People urged to check Hot Wheels to see if they have a toy worth £3,200 as rarest and most valuable cars revealed
IF you have a few Hot Wheels cars in your attic from when you were a child, now may be the time to check how much they could be worth.
Rare Hot Wheels models can fetch as much as £3,200 at auction, according to Peter Morris, an avid Hot Wheels collector and auctioneer at Vectis Auctions.
Hot Wheels are a brand of model cars and race tracks, created my Mattel - the inventor of Barbie - in 1968.
While the majority of toy cars are unlikely to fetch thousands of pounds, you could still walk away with a handsome profit.
How to spot a rare and valuable car
Original Hot Wheels cars from the 1960s and 70s tend to be the most valuable, Mr Morris said.
“The most expensive ones are the original red line cars, which were made in the first ten years of production,” he explained.
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“You can spot them because each tire will have a red ring on it.”
The cars should also have a date on the bottom of the base which will tell you when they were made.
Look out for cars that were produced between 1968 and 1977, he said.
These cars can be picked up for about £30 to £50 but can sell for hundreds of pounds at auction.
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“The most expensive one we sold was £3,200,” Mr Morris said.
“It was a Mustang Boss Hoss and still had its original card box as if it had come straight from the shop.”
But it does not matter if you still have the box as these cars are still valuable without it.
Focus on the condition of the car as this will dictate how much it is worth, warns Robert Wilkin, an auctioneer at C&T Auctioneers and Valuers.
“The value of a car will depend on whether the paint is chipped and if the wheels go round,” he said.
“The axles on Hot Wheels cars are a lot thinner than on a Matchbox car because that makes them spin quicker, which makes them go faster on the track.
“If the wheels still go round nicely then the car is worth more money than if it’s got bent axles and the wheels are out of shape.”
How to spot an expensive Hot Wheels car
It can be difficult to tell how much your Hot Wheels car is worth.
Here Robert Wilkin, auctioneer at C&T Auctioneers and Valuers, shares how to spot them:
The valuable cars have got red lines around the wheels.
They often look almost like space age or old Cameros and Ford Mustangs.
The more decorated they are and the more fancy graphics they have on them, the more modern they will be.
This won’t necessarily mean that they are worth more.
Look out for the plainer looking, metallic colours rather than graphic details on the cars.
Usually they have a metal base, but more modern ones have a plastic base.
Look out for markings such as a circle with a flame on the packaging as sometimes this will indicate that it is a treasure hunt car.
Do not worry if you cannot get your hands on an original Hot Wheels vehicle as more recent models can still fetch hundreds of pounds.
In 1995 Hot Wheels maker Mattel began to release a limited number of “Treasure Hunt” cars into its regular selection.
In the very first set only 10,000 of each of the 12 treasure hunt vehicles were released.
Early versions can be identified by a horizontal green stripe, with “TREA$URE HUNT SERIES” written on the packaging.
More modern cars have a circle with a flame in it on the packaging or car to indicate that it is a treasure hunt car.
Meanwhile, in 2007 Super Secret Treasure Hunts were introduced as part of a revamp of the Treasure Hunt system.
These were spun off into a “hidden” series in 2012, when Super Secret Treasure Hunts were released with mainline cars.
To spot them, look out for a gold Treasure Hunt flame logo on the packaging.
The value of these cars can vary but some will be worth hundreds of pounds each, Mr Wilkin said.
“Some treasure hunts will be only worth about £10 in the box and some of them are worth up to £200, depending on which treasure hunt car you find,” he said.
“If they’re a more desirable sort of car then they could be worth a couple of hundred pounds each.”
It does not generally matter what year they were released in so look out for cars which were produced in the 1990s and 2000s or more recently.
Some of the modern cars which were produced to coincide with the release of films do hold their value, he adds.
“There’s a lot of Batmobiles out at the moment in the last year which could be worth getting,” he said.
“One is designed to look like a Scooby-Doo van which is quite a nice one.”
How can I sell my Hot Wheels online?
You can sell your Hot Wheels car online through websites such as eBay and Facebook Marketplace.
You will need to set up a listing for your Hot Wheels which must include pictures, a price and key information such as the year the car was released.
To do so you will need to take pictures of your Hot Wheels car.
Make sure to take a photo of any wear and tear on the surface, wheels or base of the car.
Try to find a professional photo from the manufacturer of the car from when it was first released.
This will help anyone interested in buying your car to visualise what it looked like when it was first bought.
Next upload your photos to the website of your choice and begin to build your listing.
You should write a description of the item and include the make and model of the car and the condition it is in.
If you want to buy a Hot Wheels car online then do not worry too much about whether it is genuine or not.
Mr Wilkin said: “Most of the time the car itself will be genuine. If it is in a sealed packet most of the time it will be real.”
If you are planning to buy an expensive car or you think that yours may be worth a lot of money then it may be worth contacting an auction house.
An expert can look at the car to make sure that it is original and can verify that your car is genuine.
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Specialist auctioneers such as C&T Auctioneers and Valuers, Sotheby’s and Vectis Auctions can help you to value your item.
You do not need to live near the auctioneer to sell with them. Check the firms' websites for more information.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing [email protected].
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