Well at least we assume someone did. At this point it is an unnamed Walmart employee in Florida.
And you know what that person did with that case of Supers? He or she pegged them. All 72 of them. And that is where Zachary Bradshaw and his 3-year-old found them.
Yeah, we will say it again. Zachary Bradshaw and his 3-year-old son walked into a Walmart in West Palm Beach, Florida last Saturday and found 72 Hot Wheels 8 Crate Super Treasure Hunts. 72!!
Click on that photo. Look closely. That shot was taken by Zack. Those are all Supers. Here is the photo he took when he returned home:
Yeah, it is hard to believe, but let’s let Zachary tell the story:
I went to Walmart this morning with my 3 year old son as we do most every Saturday. As I walked up to the pegs I could see they were packed full. Got excited like one would do and started looking. Noticed a super right out front and another to the left of it. My mind went blank as I thought how do 2 get put out front like that next to each We other. As I gathered my thoughts I realized there was more so I started pulling them of the pegs one by one in disbelief looking around wondering how this was happening and where the camera crew was… As they started to pile I just got more shaky! Then I realized I had no way to get them to checkout! I hid 3/4 of them behind some track sets as we went to grab a cart with the rest in my hands. In total there were 72 of them!
Can you imagine? I would have surely thought this was some sort of prank as well. But this really happened, and Zach bought them all. I would have too, and so would the rest of you.
Zack continues:
They were all on the pegs. I had went the night before and there was maybe 100. That morning they were packed. They were all in the same area of the pegs. There’s room for about 300.
So what happened? We can only speculate, but based on the fact that there were 72 there, it looks like this Walmart, and this unknowing employee, received a full case of Supers as part of their shipment. Of course we would love to see the actual box they came in, or even talk to the employee. Maybe we can find that person at some point.
And assuming that this was a full case of 72 Supers, how did that happen? The quick conclusion is someone’s stash at the factory was accidentally sealed and shipped, and that may be the case. But it isn’t always a matter of shenanigans. Mattel has reason to fill up a case, maybe for a promotion, or for a licensor, or for many other reasons. This may have been reserved for one of those purposes, but considering the 8 Crate is an unlicensed model, and there is no company logo on the model, that might be unlikely.
So whatever it is, we may never know. All we do know is Zachary and his son had a day you and I might dream of, and they will surely not forget.
And by the way, in case you are wondering. Zack’s 3-year-old has one in his playbox, many are being shipped to friends, and the rest? That is up to Zack. He has every right to do what he wants, as he is the lucky guy who had the find of the century.
Laziness: “No way I'll open randomly 72 boxes and put just one miniature inside each box!”.
Ugh. This kind of thing (buying all of a model that you find treasure hunt or not with no thought to other collectors) is the reason it took me over a year to find an Ecto-1 when they first released. I can't stand seeing these pictures of entire walls of one frikking model that one person bought. >:(
Are you serious Joe? How many would you have left on the hooks? Knowing that the next guy would still buy them all and not leave any for the third guy? With a stash like that Zach will have trade bait for a couple years to come. Don't be jelous of someone else's score of a lifetime.
Awesome score Zach, you did the right thing, but them all! Roak some, trade some, put some away.
What a great day,
Stew
What if you happen to stop at a yard sale and pick up 72 redlines for a $1 each. Would you leave some behind for the next guy? HELL NO.
Stew
Yes, I would leave them for the next guy. I only get two per release, one to open and one to store. Getting every single one is just selfish and inconsiderate.
The only way I'd see myself buying only one and leaving the rest behind is if I were a multi millionaire and have no need to buy them all for resale or trade. Joe, you're either really nice or you're super rich and your priorities lie elsewhere. =)
The only way I'd see myself buying only one and leaving the rest behind is if I were a multi millionaire and have no need to buy them all for resale or trade. Joe, you're either really nice or you're super rich and your priorities lie elsewhere. =)
I just think of others before myself. I have a decent job and a roof over my head, I'm not rich, but I have no need to resell them for money. Even if I did buy them to resell, I would probably resell them for what I paid for them just so that other people could have a better shot at Treasure Hunts.
NO WAYS, I take them all too and show it off to Lamley also
And you'd all be jealous all over again 🙂 LOL
Oh maybe you right Joe, I'd leave ONE behind for the next guy.. Good deed of the day done…..
