First Coast Hot Wheels Collectors: About Meetings

Meetings

Who - Everyone is invited and is encouraged to bring a friend, and by all means, bring the family. We are primarily an adult club, but children can also come and join as long as they are accompanied by an adult. Visitors can attend two meetings for free and after that would have to be considered for membership. Also, remember that scalpers are not allowed!
What - We primarily sell and trade Hot Wheels, but other diecast cars or even other collectibles are always welcome.
When - We meet the second Tuesday of every month at 6pm. However a few people get there a little earlier to start unloading all of their cars. If you would like to attend, drop us an email to ensure that the meeting date and time hasn't changed.
Where - We are currently meeting at the Mount Carmel Gardens. It has a large meeting space with room for both trading and racing. It is located at 5846 Mount Carmel Terrace, Jacksonville, Florida. Here is a map provided by MapQuest.com.
Why - Because we love those little cars called Hot Wheels!

So what is all involved?

The Swap Meet At the beginning of a meeting, we immediately start the swap meet. We browse what everyone has brought and commence the trading and selling, so it pays to get there early. There are some members that have an enormous amount of cars for sell or trade and bring many cases to a meet. But for the most part, people bring their extras, some old - some new. And of course there are a few members that only collect redlines. Video clips [1,2,3]

	*Car Prices* We primarily use the Tomart's Hot Wheels Guide, 5th. edition to establish a baseline price for a car. However, the Whites Guide and a few others have are used as well. Cars that can be found on the pegs only go for about a buck, unless it is a Treasure Hunt of course. People will sometimes buy extras for others who can't get around to the stores or can't locate some of the harder to find variations, however, they are usually devoured up at the beginning of the meeting. Depending on the car, new cars considered to be a rare variation still go for about a buck or so. Older cars on the other hand will usually sell for book or less. Redlines are a different story all together! There are no rules for selling redlines. For the most part, people usually pay what they are worth although there have been a few exceptions. Most of the redline collectors would rather trade than sell. Video clips [1,2]

Formal Meeting
We do have a formal meeting following the swap meet. We have a standard compliment of officers who run the club and keep it organized. During this time we discuss what we want to do as a club (charities, toy shows, etc.) as well go over any old or new business. We used to have this at the beginning of the meeting, but the anticipation to trade was too great, we decided to have it after the trading.

Start Your Engines
After the formal session, the races begin. We have acquired about 400 feet of track and are currently experimenting with down hill distance races. A drag strip is in the works and hope to have it up and running soon. We race for pink slips and prizes as well. Video clips [1,2].