Mario's Diecast Car Collection

Mario on Apr 3, 2025 said:

This is my collection of 46 Limited Edition 1-24 scale model Diecast Cars that I have been collecting for many years. They are from Franklin Mint and Danbury Mint.

azmuscle on Apr 4, 2025 said:

Mario, Mario, Mario.oh the world of models...oh how I long to be able to go back to my youth and enjoy the times in my bedroom building models Cars, planes, even monster figures. Even spending time with my neighbor friend and we built the 100 series of Fighter Planes starting with the F100 Super Sabre and on through the 100 series.

After I was sent to another home to live I started making models on my won and my interest in cars began to increase. I was always making models to enter in contest, rarely bringing home a prize but as an only child, I learned I could be on my own and stil find fulfillment in things when I didn't have a real family to be a part of.

Yes I too started collecting the premade model cars as in when the car dealers would hand out of the news models at the dealership. And my grandfather took me to events like Graingers where all the old steam engines were there in full form and i was allowed to pick out a small replica of the one I liked. I think they were made in England.

Not too many years I tried to get back into the model car hobby but had to move up in scale as my eyes and my hands were not as sharp as they were when the 24 scales were so easy to make.

Sadly my collection now is just of a few Muscle Cars and a few Corvettes. No more Nascar models and I haven't built a plane in decades.

But I did enjoy gluing my fingers together and spending my paper route money on TESTORS paints and glues and models.

When there was no one around or the weather was too cold, you could find me in my room making a model. Even when I was sent to a farm to work at for the summer, I had a model of Don Garlitts Swamp Rat sent to me so I had a model there to make. One of my proudest was making a huge Formula 1 model in black and gold with the spark plug wires and rubber hoses and it was huge.

The working suspension was awesome and the Formula 1 tires were soft. It was awesome. My last build was of a 1/8 model C2 Corvette. Fat fingers with arthritis and poor eye sight didn't make for the perfect build but it sits among my car trophies and models along with a Route 66 Puzzle I put together and glued and made it a 3D picture to remind me of my youth.

So here's to our youth and car collecters and collections.

It's nice to have the full size model, but enjoying creating my own model, even when not perfect, was still a part of life I can look at and smile. Maybe a bit of it was the smell of the glue too.

Thanks for sharing your with us. Sorry for the long post.

Rob

Mario on Apr 4, 2025 said:

Rob, Rob, Rob.....Ah the sweet smell of Testors paint and glue making models after models. Such wonderful boyhood memories I too share.

Every week I would go down to the local Hobby Store in Jamaica, Queens NYC and make a list of the car kits I wanted to buy. They had the newest car model kits out as fast as the Dealers introduced them!

It was an inexpensive hobby at the time saving my 50 cents allowance per week to buy another model kit. They were mostly 1/24 scale and I must have built over 100 model kits in my pre teen years.

Unfortunately when I went off to the Marines at age 19 my kid brother and 2 sisters destroyed them playing with them. When I got back from Vietnam at age 21 they were all gone. Hundreds of childhood hours building models vanished.

So that's how I eventually got into the Collector realm of buying already painted and built diecast models. Expensive as they were I accumulated all the diecast models I own today.

Your stories of building models is fascinating and I welcome all your comments on my pages. We have a lot in common and sadly today our eyesight and hand coordination do not allow us to build our models like we used to.

That's why I started collecting Franklin Mint and Danbury Mint diecast models years ago. I miss building and painting them but the end product is the same and they are all well protected and locked up in my wood cabinet.

Thank you Rob for your incredible insights as usual. Best Regards, Mario.