Now, without further ado, in no particular order (I'll post them in order for you soon)-The 2001 mainline cars:

Treasure Hunts:

UPDATED 10/14/00

First Edition cars (The first eleven, anyway, with background stories)

UPDATED 10/16/00

Thursday afternoon fans were treated to an autograph session with a bevy of Hot Wheels designers.

Autographing everything from artwork to car packages to T shirts were designers Bruce Baur, Greg Padington, Michael Kollins, Dave McDonald, Darryl Starbird, Mark Jones, Gary Saffer, Nathan Proch, Bob Rosas, Michael Heralda, Scott Tupper, Phil Rhielman, Harry Bradley, Dave Weise, Larry Wood and Ira Gilford.

Thursday night's excitement culminated in an awards banquet to honor Hot Wheels designer Michael Kollins. Admittance was by special ticket only, to the tune of $100 per plate.

Guests were treated to dinner and each received a very limited edition show car, a Purple Passion with a "Michael Kollins 15th Anniversary" tampo on the roof.

Only 400 guests attended, so this commemorative vehicle will be extremely rare.
There were 100 or so left over after the show, but they weren't for sale. (Sorry-I tried!)

Guests also received a blister packed Michael Kollins Hot Wheels Designer Edition car, a silver Dodge Charger Daytona, a matching lapel pin, and a T shirt with a green Daytona pictured.

UPDATED 10/17/00

Thursday evening culminated in a $100 per plate awards dinner for designer Michael Kollins. A veteran Hot Wheels man with fifteen years spent creating the cars we love to hunt made him the "Belle of the Ball" this night, with fellow designers presenting him with two one of a kind cars-a bright orange Hydroplane and a gold plated Ferrari.

Ever the man of few words, Kollins thanked Mattel, his colleagues and the crowd of 400ish fans and sat with his prizes, to thunderous applause.

The crowd was controlled chaos while lining up when it was announced that there were several cases of the Kollins Daytona available for purchase after the dinner. Each fan was limited to four cars, and even at $25 each, they soon vanished.

I sat at a table that personified the heart of Hot Wheels collectors-people from all walks of life-the retired Japanese couple; John,the Grip from L.A.; Seth, the baseball coach; Burt, the accountant from Burbank, the two Japanese businessmen, the Japanese couple and their two year old daughter, and me, the Writer-all from very different walks of life, all joined by our common love, not for only a simple metal object with wheels, but for the simpler time it represents, the time when all we had to worry about were our grades, getting home for dinner on time, and saving up our allowance so we could go buy that Hot Wheel we wanted. The meal was good, the collectibles collectible-but the comradery was irreplaceable.

By the by, I interviewed dozens of collectors throughout the day from as far away as New Jersey, but the winner of the "I travelled the farthest" award goes to the two guys from Tokyo, Japan (and the mom, dad and daughter, too).

UPDATED 10/21/00

The Madman behind the 14th annual Hot Wheels Convention is none other than Tomart's Price Guide to Hot Wheels author Mike Strauss. I facetiously refer to him as "Madman" because anyone attempting to coordinate so many people and events over a single four day period must surely be crazy. Mr. Strauss' blend of dry humor and seemingly grouchy demeanor hide what proved to be a really nice guy.
After chasing him around for a few weeks trying to get an invitation to attend the event, he opened his doors to me and surprised me with his unexpected depth. His compatriots informed me that due to his overwhelming list of things to do that he'd developed an interesting defense mechanism-kind of an 'out of sight, out of mind' frame of reference. If I wanted something from him I needed to stand directly before him and bug him until he gave in. My editor had asked him for a few goodies from the show that we might give away to you, our readers, in our Lotto contest. Mr. Strauss promised me that he had "a bunch of things around here...somewhere...", but then got distracted by a visitor to his room. I later reminded him again, and again something stole his attention from me. I finally admitted to him that I wasn't in my nature to be a pest(!), and I asked him directly if he was going to give us anything. He said to see him after the show, which, according to his people, is the Kiss of Death (later, at dinner, he succumbed to my persistence and gave me a car). Now all this sounds like sour grapes on my part, but it's necessary to illustrate how contrary this guy is.

