First of all, glad the admins appear to have received their gifts! I know Frosted, SN210, and Philip all received theirs. Hope BJ and ULY get their's soon too. :) Yay for the speedy postal delivery. And Hooray for the admins! They've done a great job this year.
I'm in Chicago visiting my in-laws this Christmas season, and plenty of shopping has meant some hunting in a completely new part of the country. While I haven't found anything spectacular, I've managed to grab a few I haven't seen in Portland.
(I apologize for the lighting in these pictures, I don't have much of a setup here, a desk light and an overhead in the guest room, and obviously taken with a cell)
This sweet gold FJ40 was found at a "Super" Target along with a few other unexpected Matchbox diecasts....
Jeep Hurricane and the Stakebed Ford, plus:
A Dodge Charger featuring some sort of "treasure"!
At WalMart I grabbed this awesome, awesome Oval Window Beetle!
Sidenote: It seems Mid-Westerners don't appreciate air-cooled VWs like those of us on the West Coast. I've run into a ton of mainline Kool Kombis here despite never seeing a one on the pegs in Portland. This store also had the very cool M2 car carrier with a VW Samba, but I couldn't justify the $18 price....
Also at WalMart, randomly amongst a slew of A and B case mainlines, was this lone Road Tripper version of the Tesla Roadster. The Metalflake blue is fantastic! Since I do love Tesla this was a no-brainer (although Frosted pointed out this might not make the best car for a road trip, running on electrons and all....). Still I can't wait to get those tampos off once I get home..
At the Kroger affiliate out here (Meijer) I came across a massive amount of cars. Not just ALL the current HW and MBX series, but Greenlight, M2, Tonka and some 1:43 Fast & Furious models as well. Why'd I get these two? Well, I have a thing about hidden "features" like the Mini whose top pops off. The Hypertruck looks like it glows in the dark with those wheels and a similiar bed. The Salt Shaker? Well I hoped it was an actual salt shaker. Turns out it's not. Bummer.
The Zoolander Bronco I've been searching for awhile and the James Bond Lotus.....well, it's a Lotus that goes underwater, obviously!
And what was the treasure with the Dodge Charger?
I guess it's a postage size picture of a pirate. (Seems it was some of sort of contest but seeing as the card says 2005 on the back I'm not holding out hope for any sweet prize).
I'm really enjoying the Windy City. In terms of Hot Wheels though, I get the feeling that between 8 million people there might be a collector or two...