BUT, I would return a few hours later, and if that single one that I left behind wasn't gone, I'd take it too
A true gentleman in the diecast collecting world. My hat's off to you, good sir.
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MAFIA
Now I know what happened to all the supers. Opened six J cases and not one super. Oh well 😛
So what happened is that the scalper employee had these in the backstore to sell them by himself, but a naive fellow worker found it and take them out to the pegs, luckily for Zach.
There's no way stories like this can end with everyone happy, but ritgh now I'm seen that scalper employee with the tantrum of his life, so…
LOL… Come on now, 72 supers and you're just gonna buy 2? You said yourself that it makes it hard for people to find treasure hunts, so I'm assuming you don't find a lot of them. So why wouldn't you buy them up and then you could trade for supers you don't find!?!
Then you say “even if you did buy them to resell” you would do so at cost. .97¢ each huh? Do the people you buy from sell supers at cost too? I'd love to buy some supers for $1 each!
I don't care who you are, if you are a collector, especially one who has a hard time finding supers, I putting money on you buying more than 2 even if it's just to trade for other supers or to hook a buddy up. I also doubt you would sell for $1. I've been collecting for a while now and have yet to see that guy lol.
Of course no one really knows until you walk up on some fresh pegs and there hangs 72 Supers, and no one is watching… ;0)
But while we are talking about things we can't stand, I can't stand people that can't just be happy for someone's good fortune. There are many of them out there that would say the same thing if someone posts that they found 2 or 3 supers at one store. When everyone knows that if they were standing there looking at the same supers they would buy them all!
People like that are the reason we see pics of 10 Fangster's (Regular “Kid” T-Hunts) they can't find supers so they take what they can get.
Anyhow congrats on the find! You did what any of us would have done! Even if we all won't admit it!
Too bad they are 8 Crates.. But still, I agree with Joe, I wouldn't have taken them ALL! That's ridiculous. Unbelievable find though. The other day I was the first person upon a fresh case of Cool Classics, Bluebird and all. I only bought two, and left the third for someone else. I'm happy to get the rare vehicles at retail price nowadays. Besides after all the time it takes to store them, list them on eBay, get boxes, pack the boxes, and buy postage (and all the time to do all that) I might as well have sat down at my job and worked for 20 minutes and made the same amount of money. But…. when all is said and done, it's tough to judge what one would really really do with 72 supers of anything staring you in the face..
If that's what happened then that store must have ordered a record number of J cases lol!
The same thing happened here in Brazil last year, here some pics:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Bb2v8Lq2TmQ/U_qCJA2RFlI/AAAAAAAARFI/VsQk884MbHc/s1600/2208201410773.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FSphRvgS2dk/U_qCI_kp_xI/AAAAAAAARFE/2OlAJhzLRvs/s1600/2208201410782.jpg
Hell yeah id buy them all just to show them off, what a find. The winers can go cry in a corner, everyone would have bought them if theyed found them. Must people like me would have given you grief for not buying them.
awesome sight!
nice to see all the whiners whining 😀
Right around the time I started collecting, my friend and I walked into walmart around midnight after work. An employee was stocking a Hot Wheels dump bin and let us look through them as he was doing so. Now, for some background, my buddy and I knew how hard it was to find a regular hunt- let alone a super- in our town full of scalpers. We knew how much it sucked to visit walmart/kmart/target/whatever over and over and over again and find freshly stocked pegs of 500+ cars and no t-hunts. We knew how much it sucked to be a minute late to the store time after time again. Before that day I'd only found 1 super in over a year of searching. But that night we found 4 super '63 T-Birds and a half dozen regulars. We each took 1 super and 1 regular and left the rest. Mind you, this was when the '63 T-Bird hunt was so new that they were still selling on ebay for $70+ each, while my friend and I were making $11/hour unloading FedEx trailers in 90+ degree heat and using most of that money to pay off student loans.
So, for those of you grown, well-off adults who don't believe *anyone* would leave a super behind for a stranger (adult or child) to find and experience their own joy of finding their first super …. lol. Just lol. I got nothing else to say to you. Keep telling yourself that “no one” leaves behind supers out of the kindness of their hearts.
