You read the title right. Another diecast website that sells toy cars for kids and adults. Diecast 164 was created to help collectors of all levels conveniently find 1:64 scale diecast cars from multiple manufacturers, with different rarities and values while keeping the “magic of the hunt” alive.
While we have a much shorter description in our About Us page, we wanted to give you the long-winded version and get down to the nitty gritty of how Diecast 164 was born. It all started in early 2020 (like everything else during Covid-19), when our then 3-year-old started getting Hot Wheels care packages from Grandma and Grandpa. With every new package that arrived, we saw the pure excitement and it always brought smiles to our faces. The endless car noises, his not-so-clearly-annunciated “vroom vroom”, the pushing back-and-forth on the table, the pure uninfluenced joy; it all melted our hearts and still does to this day.
Of course, when Grandma and Grandpa knew how much he enjoyed his cars, they transitioned to sending Hot Wheels Monster Trucks. Oh boy! Luckily, Grandma and Grandpa stuck to the Hot Wheels brand and did not send the Monster Jam Monster Trucks because it was hard enough keeping up with one series. But wait there is more. How do you race all these diecast cars and trucks?! The track sets were a clear next step in this new hobby. And, with the number of Hot Wheels Car and Monster Truck Track Sets, where does one begin?!
Track sets started appearing and quickly took over our formal living room. Then Mommy and Daddy joined the fun. We added to the ever-growing collection and picked some up for our son’s Birthday, and even got some on sale in preparation of Christmas. We joined the ‘Hot Wheels Family’ ranks very quickly. (We should have t-shirts for this). See, Daddy had always been a car guy with a soft spot for Holden vehicles (you might need to Google that one 😉), so getting into tiny cars was an easy transition…and a fast one.
These toys our 3-year-old loved quickly became something the entire family was interested in. And so, it was time to start learning how these toys had evolved. Daddy only knew that Hot Wheels cars were cool when he played with them as a little boy (Mommy had some too!), but never transitioned into collecting. *Insert all the Googling*. Dad needed to get current with the times. Hours and hours of researching and reading online to learn about Treasure Hunts, Super Treasure Hunts, Mainlines, Premiums, Chase Cars, the list goes on and on! After Daddy’s head stopped spinning from intaking all this tiny car info, he knew what cool cars to go on the hunt for with his 3-year-old son.
When we first went hunting around October 2020, the big box stores were mildly stocked with diecast merchandise. Pegs had some good, some not so good, cars and trucks hanging. We were always on the look out for those Hot Wheels Super Treasure Hunts, M2 Chase & M2 Raw, Auto World Chase cars and any Premiums we wanted to add to the collection. My 3-year-old always gravitated to the Hot Wheels Fantasy Casting Mainlines, which I would expect nothing less and was always my favorite part about the hunts.
As time passed and the hunts continued, we rarely found any chase vehicles we might be looking for. We usually left the stores with some cool mainlines, recolors or fun castings the little guy picked out. Every now and then, we are also able to score some cool premiums! My wife would always ask what we were looking for and she began joining the fun. While her passion (initially) was not buying tiny cars, she always liked the “thrill” of the hunt. She would compare it to scavenger hunting, which she is pretty darn good at. With the extra set of eyes, we were bound to find something good!
Christmas was quickly approaching, and the stores rapidly lost inventory of EVERYTHING! Christmas 2020 looked like a race to get your kids something, anything, before it was gone; it was nuts! Heading to the big box stores was becoming less of a thing and Amazon shopping was the end-all-be all if you wanted something – and even then, nothing was guaranteed. We were able to score some last-minute track sets and, most importantly, the Hot Wheels 6-Lane Raceway.
The addiction was real. All Mommy and Daddy wanted to do was find cool diecast cars, fun track sets and anything else that struck our fancy. Hot Wheels Monster Truck after truck started to build and before we knew it, we had over 100 ready to race, display and even some for future collections. Santa’s sack was not going to hold all these goodies, so we decided we were going to spread them out for the remainder of the year.
Christmas morning arrived and he could not have been more excited when opening each Hot Wheel Car, Monster Truck or Track Set. Grandma and Grandpa got to watch over video chat (thanks Covid), but still were able to partake in the fun. He could not wait to open them…but he was going to have to wait until the 6-Lane Raceway was opened and assembled. Once Daddy was able to get it out of the box and figure out the assembly instructions, it was race time!
We the started ripping into the single packs, 5-packs, and anything else we could stick on the racetrack. Lap after lap, the cars, and even monster truck made their way down the lanes. Dad was happy as a 6-year-old Christmas morning, and even more happy to see the joy in his little guy’s eyes and playfulness with the cars; it reminded him of himself. We had officially become a Hot Wheels family.
