I can’t tell you how many times I have stated that collecting is all about the thrill of the hunt, but for one particular collectible that thrill is wearing thin. Hot Wheels cars are the one “collectible” that my kids and I both enjoy — I buy Batmobiles and they choose whatever catches their eye, the crazier the better. For almost five years now, I have been telling them about Treasure Hunt cars — rare cars that look almost identical to the other cars on the pegs except for a few significant little enhancements.
We regularly sift through all the cars on the pegs and the boys love to dive through the large bins at Wal-Mart, but we have never seen a Treasure Hunt. I know they are rare, I know they are supposed to be hard to find — they are the diamonds in the rough — but shouldn’t the law of averages have delivered at least one of these mythical toys after all these years? Hot Wheels bloggers and YouTubers seem to find Treasure Hunts ALL THE TIME. As of now, there are over 14,000 Treasure hunts available on eBay, so how rare can they be?
I know that my kids will lose their minds when/if they ever find one, much like they did when they discovered the recently released Minecraft mine car. The hunt is certainly fun, but my little hunters are starting to doubt that these cars even exist.
For Christmas this year, I’m planning to put a couple of Treasure Hunts into their stockings, which means finally resorting to eBay, but I’m curious if our luck has been really that bad or if others have had success finding them in the wild?
I have found them in store BUT only because I knew an employ and he took them out of case for me.I know around here they are bought by employs or friends / family of employs and they never truly make it to the floor.Also around here there are die hard hot wheels collectors that are more or less retired and check the shelves everyday for anything of value.
Unfortunately the average buyer has slim to zero, leaning more towards the zero, chance of finding a Treasure Hunt Hot Wheels. The law of averages are not on your side because you’re forgetting the largest average to factor into your hunt;
Scalper gets to toy store at 8:45 AM to wait for the doors to open at 9:00 AM. Meanwhile mom and dad work 9:00 to 5:00 PM Monday through Friday, and typically don’t make it to the toy store until late morning / early afternoon Saturday or Sunday.
Those cars are long gone by then – If they even made it to the shelf in the first place, and not into some employees hands to pad his income on ebay.
Employees and scalpers are the only people who find them. Hate to say it but I admit when Treasure Hunts were first created I worked at Target and I and other employees pulled them all before the box left the warehouse. The last time I found one in the wild it was at a random CVS in the boonies about four years ago. Obvioulsy CVS isn’t the type of place that gets much stock, so employees there aren’t mining the handful of hotwheels they get each month. But any big box store – forget about it. If K-Mart still does their Hot Wheels events, you might have a shot there, but you’d have to a) find a K-Mart and b) find out if they still do Hot Wheels events and c) attend one of their events which can be a madhouse. I haven’t paid any attention to those K-Mart events for about eight years, so I doubt they even happen any more.
I have to agree with the comments above. During my Hot Wheels heyday I never found a TH in the wild. The THs that I do have were from the K-Mart Hot Wheels Collector day. Since then, I’ve never seen a TH anywhere else.
Try calling Rogue Toys (http://roguetoys.com/). He is pretty reasonable and has always given me a better deal than what I could find on eBay. Let them know Jathniel sent you.
You know, you guys aren’t making me feel any better about this. 😉 I kind of expected this to be the case, but it’s heartbreaking to know that I will never find that 1966 Batmobile Treasure Hunt on the pegs at Toys R Us.