TCGOB: "Still Playing With Cars After All These Years" by Steve Wingate

The Car Guy of Benchfield

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Still Playing With Cars After All These Years

By Steve Wingate, TCGOB Publisher

Originally Published on Mike Calinoff's "Stock Car City"

Little boys have a natural fascination with things that go fast, make loud noises, explode, or all three. It reflects in their taste in movies, and in what they play with. Take my son seven year-old son Isaac, for instance. His favorite movies are Gone in Sixty Seconds, The Fast and The Furious, and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. (The last one, also the title of his favorite video game, probably has more to do with an interest in Angelina Jolie, rather than the action and machines. I must admit that I myself wept openly during Angelina's bathing scene, so I can't say much.) It also reflects in his choice of playthings, namely 36,000 little metal cars and various parts of Hot Wheels playsets that involve giant car-eating snakes and sharks, volcanoes, and high speed intersections with no traffic lights. As little boys grow older, however, the interest in "little metal cars" begins to fade, replaced with an ever-growing and all-consuming interest in the opposite sex.

Some little boys end up re-acquiring the fascination with toy cars as adults. I was one of those boys, and now my metal car collection rivals that of my son's. This Peter Pan syndrome, combined with the popularity explosion of NASCAR, has created a multi-million dollar industry that markets everything from two and three dollar cars found at Wal-Mart to collector shop specialties priced into the hundreds of dollars. It seems that every other week there's a new NASCAR collectibles manufacturer peddling fifty and sixty dollar cars, and a range of other ludicrous NASCAR collectibles such as NASCAR pet dishes or NASCAR teddy bears. I keep my interests limited to the 1/64 scale die-cast cars, mainly because it's the only thing I can easily afford, and also because I think the rest of that stuff is pretty darned silly. NASCAR, when you get right down to it, is really all about the cars to begin with, and little metal cars have probably been around for as long as the real ones. In other words, NASCAR miniatures are the original racing collectibles, much like baseball cards are the standard in baseball memorabilia.

So, my son and I share a similar obsession, but with a few notable exceptions: Where I prefer to keep my cars on shelves, in packages or Lucite display cases, my son prefers to keep his all over the floor of his room in little simulated 40-car pileups. His collection even features some really neat little cars that, when struck lightly, have little flip-over panels that simulate crash damage. This is a good idea, especially when you consider that when I was a little boy, the only way to simulate crash damage was with a hammer and a large flat rock. Not that this recent innovation actually stops that kind of thing, but its still pretty neat.

Another major difference is that Isaac prefers toy muscle cars with disproportionate blowers sticking out the hoods, whereas I prefer toy NASCAR race cars, especially vintage race cars. My prize pieces are a 1986 Cale Yarborough Hardee's Thunderbird and #11 Darrell Waltrip Mountain Dew Buick, whereas Isaac's current favorite is some contraption with a tank turret and flames painted on it.

The main difference, however, is that Isaac actually plays with his cars, making realistic engine and crash noises. One time, I heard a stream of curse words issue from his room, and went in to find that he had a simulated traffic jam laid out on the floor. My wife refused to let me punish him, stating that was what I did when caught in a traffic jam, and I was the one who actually deserved a spanking, not Isaac. Anyway, (aside from the times when I'm stuck in traffic) I am a grown up, and I never ever play with my toy cars. I sometimes take them out and lovingly fondle them, admiring the quality craftsmanship of these intricately detailed replicas, but I NEVER, repeat NEVER play with them.

Vroom! Vroom!

2002 Car Guy of Benchfield

Home + TCGOB NASCAR! + Photo Garage + Links + Mad Mad Automotive World + Driving Songs + Humor Pages + Reader's Rides+ All About TCGOB + Contact Us


	The Car Guy of Benchfield Home + TCGOB NASCAR! + Photo Garage + Links + Mad Mad Automotive World + Driving Songs + Humor Pages + Reader's Rides+ All About TCGOB + Contact Us Still Playing With Cars After All These Years By Steve Wingate, TCGOB Publisher Originally Published on Mike Calinoff's "Stock Car City" Little boys have a natural fascination with things that go fast, make loud noises, explode, or all three. It reflects in their taste in movies, and in what they play with. Take my son seven year-old son Isaac, for instance. His favorite movies are Gone in Sixty Seconds, The Fast and The Furious, and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. (The last one, also the title of his favorite video game, probably has more to do with an interest in Angelina Jolie, rather than the action and machines. I must admit that I myself wept openly during Angelina's bathing scene, so I can't say much.) It also reflects in his choice of playthings, namely 36,000 little metal cars and various parts of Hot Wheels playsets that involve giant car-eating snakes and sharks, volcanoes, and high speed intersections with no traffic lights. As little boys grow older, however, the interest in "little metal cars" begins to fade, replaced with an ever-growing and all-consuming interest in the opposite sex. Some little boys end up re-acquiring the fascination with toy cars as adults. I was one of those boys, and now my metal car collection rivals that of my son's. This Peter Pan syndrome, combined with the popularity explosion of NASCAR, has created a multi-million dollar industry that markets everything from two and three dollar cars found at Wal-Mart to collector shop specialties priced into the hundreds of dollars. It seems that every other week there's a new NASCAR collectibles manufacturer peddling fifty and sixty dollar cars, and a range of other ludicrous NASCAR collectibles such as NASCAR pet dishes or NASCAR teddy bears. I keep my interests limited to the 1/64 scale die-cast cars, mainly because it's the only thing I can easily afford, and also because I think the rest of that stuff is pretty darned silly. NASCAR, when you get right down to it, is really all about the cars to begin with, and little metal cars have probably been around for as long as the real ones. In other words, NASCAR miniatures are the original racing collectibles, much like baseball cards are the standard in baseball memorabilia. So, my son and I share a similar obsession, but with a few notable exceptions: Where I prefer to keep my cars on shelves, in packages or Lucite display cases, my son prefers to keep his all over the floor of his room in little simulated 40-car pileups. His collection even features some really neat little cars that, when struck lightly, have little flip-over panels that simulate crash damage. This is a good idea, especially when you consider that when I was a little boy, the only way to simulate crash damage was with a hammer and a large flat rock. Not that this recent innovation actually stops that kind of thing, but its still pretty neat. Another major difference is that Isaac prefers toy muscle cars with disproportionate blowers sticking out the hoods, whereas I prefer toy NASCAR race cars, especially vintage race cars. My prize pieces are a 1986 Cale Yarborough Hardee's Thunderbird and #11 Darrell Waltrip Mountain Dew Buick, whereas Isaac's current favorite is some contraption with a tank turret and flames painted on it. The main difference, however, is that Isaac actually plays with his cars, making realistic engine and crash noises. One time, I heard a stream of curse words issue from his room, and went in to find that he had a simulated traffic jam laid out on the floor. My wife refused to let me punish him, stating that was what I did when caught in a traffic jam, and I was the one who actually deserved a spanking, not Isaac. Anyway, (aside from the times when I'm stuck in traffic) I am a grown up, and I never ever play with my toy cars. I sometimes take them out and lovingly fondle them, admiring the quality craftsmanship of these intricately detailed replicas, but I NEVER, repeat NEVER play with them. Vroom! Vroom! 2002 Car Guy of Benchfield Home + TCGOB NASCAR! + Photo Garage + Links + Mad Mad Automotive World + Driving Songs + Humor Pages + Reader's Rides+ All About TCGOB + Contact Us