If or when you become a collector or an avid Hot Wheels junkie, you may collect for various reasons. With that, many collectors look at a condition of a diecast vehicle before putting it up for sale, trade or purchasing a Hot Wheels casting or any other diecast vehicle. As with anything collectible or even precious items such as diamonds, there comes a place and time when things need to be evaluated to determine their condition. This is when “Grading” comes into play. Below you will find the most commonly used method for grading just about any new or old diecast vehicle.

 

Grading/Determining Condition:

 

Ø      Mint (C10): The item is in perfect condition. Few toys, even if still in package, are truly mint.

 

Ø      Near Mint (C9): Almost perfect, any imperfections will be extremely minor. This is the condition as where most new cars in BP's are in.

 

Ø      Excellent (C8): Will have had careful use, with only small imperfections.

 

Ø      Good (C7): Will have had more use, showing obvious imperfections.  

 

Ø      Fair (C6-4): Will have heavy signs of wear, showing major imperfections. Your average played-with toy car.

 

Ø      Poor (C3-1): Will be in a very distressed condition, with many faults.

I mention not supporting commercial grading all over this webpage. This is because I feel the way it is gone about really has no merit and is typically done by folks with little or no experience or knowledge about Hot Wheels. It also tends to bend things to one extreme or another in regards to how many numbers are produced, any important flaws or base changes. It is not that I think grading your own collection or car or evaluating what a potential car you are in the market to trade or sell is bad thing. In fact I think the more educated you are on these types of things, the more of an informed decision you can make regarding what a potential addition to your collection may be worth. Knowing whether your car might be a C7 or truly is dead mint can be important in a lot of ways, but not on a commercial level. Therefore, knowing what to look for and what may add or subtract points is a good thing. But through this, one thing to keep in mind is that something is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it or what you are willing to pay for something else. There are several other sites out there, as listed in my links section, that can help educate you on what to look for and how to determine the condition of a car.

I should also add that there are a number of great books out there to gather information about various Hot Wheels and other diecast cars and vehicles. They will have more information on different variations that you could expect to find if you look hard enough. I couple that I like to refer to are Tomart's guide and Lee's Toy Review.

 

COMING SOON, AN AWESOME GRADING CALCULATOR THAT ONE COULD USE FOR DETERMINING THEIR CAR'S CONDITION. THE PROGRAMMING IS DONE, JUST WORKING ON THE INTERFACE NOW.