I had chosen the title “packing it all in” originally as a response to the growing sentiment of “It’s just not worth it, so I quit”. A lot of people who have been at it for a while are leaving the hobby because prospectors and punks are ruining it. I wrote out a few paragraphs on my perspective of it, but I just kept coming back to one simple fact. I’m not gonna quit, so why do I need to concern myself with what other people are doing? I personally find it silly to give up on something because of what someone else is doing, but I’m not trying to administer a website that has so many punks, trouble makers, and general A-holes on it. I don’t know about anyone’s situation, so I can’t really comment or offer advice. To each his own. I don’t laugh at the guy who only collects Fire Engines, and I would hope he doesn’t laugh at me when he sees me get all excited ! at a flea market when I find a beater Poison Pinto. To each their own. If you stay in the hobby, then enjoy it. If you want out, well… Enjoy that. In the words of Forrest Gump; “that’s all I got to say about that”.

    But the words “packing it all in” seemed to have a new meaning to me recently. Everything around me is growing. My wife’s belly is growing because of our growing family. My daughter’s toy collection is growing (so is mine for that matter). My career is growing. Our need for space is growing. We have a comfy house, but lately the three of us have been tripping over each other. When the little one comes in September, we will be officially out of space. So we have to sell our house and buy a new one. We listed our house for sale and had four people call immediately. And if you’ve sold a house you know what this means. Basically “hide all your stuff”. You have to make your house look bigger and nicer than it is, hoping someone will be impressed enough to give you a wheelbarrow full of cash.

   So we know we’ll be moving soon so one thing we did was start packing already. My job was to clean my half of the closet. I obtained many boxes from work and started going through my “reserves” and carefully packing it away, packing it all in.

   First let me ask who has ever had to pack up their collection? I see a few of you nodding. When you packed up, was it EASY to do? Stop shaking your heads “no” like that. You’ll get a crick in your neck.

   My wife had to continually come in and poke me with a sharp stick because it was taking me forever. Everything I removed from the shelf I found myself examining again.  And this wasn’t the “ultra cool” stuff I had prominently displayed; these were the things I stored away. But something about being in that closet seemed to increase their “coolness” factor by at least a hundred because I couldn’t believe how neat these things were. Some of the highlights:

-         Five packs. I have a TON of five packs. Police cars, race cars, all kinds of stuff. I totally dig five packs. It’s really cool how they can theme them all and the choice of cars is usually pretty nice. I have a Camaro five pack, a muscle cars five pack, the 50’s cruisers set (why I stored that cycle away, I will NEVER know) and the General Mills Set with the Orange Daytona. I didn’t even know I had that one. Kinda wish the surprise find would be the red Ferrari 5 pack, but what can you do?

-         What are now called 100% sets. The Corvettes, the 30^th Anniv set. One that has Lee Petty’s Olds, Richard’s Superbird, and Kyle’s Grand Prix. The Shelby Daytona/Dodge Viper one. I must have looked at that one for a half hour alone.

-         Some oddball pieces that I have accumulated through trades and my sparsely spaced Ebay wins.  A 1957 Chevy with Coke logos on it. An old thing that appears to be an old Caddy in a “Richie Rich” blister. You remember, the old Comic books. I also found something that I thought was so infinitely cool at the time. A 1:24 Brookfield collector’s guild model (exact down to the paint) of my wife’s Mini Van. It was a special promo given to Dodge Dealerships. I talked the service guy into giving it to me when they were changing the oil in my car.

-         Old Models I never built including a 1970 Monte Carlo, a 1969 Coronet 440, and a 1964 Belvedere called the “Ram Charger”.

-         Other collection enhancing things like end cap signs from my retail days., 1”x24” shelf tags that say “HotWheels, leading the way”. A Mattel water bottle. A gold rimmed coffee mug from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. A full McDonald’s display with Barbie on one side and HW on the other.

-         Tons of individual cars from Flea Markets and yard sales. Track sets. An entire set of JL IRL cars (ripped them open and displayed them).

      I could go on for days (but the wife wants me to work on the shed).  I guess my point is that no matter what, these cars ALWAYS catch my imagination. I can sit for an hour looking at an individual car that I have had for years but had forgotten about. And I get that same “little boy” feeling I got when I saw it in the store or on that flea market table. I can hold one of these inanimate pieces of metal in my hand and within an instant my mind is off to the races. I can recall the store it came from, and the guy I used to know who had a real car like it, or who I traded with to get it (and I wonder what ever happened to him), or the day I showed that one to my daughter and she said “cool daddy”, or the Yard Sale where I got it. If it’s similar to one I had as a kid, I could be there for days remembering. So much co! mes back. Until the sharp stick gets me again, that is.

   My wife knows how much they mean to me, and she is glad I do something with my time that can be shared with the kids. She puts up with me walking through the basement of an open house and saying “Not enough room for my toys”. She knows I love them, and she knows I will play with the kids with them.

   So now I’m motivated to work on selling this house and buying a new one. Because someday soon….

…I’m gonna get to OPEN all those boxes I just packed up!

--43Goalie