After the excitement of Christmas, assembly of the tracks, and opening of all the cars and trucks, it was time to get out and start hunting again. We had no doubt that we were going to be able to find some cool diecast cars before the new year. Stores were bound to restock after Christmas, at least we thought. Going out and hunting at the big box stores was met with more empty pegs. This left us frustrated as we really wanted to start ramping up our Hot Wheels Premium Collection.
When the calendar turned to the new year, we welcomed in 2021 with many nights and weekends of hunting. After the boys went to bed one of us headed out for a couple hours each night to try and bring home something unique and new. Walmart after Walmart, Target after Target, Dollar Trees, Dollar Generals, Smith’s Grocery stores; there was literally nothing. Covid had officially disrupted the supply chain and the Holiday shopping dried up the pegs. It was the perfect storm.
We knew at this point it was time to take a break and only hunt when we needed to visit a store for things we NEEDED. As quickly as we got into the hobby, it was disheartening enough to already want to throw in the towel. We were tired of looking at Ford Transit Van Hot Wheels Mainlines just sitting on pegs that no one wanted to buy, and just staring at them in hopes of one day seeing restocked pegs and shelves.
While hunting in stores had slowed down, internet shopping had not. We started searching through eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Mercari along with any other selling avenue we could find to locate and probably overpay for some cool cars. We will discuss the “scalper” term in another blog post down the road. Seeing prices of Hot Wheels Super Treasure Hunts, regular M2 Haulers, M2 Chase pieces, just put us closer tp potentially calling it quits. We were determined to turn our luck around, so what else can you do but recruit Grandma to go hunt in a city two states away to see if her luck was any better. Grandma would head to the usual suspects: Walmart, Target, Dollar Tree and even 99 Cent Stores. We would get video calls from “Gigi” that our 3-year-old watched as she hunted, while we shouted out a YES or NO! Surprisingly stores in Southern California seemed to have more inventory as she was at least finding cool mainlines!
Call after call, hunt after hunt, we found sometimes video calls were not ideal due to connectivity issues. Sometimes it was easier to send pictures of cars she was looking at, so we did what anyone else with Facebook would do, created a group chat for diecast hunting. Pictures would roll in from stores and you get that giddy feeling every time one pops hoping it could be the “one.” Message notifications pop up and pictures are coming through from the Dollar Tree. This really cool looking Porsche came through and I said to myself, “good looking car, I should have her get that one.” I randomly look at a list of Super Treasure Hunts and to my surprise, it looks to be one. So, I ask for more pics and to look behind the car on the card. And, like magic, there is the STH Flame. Gigi just found our family’s first Hot Wheels Super Treasure Hunt at Dollar Tree.
It was a little bittersweet since we obviously wanted to be able to find the first STH, but at least immediate family found one! Jokes were even made about taking it to the register and making sure the cashier did not bend the card since there are no self-checkouts at those stores. We are happy to report the Porsche made it home and through USPS shipping to our place without any dinge, dents, or scratches. When opening the box and holding one for the first time, it sparked that urge to get out there and go hunting once again. If Gigi can do, we can do, right?!.........Wrong!
Out we go again with a renewed desire to find Treasure Hunts, Super Treasure Hunts, more Chase Pieces, and any other cool diecast cars we liked. You guessed it. We visited Walmarts, Targets and now even some Gamestops! We were still not able to find many cars or castings we liked after several trips. We tried morning, afternoons, evenings, weekends. Basically, any time frame we could try, we tried. There was no rhyme or reason that we could decipher with our changing of hunting times, and even per location.
At this stage we were literally pulling out hair in frustration at what to do. One night I went home and got on the computer and started shopping on diecast hobby websites. Seeing the sites where you can buy premium diecast sets and more sparked an idea, ‘why not start our own site to give hunters a place to shop where they know they’ll get what their looking for?’ We wouldn’t be the first and certainly not the last, but when you’re passionate about collecting and want to help others as much as we can, we’ll give it a go. That’s when Diecast 164 was born.
We work to provide as many options for 1/64th scale diecast cars as possible. Whether it’s Hot Wheels, M2 Machines, Matchbox, Johnny Lighting & many more. We work to bring you the largest selection of the latest and greatest, along with previous castings when possible. We want to do this while keeping prices close to the big box stores and offering fair pricing for those rare pieces like Super Treasure Hunts, Chase pieces & other collectibles.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to message, or email us. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter and like our Facebook & Instagram pages. Soon we’ll also be launching a YouTube channel for unboxing and showcasing of diecast goodies. And remember, drive small.