Mercury inspires extensive Hot Wheels collection

12/3/2025

Whether from inside a box in your basement, in your child’s collection of toys, or perhaps sitting on your shelf, you likely have held a Hot Wheel in your hands before. After all, the first Hot Wheels were introduced in 1968 by Mattel, and the total number produced is in the billions. John Marchant is no stranger to the miniature cars.

Marchant, a now retired truck driver, says he officially started his Hot Wheels collection in 1995. Hot Wheels made a Mercury, a car Marchant once had, and figured that would be a good place to start. However, he never anticipated the collection would become what it did.

“I thought it’d be small, but it just turned out to be what it is,” Marchant said.

And, “what it is” is a collection of several thousand Hot Wheels spanning generations, from new to old, common to rare. Roughly a decade ago, he put the dedicated space together for his collection. 

“Everybody says, ‘How do you remember what you have?’ Well, I go down there twice a week, you look around, and there are these storage containers. You look through it, and you remember some. Well, some turns into two, three or four, sometimes 10 that you already have,” Marchant said.

Having duplicates is not something he minds. As mentioned, he has plenty Mercury cars, the Hot Wheel that got him to start the collection. Another of his favorites is the Beatnik Bandit. It is based on the Ed Roth car and is one of the original “sweet 16” Hot Wheels produced in 1968.

As for newer Hot Wheels, there are a few that catch Marchant’s eye.

“I stay mostly in the newer stuff. I like the Porsches and the Lamborghinis. They are sharp-looking cars, and they’re getting them to the point where they’re detailed, where the fenders or the doors and the hood and all that opens,” Marchant said.

He has a few in his collection that were particularly hard to find. 

“The Employee Cars are hard, and the Treasure Hunts are hard. Today, if you are lucky enough, you had a chance to get a Treasure Hunt,” Marchant said.

Treasure Hunt cars are randomly packed into cases and distributed to toy stores. Employee Cars, on the other hand, are much more difficult to get a hold of. They are cars given specifically to Mattel employees to signify special occasions, company achievements, etc. Marchant has several of them in his collection, framed and documented. 

Marchant bought the majority of his collection online, or from friends, or at Hot Wheels collection shows. 

“We’ve gone to California, and we’ve gone to St Louis for the conventions. For a regular show, we’ve been to Kansas City, Illinois, Nebraska and here (Iowa). Since I’m retired, we’ve gone to Arizona,” Marchant said.

He does not have a collector’s or wish list that he abides by. If something catches his eye and he feels like adding it to his extensive collection, he does so. 

“I just look, and if something is rare, then I’ll pick it up. If I know I don’t have it, then I’ll pick it up. But I don’t have a list,” Marchant said.

At one garage sale in particular, his wife made an incredible discovery.

“She picked up some Hot Wheels, and they sold them to her for 10 cents apiece. She spent like $10. She showed them to me, and she said, ‘What do you think these are worth?’ It was worth over $1,000,” Marchant said.

How does his wife feel about the collection?

“At first she didn’t like it, and now she likes it. But, she will not dust it,” Marchant said with a laugh.

Marchant is also the vice president of the All Iowa Hot Wheels Collectors Club, which has been in operation since 1981. The group currently has more than 100 active members and hosted its club show with more than 1,000 Hot Wheels and 97 tables set up for display.

“That’s one of the largest (in the Midwest). People like to come from South Dakota and Nebraska, Kansas City, St Louis, and Illinois, just for our show,” Marchant said.

He added that he has made plenty of friends over the years being part of the club. 

“I meet new people, like I’m meeting you right now. There are a bunch of people who talk about different Hot Wheels with. We actually tell them, ‘Don’t go crazy like me,’ ” Marchant said. ♦