From Hot Wheels collectors, FOR Hot Wheels collectors. That is what the HOT WHEELS CASTING AND PRICE GUIDE is all about. This 1st Edition of the brand-new guide picks right up where the Tomart’s Price Guide to Hot Wheels (6th Edition, Volume 1) left off in 2007. Keeping with the essence of the collector-favorite “Tomart’s Guide”, this 2018 edition was assembled by current Hot Wheels Newsletter Editor, Jim Garbaczewski.

After years of speaking with Jim online and sharing moderator/editor duties with him on HotWheelsCollectors.com, I can attest that Jim knows his stuff. I had the pleasure of finally meeting him in person last year at the Hot Wheels Convention in Los Angeles, and he is the type of guy you could talk to for hours about all things Hot Wheels — I know, because I did. Chances are, you don’t need me to vouch for Jim as you are probably aware of his work.

If there is an off-chance that you haven’t heard of Jim, but have frequented other Hot Wheels databases online, rest assured that Jim was aided by some of the most knowledgeable collectors out there like Rob Graves (HobbyDB Master of Data, SouthTexasDiecast.com Founder), Mike Strauss (Tomart’s Price Guide Author, Hot Wheels Newsletter Founder) and Tim Callo (Hot Wheels Wiki Admin). Carl Pomponio, Frank Janacek, Russ Kottke, James Collin, and Kurt Hille were also among the many others Jim reached out to for help with this book, so you know there is some major Hot Wheels knowledge in here!

I received my HOT WHEELS CASTING AND PRICE GUIDE from HobbyDB a couple weeks ago and have been paging through it ever since. As far as I can tell, no Hot Wheels release from 2008 to 2017 has been missed. Even some of the rarest of variations were captured in this book. In an era of Hot Wheels research being dominated by the online resources such as HobbyDB and the Hot Wheels Wiki, this guide certainly holds its own and is certainly a must have for all Hot Wheels collectors — especially the ones that collect loose.

This guide has over 200 pages which are all full-color. According to the cover, there are over 3,300 color photos in this guide that focuses on collecting by the Hot Wheels casting. So, if you collect in a similar fashion as I do, you’ll find yourself paging through this thing at all hours of the day. You’ll even want to pull out some of your favorite Hot Wheels casting collections, so you can compare and immediately dispute the printed prices in the guide. Yeah, you Mr. Wise Guy! NOTE: I did notice the prices do run on the lower side which is nice because it does give collectors a reasonable expectation if they are looking to sell.

While this guide may appear to cater to some of the more experienced collectors out there with its loads of abbreviations, novice collectors need not worry as there is a complete wheel & abbreviation guide in the front of the book.

The HOT WHEELS CASTING AND PRICE GUIDE (1st Edition) is currently for sale on HobbyDB. Its $49.99 price tag may be intimidating to some, but hopefully this overview has convinced you otherwise. Its truly a great book that deserves a spot among your collection. I can’t tell you how many times you’ll pull it out when questions arise while admiring your loose collection, so its really an invaluable resource in itself. Congratulations to Jim and the team at HobbyDB for completing this. I know how much time, work and effort went into making this so I am glad that I have one. Time to get back to collecting … I have some vehicles to look up!