My Most Successful Day of Diecast Hunting! (EVER)

 Today's a holiday here in Canada and I had the day off yesterday, so I decided to spend the morning checking out some different stores I hadn't stopped into for awhile. In the end, I had what I would consider my most successful day of retail hunting ever. (I suppose I've found better at toy shows and dedicated toy stores.) To some, my haul is probably pretty small, but in Canada diecast retail is spotty at best. My previous best day of hunting was finding 2 Kombi Supers and 8 Regular Chicanes way back in December 2014. I'll walk you through yesterday's modest (but epic for me) finds.

Stop 1: Grocery Store

My first stop was at a grocery store with a small toy section. On the second shelf from the bottom were a bunch of Matchbox 5-packs stacked on top of each other. I spotted an older style package and got excited. Bingo! An Exotic Rides 5-Pack from Matchbox, with 4 exclusive models! I might've been happier for this find than the Super I found later in the morning.

Stop 2: Drug Store

I was hoping to find some Matchbox here, but to no avail. There was a Heritage 'A' case on the pegs though, and 1 Datsun 510 left. Sweet.

Stop 3: Grocery Store

A bunch of old pegwarmers. Strikeout.

Stop 4: Wal Mart

Another strikeout. Nothing new since I'd checked last.

Stop 5: Grocery Store

A bunch of 2014/15 mainlines I already have or didn't want to begin with.

Stop 6: Toys 'R Us

A fresh case of short cards on the pegs. Picked up 3 basic models I hadn't yet found. Moderately successful stop.

  
Stop 7: Wal Mart

Checked an out-of-the-way Walmart I'd had luck with in the past to grab some M2's I'd left behind last time. They were gone. I was kind of bummed until I turned the corner and bingo, a Green Machine 2014 Chevy Silverado 1500 staring right at me. Successful trip. Next, I went through the Mustang Series cars, and finally found the only car I wanted from the set, the Mach I. Another find I was happy about. The short cards looked to be overflowing with fresh stuff. No supers or regulars, but 3 Integras. Cool enough. Finally, I reluctantly checked the long card mainlines. The pegs were overflowing with 'C' case cars, which if you live in Canada, you are exhausted of by now. I decided I'd quickly check for supers. 3 Hornets. All regular. Was about to give up and then saw 2 NSX's. I pulled them out to look just like I've done with probably 500 other Acura NSX's over the past 6 months. First one was a mainline as I figured. As I put it back I was shocked to see the second was a SUPER. Bingo! Just my 5th wild super for 2016 and at the same time that I found a Green Machine. Boy, was I stoked. Oh and I nearly forgot, the Matchbox City 5-Pack was also at this store; sooner than I'd expected to see it.

Stop 8: Grocery Store

Picked up 2 mainlines I needed. Okay.

Stop 9: Independent Toy Store

A friend tipped me off that this store was selling Majorette's for 2.99 a pop. I had many as a kid, but hadn't seen them since, so I had to stop off. Picked up two models I liked: The Honda CR-Z and the BMW Station Wagon.

All in all, I had a heck of a lot of fun. 9 stores yielded a Super TH, a Green Machine, Majorettes, an old Matchbox 5-Pack, a Datsun 510 and some nice short card models. Sweet. Another interesting note: Of 9 stores I hit, 3 were total duds, and another 2 yielded nothing more than a couple decent mainlines. Only 4 of my 9 stops had anything worth writing home about. Moral of the story is persistence, I guess.

Happy hunting and collecting!!




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