While I am not a hardcore collector and need to have every single version of the same car, I am just happy to have at least 1 of diecasts. I only focus on cars I like.

I also don’t buy more than 2 of the cars if I come across it. I want kids and others to have a chance at getting them.

I don’t like it when someone will grab every single one of the specific car and resell it and %500 more, so in that sense, I’m not GREEDY.

My diecast history

Diecast cars have been a thing since I was a kid. My dad bought me some Matchbox and Hot Wheels when I was really young. Growing up in the 80s, there were tons of cool toys to have. I always enjoyed my toy cars. Eventually, I put that aside when I got to my teens. The most devastating issue I had with my toys were that my grandma would take my old stuff and send them to the Philippines to my cousins. So a lot of my toys went that way.

In 1999/2000, I collected a few diecasts, but mostly around the Japanese cars. In fact, on my 1st trip to Japan, I bought some Tomicas which at the time were not in the US (or that I have seen). I also got into plastic model cars and Gundams.

My 99/2000s collection with Japanese car focus (for the most part). Also my 1st Tomicas from my Japan trip in 2001.

Around 2010, My 1st son was coming. I decided to get him some cars as I wanted him to have an upbringing like I did. I even went and got cars that I grew up with thanks to Ebay and Craigslist. I bought so many “lot” of cars, that I just ended up with a few hundred.

Jacob loved playing with them. Also my young son Lucas also loved playing with them.

In 2016, I traveled to Japan after a 10yr gap. While there, I started to get into Japanese toys in general. Such an amazing place.

This was when I went to Japan in 2016 and my Noguchi-san there gifted me Tomica Limited vintage Neo of Nissan Leopards. I was also fascinated with the Gachapon toys and started to collect those. I then focused on other things and again, started to get back not just diecast, but toys in general.

Gifts from Japan trip/Nissan Leopard meeting in 2016.

The progression started to happen in 2017 when I returned to Japan and was gifted more Tomica cars. It is how my Skyline collection started.

Every year when I would go to Japan, I would go to used toy stores such as Hobby Off and others looking for toys. I would always find some cool Tomica hanging and selling for $1-$4. Some were rough and some were good condition. I aimed at picking up ones that I were older and that is where my used Tomica bug bit me.

After that, it was a slow progression getting back into diecasts and plastic models. It was ignited when friends gave me these as gifts. Afterwards, in order to save myself from going all out with diecasts (as I did when I was younger), I decided to just focus on Japanese cars for the most part.