We have a Group B XC90, a full tank of fuel, seats full of diecast, metal loaded in the cd player, and 800 miles to Albuquerque New Mexico for the 14th annual Matchbox Convention….lets do this!
El_Uly and I were on our way and to what was to be the first event for Live and let Diecast to make an appearance at and we were full of excitement! Over the past few years we have been working to grow the community that is made up of all of you reading this and we felt it was time to try to go to the next level and push our name with the more serious business focused collector as well as meet some people within the corporate level in the industry. This was our time to shine so we prepared the best we could with LALD business cards, LALD decals, some LALD hats, eye-catching 1:18 cars for display, some customs from myself/Uly/Philip/and Sn210, laptops, tablets, cameras, and our devastatingly good looks!
The drive started from El_Uly HQ in Houston at around 5am and went fairly smooth except for the AC deciding it didn’t want to blow very hard or cold for about 4 hours which was definitely no cool…literally! While on the drive we kept a written account of cool or unique vehicles we saw which turned out to be a very good idea as that list will be shared ASAP….it is hilarious! We passed through cities, small towns, landmarks, desert, and eventually mountains where Albuquerque was located.
That night after an epic meal at Panda Express we went shopping for some matching shirts to wear at the event the next day which took us to 3 different stores just to find 2 of the same shirts in the correct sizes. This trip also resulted in a mini-hawl where Uly found a Snoopy! Back to the hotel for some sleep and we were ready!
Sunday we ate, packed what was needed for the event, and did the short 4 minute drive to the convention ready to spread the good word that is Live and let Diecast! After being led in and shown our table we quickly had everything set up ready for the earlybirds to be allowed in. This entire event is broken up into 3 days with the 3rd(Sunday) being more of a time for people buying and selling diecast models of any make. As LALD was the only table there not selling anything people took a minute to figure out what we were there for and realize that Uly’s yellow 1:18th Lamborghini Miura was actually not for sale. Seriously EVERYBODY tried to buy this thing!
Throughout the day Uly and I had many people come up to us and ask what LALD was and was all about. We had our sales pitch on point with the following:
-LALD is a community of diecast enthusiasts in every and any way/shape/form. Anything from collecting, HAWLS, quality photography, international trading, customization, reviews, and anything else.
-Unlike a forum our setup is very clean and easy to use. No links or separate pages to have to navigate. No emails
-ANYBODY can post pretty well whatever they want! No limit to the hobby.
-Easy to sign up and free to join!
-Kid friendly atmosphere
People were very receptive to what we had to say as well as show them and we only hope that we gain some posters on the blog as well as followers on the Instagram/Facebook/Twitter pages.
Beyond what we had to say we were able to meet a lot of cool people and make new friends. We did miss John from the Lamley blog but we did get to meet diecast customizer Chris from the IG account 78toy4dr who makes some seriously high quality 1/64th scale wheels that if you haven’t yet, you MUST see! Uly was able to meet famous Hot Wheels and Matchbox designer Michael Heralda who recently retired. We also met a very cool guy by the name of Steve aka buddhaa1 on Instagram who has a SERIOUS collection of diecast that would make your jaw hit the floor! Among other visitors to the table were some kids who loved the stickers as well as the hats!
This is Nico who loved my custom A100 Dodge I had on the table:
Christian (left) and Landon (right) really wanted some hats so we hooked them up without question!
We also met a family that was completely in love with the customs as well as photography. The mother was a photographer who loved to shoot real cars as well as diecast. We hope to see them here on the blog soon!
A very cool story while we were posting on the IG account was a person from South America who wanted one of our decals and had a friend at the event. Through social media we were able to all get together and hook them up with some LALD swag! Happy customers indeed!
Another interesting person we met was Christian who was at the event showcasing his website www.moyshop.de which is a specialist website devoted to all things Matchbox. There is a ton of information to be found here as well as some items for sale. I very much recommend taking a look! I will have another post with a link to their site in the future.
Since we were at the event we also got the hookup on the special event version of the Dodge A100 truck! This model is seriously cool but we had bad thoughts of customizing it while there haha! Check this thing out!
The icing on the cake for me was getting to meet two of the current designers for Matchbox who actually knew about Live and let Diecast! They were very cool guys and I hope to talk with them more in the near future!
As the event drew to a close we packed up and left with every intention to make the return next year! This was a great time and we hope to do even better next time.
The next morning Uly and I began the long drive back to Houston and continued our list of memorable vehicles. I saw the most beautiful sunrise of my life and these pics simply do not capture it. We stopped at a rest stop to chow down on some left over pizza and a quick ORAT session with a 67 Vette for a few pics!
We also made sure to stop by the famous Cadillac Ranch because it is any gear heads must see destination. We brought some LALD decals and tagged the place for all to find! If you ever visit be sure to look for them and tag us if you do! Seeing as how many people had spray cans there is may be likely that they all get painted over by the time I write this but hey a guy can dream!
The most random thing drove by while we were in route and that was The World’s Largest Potato! This thing was massive! Check the link!
As the trip drew to a close that night Uly and I made sure to trade pics, toss some ideas around, and start on work for more LALD exposure! All I can say now is to keep an eye out for cool stuff that will be happening. I hope we can get the LALD name simply everywhere. Stay tuned!
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