Customer Reviews

Tomart's Price Guide to Hot Wheels Collectibles

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I found the third edition to be an improvement over the second edition in terms of the prices of cars listed, but still off in many instances. As a price guide, it allows the reader to see the relation of different colors and variations to others, but the prices themselves are not, and cannot be expected to be, current. If it takes about a year to revise and publish a book, how can that price guide have "current values" in it? Before criticizing this book, and it's author, I think Hot Wheels collectors should consider the huge effort of time and organization in producing a book of this type. It is a massive undertaking. As a general guide to the world of Hot Wheels, this stands as a great example of a fairly complete, authoritative manual to this ever-changing, (usually appreciating) toy collectible. No matter how you slice it, this is THE Book for Hot Wheels collectors. I like the layout, the photos, and the historical information that introduces the book. As a collector I am intrigued by the history of this legendary toy brand! It is easy to criticize, but I'd like to ask the collectors that are overly critical of this book: "How knowledgable would you be WITHOUT the Tomart guide?"

Two words describe this book: essential, and outstanding. Not only is it an invaluable resource for those sorted greedheads and bean-counters out there who like to know the value of their collections down to every dime, nickel and penny, but for the rest of us who engage in the collecting of Hot Wheels for the sheer LOVE of it, this book serves almost as a muse for the hobby . . .enticing us to continue the search in an all but impossible quest of obtaining every one. While frequently criticized for not being entirely "accurate" and "current" with listed prices, I have found through my own experience that the prices give you a fairly good "ballpark" figure to know whether or not you're getting ripped off. As with all collectibles, beauty and worth is in the eye of the beholder. On this note, this book is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL if you use Ebay or other online marketplaces to look for cars.

More than anything, this book is a superb gallery of Hot Wheels cars so that even if you'll never own them all, you can at least SEE what they look like. As all collectors know, there will never be enough Sky Show Deoras or rear surfboard Beach Bombs to satisfy us all, but with this book you can at least see what you're missing.

My advice? Simple. Do not hesitate to buy this book. You will not regret it (unless of course you go over your credit limit and the bank hooks you with fees!), and you will be guaranteed with hour upon hour of satisfaction with the love of these little cars that only true collectors understand.

After perusing the price guides at most major bookstores, I found Tomart's Price Guide to have the best pictures, most accurate pricing, and easiest reading. Most guides want you to find the car then have to find the price in the back of the book. Tomart's has the prices with the photos. The photos were also the best quality and in color. This was a big deciding factor for me when I decided to shell out my $29.95! There were a few model variations(i.e.Ambulance 1792-1991 with plastic siren) that wern't included but should have been. This is forgivable however, given the book's quality. Keep up the good work Tomart! (Please, please make one for "Matchbox"!)

This book is easy to use and fun. I learned a lot about my hot wheels and this encouraged me to keep searching and collecting. If you are a hot wheel collector this is a must have. Can't wait for the 4th edition.

This book is way of track with regard to the actual value of the cars. Use only as a reference guide. Great pictures. Does NOT include ALL 1998 FIRST EDITION series cars.

This "Price Guide" contains fictious pricing, confusing errors, including errors that have been repeated from previous editions. The only positive comment I have for this book is that it has lots of nice pictures.

Please improve this guide or retire and let someone else take over so we can have a complete Hot Wheels book rather than pretty pictures without any substance

I have bought all 3 editions of Strauss' books, so I feel I can give a fair review of his third, and WORST edition yet. When the 1st book came out, it was the only game in town, so HotWheel collectors used it to identify cars, and the prices were also used as a starting point in negotiations for trades, sales etc. When the second book was printed, there was already some competition for Strauss, in the form of Bob Parkers book, The Complete Book of HotWheels. The 2cd edition of Tomarts was just a reprint of the first, with the new cars added BUT the prices had not been updated much, which was a major disappointment to me and thousands of other collectors I spoke with about the hobby. When the third edition was anticipated, we all hoped that the pricing would be updated to reflect more accurate "Real World" pricing. Guess what? BIG DISAPPOINTMENT! The prices in this edition are so far off base, that it should be a CRIME to call this a Price Guide! The book is adequate as an identification tool, but a price guide it is NOT! Mike Strauss portrays himself to be a collector, but how many collectors produce limited edition HotWheels cars and sell them for a profit? Look up his cars in his book and you will see the point I am trying to make. A dealer should not be an author of a book aimed at HotWheels collectors. Mike and his wife are in this hobby to make money, so how can he write an unbiased book on HotWheel collecting? I am very disillusioned by this 3rd edition, and as a HotWheel Collector since 1967, cannot recommend this book to my fellow collectors. If you want a good book on HW collecting, buy Bob Parkers book, ISBN: 076430612X which is much better and also available here on AMAZON.COM

It is really sad when a guide is published and does not contain all the Hot Wheels that have been produced through the years. The history part of this book needs a serious overhaul since the errors are rampant! I would not even rate it one star since this is too complementary for this piece of flossim

What can I say that hasn't already been said about this lousy book? It is the most over rated piece of tripe in the entire HotWheels collecting field. Too bad most of the new collectors buy this book, from recommendations from other new, uninformed collectors. Buy any of Bob Parkers books instead.