3 cases.  I found this in a bin in the middle of the aisle.

So head out friends, and let us know what you find...

Lamley News: 2014 for Hot Wheels has begun, so check your Walmarts...

It is always fun to have a surprising day on the hunt.

I have enjoyed the reputation I have as the finder of everything.  There is some truth to that.  I live in an area that has plenty of collectors, but their interest appears to be more geared on finding hard-to-find models like Treasure Hunts.

I consider myself a car guy first, so when I make my way to the pegs I am looking for the minicars I want, and am very happy when I find them.  It just seems that because I travel all over the state I live in, I tend to happen upon Super Treasure Hunts and other hard-to-finds that the whatever local collector has yet to come across.  I don't find all the Hunts, but when I do it is usually between the hours of 10 am and 3 pm, when I visit a store to buy some food to take with me to an office visit for work.  It is just dumb luck, and to be honest that is how it should be.

So I had another one of those dumb luck days yesterday.  I was visiting a town I go to every three weeks or so, and I decided to check the toy section at the local Walmart.  The pegs and one dump bin were very full, but with models that had clearly been there for some time.  I checked the Hot Wheels and Matchbox sections as I normally do, and then headed out empty handed.  That is until swung around the back of the aisle and found a Hot Wheels sidekick hung awkwardly on the end, way too high and well out of the reach of any passing kid.  I saw that these were A case cars, so I went digging for more of my precious Datsun 620's.  I found them, and then was surprised to find the Subaru regular Hunt and Opala Super as well.  All my finds are pictured above (I happily left all the Jetson cars).

So I am here to report that A cases are hitting, as are Walmart exclusive Q cases with the last three Zamac exclusives of 2013.  I haven't found those yet, but hope dumb luck strikes again.

In the meantime you might want to ask your local toy manager if they got a sidekick, you might get lucky.  Let us know if you do...

Some of the models to look for:

Lamley News: 2013 Hot Wheels Boulevard is showing up at TJ Maxx and Marshall's, and that includes the elusive Datsun 510 Wagon...

It is not everyday we do this, but we thought this bit of news merited a mention here on the blog.

I have been asked by more than a few collectors on Instagram and Facebook how I got so lucky to find so many Hot Wheels Boulevard Datsun 510 Wagons while traveling in California this weekend.  Well, it is time to divulge my secret.

 As most of us are aware, just as Boulevard got really good, the big box stores didn't want them, and only a few have shown at Walmart, Toys R Us, and others.  So since January collectors have searched high and low for the Datsun 510 Wagon, Hakosuka Skyline, Porsche 993, Jeep Wagoneer, and many others.  As as result, prices of some of the 2013 Boulevard, especially the Datsun, skyrocketed on ebay, and they have been hard to find no matter where you are.

We always figured that some had to show somewhere, and we finally have an answer.  It appears that the excess cases of 2013 Hot Wheels Boulevard have been shipped to TJ Maxx and Marshall's stores.

I have no idea if this chain is in other countries, but if you live near one, it might be the right time to drop by and see what they have.

Keep in mind, it might be different depending on where you live.  I have heard from collectors in the east that are finding the batch with the Porsche 993, Ford Bronco, and Jeep Wagoneer.  Out here in the west it appears to be the first batch of 2013, which contains the Datsun Wagon, Skyline 2000GT-X, and Renault, among others.

And the icing on the cake?  They are are $2.99 each.  That is cheaper than what they would be at Walmart.

So head out let us know what you find.  We would love to report our friend's finds here on the blog, as well as what is being distributed where.  Share what you come across with us on our Facebook or Instagram pages.  We would love to see.

And I hope you have some of the same luck I was able to have over the last few days:

My first ever Hot Wheels Midnight Run: Surprising P case finds at Walmart...

Well, we normally like to save the Hot Wheels finds posts to HWC, Youtube videos, and our Facebook page.  But occasionally there is cool story to tell.