If he doesn't buy them all, then there's little to no proof the situation occurred. There's no story to tell if he only takes a few, and I'm pretty sure this is a story every collector has an interest in hearing.
I see no need to resell anything I find extra. I've found three or four Matchbox Mustang SSPs, but only bought one of those as I knew someone else would want one.
I'd see perfect sense in getting 5 or less, as to keep a couple for trades or to give someone else who may want one, but not all 72! If I were to find that many, I'd dump all 72 at the market slightly above $1 just to crash the market of these cars selling at ridiculous prices. They're just a dollar car with fancier wheels!
BOOM!
B.S.
I agree 100% with Joe. At the most I would buy 10 but that's it. I don't need 72 Super T-Hunts especially not this casting.
I'm with Joe and Matt.
Right on, Matt and Joe.
It's a real shock to see how many people projects their own greed on others, just to feel good with themselves.
What? He could've aligned them on the ground, just as he did to make the group photo. And then leave them behind. This argument is invalid.
I only found one of these just recently… my very first STH find this past Easter in a Walmart bin.
To be honest, somehow.. the basic version looks a tad bit neater but the steel wheels make up for it.
When I was in Bohol a few years ago I found a rack stuffed with TH and STH. I got one of each as a wedding souvenir
Wait a second, but whats the story after the story? What did he do with all the supers? Maybe he gave one away to each of his friends for free? I gave out some RAOK for free? What now? Just because he isnt giving you a super for free doesnt mean it all bad? Would change your mind if he did give you one?
edit -> *Or if he gave out some RAOK for free?*
I'm sure the rest are on e-bay…
This is why I don't even bother collecting anymore, it's become too difficult. I walked right passef a full sized dump bin and freshly stocked pegs at wamart the other day and didn't even bother to look. You know why? Because I've have more important things to do with my time than invest an hour rooting through a dump bin and raid it for that “primo casting…”
I would have the lot, regardless of what others say – collecting is not cheap and if i can get a few pennies back to help with the next lot of models then thats what I would do – keep half for myself and sell half for what ever they go for – whether that be a few pounds (to cover ebay fee's etc) or £20-£30 or more – you can call me a scalper or thief or greedy, if you want, but in all the years of collecting i have only ever found ONE STH – so, like it it not – thats what i would do – and i wont be losing ANY sleep over it – as my hobby will be better off for having extra funds to buy more.
I likely would have bought however many I could afford. Keep 2 or 3 for myself, RAOK a few to some collector buddies, and traded off or sold the rest. The money gained from the sales? Put it right back into my collection.
Lamley actually just posted this! I gave almost half away! Lots of happy friends!
But yet you're still here… Bahaha…
Actually never even posted them for sale. I did sell some but only to the people that contacted me through Facebook. Mostly at $10 a piece which is a third the going rate!
Smart man!
Zack you are one of those people who take all of the cars because their there, that's so inconsiderate I don't care if you gave away 71 of them that's still inconsiderate and greedy… How I would have loved to walk in and find just 1 of them
If I found 72 STH's I would have taken like 10 or so and took a picture of the rest not bought them all!
No your just inconsiderate Zack
For the record I not only gave away almost half of them, traded off some, but the ones I sold were at $10 a piece. I helped out local collectors and some other friends. I've also put countless hours into making customs to turn around and auction off for charity! I don't need to explain myself to anyone but I thought you should know a little more about me before you judge me.
So if a buddy of yours found 72 supers and bought all 72 and handed you 2 or 3 or 4 as a gift you would say exactly what you just told me?
And as others said before… If I left all but 10 then what happens is the next guy after me takes the rest… And what does he do? Who knows! Maybe sell each and every one on eBay for $20-30… So what good does that do? Instead I help out friends and fellow collectors and I'm inconsiderate? That's about as childish of a response as it gets! Considering that my friends would really like a couple free supers and my fellow collectors would like a very reasonable priced super and considering that I could use the little bit of money to help supplement my income as the sole provider to my family… How dare I take all those supers!
That's right! No explanation needed! it doesn't matter what you did or who knows. The important thing is you know! Haters gon Hate lol… Great find btw! I can't imagine!
if it wasn't a super nobody would give two shi$%s about it.Collect what you collect and let other spend THERE money how they see fit. Zack never gave ME a super as I was his 73rd best friend …but I still support him 100% don't let people get you down man.