What toy cars teach about car ownership expectations

My son is a fan of Hot Wheels [*] and similar branded die cast model cars. This red 21 SUV has been a favorite. When he wasn’t paying attention, I borrowed it for some close up shots.

This truck is still very intact with strong axles, all wheels smoothly rotating, and retains a relatively good paint coverage despite being played well by a 4.5 year old since about 1.5 years old.  Even more impressive, is that I played with this same exact truck when I was about 4 years old.  My brother growing up also played with this car.  So this vehicle has at least a good 28 years life of traversing through thousands of inches of carpet, tile, wood, dirt, mulch, etc.

I suppose this longevity has instilled the “drive it to the ground” mentality when it comes to real car ownership.  –Yes, like this die cast car, I plan to also pass down my daily driver to my kids some day.

There’s really not too much more I can say about Hot Wheels [*] cars, seeing they and Matchbox are so prevalent in many homes. (Matchbox and Hot Wheels have been owned by Mattel since 1997). With an ASP of $1 per car, that 100 pennies affords practically a lifetime of play.

[*] Product links included on this page lead to external merchant site(s) in which this site participates in a link referral program.  Clicking through these links and purchasing referenced products or other products sold by the merchant helps this site.  More information may be found on our “Support Us!” page.