A friend who also collects Cars die cast toys called me and asked me how I collect. Basically, she wanted to know if I collect EVERY variation and anything that comes out. Personally, I follow a very simple strategy. As new Cars come out, I simply add them to my collection. I am not a collector who will buy every Desert backed character, then buy every World of Cars backed variation, and now the soon to be released Race Track backed variation. Why buy the same Car three times? To get the different packaging. Nah! It is still the same Car. Others would say getting every packaging variation is cool to them. I say it gets to be impractical and too expensive. But, as the saying goes, "To each his own."I am collecting like a large number of collectors...I am building two sets, one to keep Mint On Card, and one to eventually open and display as part of a Radiator Springs diorama. I also collect Movie Moments that have unique characters. For example Flik and Flea, Sully and Mike, or Dinoco Blue Mia and Tia. I won't get Movie Moments such as Cruisin' McQueen and Sally because they've been released individually. The same holds true for triple packs such as Al Oft, Tow and Race Official Tom. They've all been released individually. Gold Mia and Tia with Bling Bling McQueen however, have not all been released individually, so I bought that triple pack.
I buy all the Limited Edition or Limited Release Cars such as Blu-Ray McQueen, Lightning Storm McQueen, Chase McQueen with Bumper Stickers and Chase Fred with Bumper Stickers. I also get the Promotional Cars such as the recently released Sidewall Shine in a display case.One area of Cars collecting I'd like to get a few of are Error Cars. Cars with the wrong wheels or missing an obvious element. Fred without his license plate comes to mind. Would Kori Turbowitz be considered an Error? She has no side view mirrors. How about Mario Andretti's rims being the wrong color? Packaging errors are fun, but not really an error in the Car itself. A lot of those have been found. A yellow Ramone in a Lightning McQueen package, or a Doc Hudson in a Mater package for example.
Finally, I've been collecting Cars that have been autographed. I have Darryl Waltrip's and Mario Andretti's signatures on their respective Cars characters. I'm bummed I'll never be able to get George Carlin's signature due to his passing. I'll keep working on the rest of the characters and see where I end up.So, how to you collect ? Are you similar to me? Are you a crazed completest? Do you only collect one character? There's no "Right" way! There's the way that makes you happy!
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