What Car-Related Things Do You Collect?
T-shirts, Lego sets, Matchbox cars, vintage hood ornaments, and more.
My husband says it’s difficult to buy presents for me, and he wanted me to have something special. With a vision in mind, he selected a spare part from an Alfa Romeo race car in a friend’s shop and together they welded it to a bumper guard he found on his family’s ranch. He buffed, shaped, and polished it to make a one-of-a-kind sculpture and gave it to me for Christmas last year.
It’s one of my most prized possessions and holds a spot of honor on my shelf next to a portion of my Matchbox collection, a vintage Chrysler badge, and an airplane-shaped hood ornament from a long-gone Oldsmobile. At the risk of finding myself in a position to want more stuff for my house that I probably don’t need, I’m curious to know: what car-related things do you collect?
We also have several Lego creations in the house, because it seems that once you’ve created a masterpiece, you don’t want to tear it apart again. I’m particularly fond of the yellow Jeep Rubicon set and a chunky Range Rover Will built from scratch, modeled on his P38 from 2000 that’s in our garage. I may or may not have bought more than a few Lego sets for my son because I wanted to play with them too.
A few summers ago, the Hostetler Hudson collection was sold off in Shipshewana, Indiana. Along with my dad and my son, we watched the hammer come down for the 1952 “Fabulous Hudson Hornet” for $1.265 million. The sheer amount of automobilia in the building had me drooling, and my inner voice of reason talked me out of buying a giant neon Hudson sign I wanted. My house isn’t that big, but in my mind we can squeeze in just one more thing (or two).
Friends know about my obsession, and I've received bracelets made from dented quarter panels from exotics and t-shirts with various cars and memes. I never tire of it. How about you?
Happy new year! Talk about what you collect in the comments below or send a note to kristin.shaw@thedrive.com.