I have spent the last few days visiting family in Arizona.  First Tucson, and now Scottsdale.  I had a little bit of time last night so I decided to call my collecting friend Jeff Koch to see if he wanted to get together for a chat.  Instead of the normal pow wow at Starbucks, we decided to do a little late night hunting.

My schedule is such that midnight visits to Walmarts for a little pallet-raiding is not a possibility.  But since I had nowhere to go in the morning, and since we were already together, we decided to give it a run.  Jeff lives in Phoenix, so he took the lead, and decided we needed to drive halfway to LA to start.  We ended up hitting three Walmarts in West Phoenix.  By the time we were done it was after 1 AM and I thought sleep was a decent idea.

Plus, we had already done pretty damn good.

After striking out at the first Walmart, the next two stores each had untouched Hot Wheels Dump Bins waiting for us.  I have never encountered a bin unopened before, so to come across two made for a crazy night.  But even that wasn't the shocker.

The real shocker: they were P case dump bins.  We were mainly hunting to see if we could find any Walmart N cases, which include the next three Zamac Exclusives, namely the Datsun 240Z and Ferrari F12.  Instead of N cases, however, we found P cases.  A very strange find considering hobby dealers have not gotten the P cases yet, and the domestic N cases are just barely hitting stores.

But Jeff and I did not complain.  Yeah, we want those Zamacs, but considering the Treasure Hunt in the P cases is the Mazda RX-7, these two JDM nuts were more than happy to settle for P case dump bins.  We preferred it actually.  He and I don't have a lot of luck with Hunts, so being able to get a few of the Hunt we really wanted was fantastic.

Between the two bins, we found about 15 RX-7's, three '07 Mustang Super Treasure Hunts, and a slew of other highly anticipated models, including the brand new (and supercool) Lamborghini Aventador J.

I personally ended up with eight RX-7's and two '07 Mustangs.  The strange thing?  All three Supers were found in the second dump bin, but there were no basic '07 Mustangs at all.  I did find two basic '07 Mustangs in the first, sitting on top of the sealed cases.  It made for a very strange assortment.  The Mustang's "Then and Now" counterpart, the '92 Mustang, was plentiful.  But it was odd to find more Super than regular Mustangs.

Nonetheless, when I return home tomorrow, we will start a run of P case First Looks, including the extra Super Mustang that will be freed from its blister prison.  It should be fun...

My finds:

First Dump Bin:

Second Dump Bin:

All the Hunts:

The Mazda RX-7 (Best reg TH this year - surprised?):

The only two basic '07 Mustangs we found, along with the two Supers:

The Then and Now Mustangs (funny that the 92 Mustang shares the same complete deco as the Super, and not the basic '07):

Another New Finds post from Sini...

Just because I love reading his regular posts showing his latest acquisitions, I will share with my Lamley friends.

As usual, great stuff:

http://www.mboxcommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?106840-Update-from-last-1-5-months

HW Walmart exclusive Gran Torino that can't be found at Walmart (and the rest of the Gran Torino Sport variations)

A very nice member over at HWC, otto (Bill), sent over the Walmart exclusive 72 Ford Gran Torino Sport.  I had one sent because this "Walmart exclusive" can't be found at Walmart.  There was some unknown glitch, and now finding this, along with two other Walmart models, requires a diligent search among random autopart, grocery, and drug stores, along with a little luck.  No luck here.  So thanks Bill!

I am not one to collect too many classic muscle car castings.  You might find an occasional 67 Mustang, 69 Camaro, and a Challenger or two in the collection, but they are few and far between.  But something about the Gran Torino Sport strikes my fancy.  So, as is the rule, if I collect the casting, I want all versions.  And for a model a little over a year old, there have been a lot of them...

Hot Wheels 72 Gran Torino Sport - Walmart exclusive

This is the 8th version to go into the collection:

Including two sets of wheel variations from 2012 alone: