Ok, that was fun. Last Saturday at the Hot Wheels Convention in Los Angeles, a rowdy group of collectors gathered for the First Ever #lamleydlmparty. It was a hoot.
The carnage was epic. Cars were liberated left and right. And not just any random Hot Wheels. Every one of them was a premium or rare model of some sort.
There was Hot Wheels Designer Brendon Vetuskey opening an RLC Boss Hoss with his mouth, or Hot Wheels Packaging Designer Julian Koiles signing a Japan Historics card with a valid question, Marketing Manager Jimmy Liu opening a Datsun 510 Wagon Super, followed by a massacre of valuable model cards, from an original Redline to a signed Larry Wood card to a Gold Convention Batmobile.
It culminated in one of the cooler things I’ve seen. Brad Bannach of Orange Track Diecast closed the show by opening a Candy Striper Gasser, and Brendon promptly signed his card and drew a new Gasser on the card.
After that, we gave away a case of Sterling Protectors (the irony, right?), a Nationals Gasser, and RLC 510, donated by Mattel. And the winners opened them. Bliss, bro.
I compiled some highlights in the video above. Sadly, three of the most epic openings – a Leo Model, a Editor’s Choice Hauler, and 1 of 5 known carded Special Olympics Camaros – got lost on video. My Facebook feed gave out. But those openings happened.
It was an epic day. A huge thanks to the RTE, @jestersgarage, and the RCR, @hw_jay, for helping me organize the event, and to all of you who came for truly bringing it. Hopefully you had as much fun as I did. And we will do it again. Dallas in April? LA in October? Get some models ready.
Cue all the internet virgins crying cos they “should stay in packets so they’ll be worth more”
Awesome rare hotwheels opening party video congrats thumbs up.
And thats how it should be. Life is too short to leave them in the package. Open and enjoy them! If they were meant to stay in the package, they wouldn’t have painted and detailed one side of the model, lol.
I would like to attend one of these as I have some models worthy of liberation. I have already liberated tons of great models, and they need company! How about one in ABQ?
Sorry I missed this! I don’t really have an appropriately special car to liberate right now, though I could have brought my original, collection-starting Custom Camaro RL that I bought on-card in 1987 but finally opened a couple years ago due to water damage to the card. It stung for a couple of minutes, but afterwards it felt great!