06/10/2002

Back when I was in High School, I used to watch a lot of fishing shows on TV. I wasn’t much of a fisherman, but at least I could pretend I was picking up all sorts of tips and tricks for outwitting the wily wide mouth bass. Thing is, what used to tear me up watching those shows was seeing those guys catch fish after fish; fish that would have set me to bragging for weeks on end. But instead of packing those fish away for dinner, or speed-dialing the taxidermist from the lake as I would have done, they would hold the fish up and admire it for a minute before releasing it back into the water. What I didn't understand then was that these guys had been catching fish for so long that, to them, a fish was just a fish, and one fish was as good as another. It was enough that they had caught the fish and held it for a moment. They didn't need to bring home every fish they caught.

Well, that was many years ago, and despite watching all those fishing shows, I’m still a lousy fisherman. I don’t get out to the lake much any more because I am now pursuing the wily diecast. Looking at my collection, some people would think I’m no better at collecting them than I am at fishing. After all, most of the new releases never make it to my walls. How did I fail to get all the series cars, the mainlines, and the repaints? Where are all the special editions? Why don’t I have any of the promos, or the rare variations? Well, you know, maybe I learned something from those old fishing shows after all.

Every day I look for news about what all is out there, waiting to be found. I read about the newest repaints, the case codes that are appearing, and what all is in them. I check out the pictures of the new five-packs, the set cars, and the store exclusives. Then I go out to the stores and try to find all the things I’ve been reading about. Eventually I find most of them. When it’s a new casting for me, or something I know I can trade easily, like a treasure hunt, I go ahead and buy it. But if it is a casting I already have, I’ll probably hold it for a minute, admire it, and put it back on the peg.

I have my reasons for this. First, I am not a rich man and I cannot afford to buy everything I see. Second, my basement is limited, and I don’t have room to display everything that will be produced this year, much less everything accumulated over the past 12 years of collecting. I like the way I can go downstairs and see all my cars lined up. I like not having the bulk of my collection packed away in boxes in closets or the garage. But most of all, I like the fact that every car on my shelves is there because I made a conscious decision to acquire it. I don’t have to have everything with a flame swoosh on the package. I’m not faced with the frustration of the completist, driven to the secondary market to fill in those holes in the collection. In fact, I have no holes in my collection. My set is complete until I decide to get something else. Then completion is just a short walk to the cashier away.

Yes, I pass on a lot of very nice cars. But I've been doing this for a long time, and I know I can always get nice cars. After all, a car is just a car. It is enough for me to have held it in my hand for a moment and contemplated buying it, imagined it being mine. And sometimes the ones I threw back before grow bigger in my estimation. Tomorrow, I may find something marked down that I passed on before, or I may find something at a yard sale that wasn’t worth a dollar to me in the store, but is worth a quarter off this table. I find it more of a challenge to build a great collection that bears my own personal stamp without spending a lot of money. Think of it as taking bass on an ultra light rod and reel. And if I should change my mind about something I passed on and go back to find it gone, well every fisherman has a tale or two about the one that got away. Some of those tales are even true.
 

Keep it in scale.
 

The Southern Gent--Raymond McKee

 

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