Working with about two hours sleep over the past few days and a gallon or two of Coke (the kind you drink) flowing through his veins, Mike Strauss hosted an endless parade of Hot Wheels Newsletter Club members and Convention guests through his hotel room, which is best described as a hodge podge Hot Wheels collector's Heaven. Guests flowed constantly through his quarters gawking at his displayed cars like the proverbial thirtyish kids in a candy shop. On display in a large showcase (whose contents was valued at 1.5 million or so) was a collection of some of the rarest and most desirable Hot Wheels known to exist-everything from the 'surfboards in the back' Beach Bombs to prototype after prototype one of a kinds, Mr. Strauss' treasure trove was eye candy for everyone lucky enough to get him to open his door.

And underneath that Grinchy exterior beat a heart three sizes too big, proven when he played Santa to a group of attending youngsters. Strauss handed out presents in the form of next year's #1 Treasure Hunt and #2 First Edition Surfin' School Bus only to boys and girls ages 3-14 who had a paid admission to the show. After quizzing them on such subjects as how many hairs they had on their head to how old their mothers were, Mr. S traded a hug for the prizes, with strict instuctions "...under no circumstances are you to give this to mommy or daddy...". Club Members also received a pink Code 3 VW Bug (Code 3 means that the car was altered independently, not by Mattel).

Formerly making a living in the gourmet foods business, Mr. Strauss has been collecting since 1981. His most famous writing endeavor is Tomart's Guide, which everyone uses as the Bible when pricing their cars. He started the Hot Wheels Newsletter, his quarterly publication that provides information to collectors on all things Hot Wheels, in 1985. Strauss began these annual conventions in 1986 in Toledo, Ohio, with 120 people showing up. 1987 found him in Long Beach, CA, with 200 conventioneers attending. By 1998 that number had swelled to 1,200, and this year's record crowd topped 1,400 paid guests, with over 300 turned away at the gate (due to safety regulations and fire codes and such). People came from far away lands like Germany, England, Australia and Japan to buy, sell and trade. With tons of special events, designer signings, the Michael Kollins Awards banquet, the Ronald McDonald House Car Sale and Auction (see separate article), Sizzlers and Hot Wheels drag races (see separate article), and thirteen floors of room after room of dealers and collectors hawking their wares, this was an enormous event that went off without a hitch, except when the lights went out in the entire hotel, and the fire trucks arrived. It turned out to be a false alarm (nice try, Dale).

You can get in touch with Mr. Strauss is subscribe to the Newsletter and become a Club member at the following addresses:

Mike Strauss
26 Madera Ave.
San Carlos, CA 94070-2937
Phone (650) 591-6482, after 6 pm PST-or- at http://members.aol.com/HWNEWSLTR or by typing in 'Hot Wheels Newsletter' on your search engine.

Believe me, if you attend one Hot Wheels event in your lifetime, this is the one you want to make it to. I met grandfather-son-grandson-granddaughter collector families(The D'Angelos of Murietta, CA: Larry, Bill, Ren and Chey pictured at right), mother and daughter teams, eighty year old single women, father-son teams, husband/wife teams, business executives, truck drivers-you name it. all drawn together by our love for a simple toy and a good cause, and all they both represent. Pretty cool, hunh?

UPDATED 10/24/00

The Fourteenth Annual Hot Wheels Convention drew collectors and dealers from as far away as Japan, Australia, England and Germany.
They also flocked to southern California from such U.S. home states as New Jersey, Idaho, Illinois, Washington-you name it-to join the locals in the fun and games.

Here's a collection of the people that made this such a special event:

Ken Blazer, from Chicago, Il (pictured at left). Everyone knew what convention he was there for!

Susan and Jim from the Hyatt Regency shipped boxes filled with Hot Wheels purchases for guests. Not an quick task!

Mark Beller from San Gabriel emptys his bank account using an ATM strategically positioned directly across from the Convention souvenier store.

R. Scott Faulkner and Mike Eichinger worked their tails off raising money for the Ronald McDonald House Charity and doubled as bouncers, guides and schleppers thoughout the four day event.

Thanks to everyone who made my time at the Hot Wheels con great!

SCARABOTO