motorman wrote: What's bad about Superfast Joe?
Who said anything was bad? It's outside of my scope of collecting (which ends at 1969). My lack of interest hails all the way back to the end of 1969 and the end of the regular wheel era (I'm old remember).
A brief history of one collector: My Matchbox collecting was a off-shoot of my HO model layout. Soon enough, Matchbox collecting became a second hobby. I still incorporated Matchbox models into the HO layout as well. My "bought new at retail" Matchbox collecting ended when I scoured the last of the new old stock out of local shops (much like Kwakers).
By 1975, the HO layout took up the entire 3rd bay of the garage of my parents home (I had moved out in 1970). The last added on section was started by me and finished by a local Doctor who teamed up with me to finish it off. In 1975, I dismantled the entire thing and boxed everything up for a new future layout.
I continued buying HO models, building models and making buildings for the next 20 years (all of which were boxed up and went promptly in storage upon purchase or completion). In 2005 I unpacked everything and sold off every last item on eBay. The only thing I kept was any Matchbox items from the layout (those went into my Matchbox collection).
A few short years later, I sold off 90% of my Matchbox collection. While I never bought or collected either HO models/accessories or Matchbox for the monetary value or for investment ... both proved to be a good investment I am very pleased with the addition to my retirement fund (if I can ever find time to retire).
My interest in both HO and Matchbox never faded and that last 10% of Matchbox (which I kept) is still growing in number. My disdain for the new wheels, new colors and wild designs of the Superfast era never subsided. I also have to admit that, from the beginning, I had an odd dislike of the F boxes and when buying any model I avoided F boxes whenever possible. The latter still holds true today about me & F boxes. Everyone's personal collecting style is guided by certain (sometimes odd) parameters and I'm no exception.
