Hot Wheels redlines. Kid approved.

My 13-year-old son hated trudging through flea markets and antique malls. Unfortunately for him, his mother and I enjoy going to places like that. A couple years back, someone gave the kid a Custom Barracuda Hot Wheels car at a garage sale. The Barracuda was one of the original 16 redline castings introduced in 1968. He did a little research, and found out how collectible a Hot Wheels redline can be. Now, our junking excursions are a little more tolerable for him. If we run across an interesting car that doesn’t cost a fortune (usually 12-bucks or less), we’ll grab it for him. You can be sure that he pays a lot more attention to what he’s looking at. The residual effect is that he’s amassed a nice little collection of Hot Wheels redline beaters. Last weekend, he helped me stage some photos of the cars in his collection so I could put a story together. These things are always more fun with an assistant.

"Speedy" Bill Smith's Museum of American Speed at Speedway Motors. Amazing.

When you think of the nation’s great car museums, you probably think of places like Los Angeles or Detroit.  A moderately-populated Midwestern locale like, oh, say, Lincoln, Nebraska probably wouldn’t be at the top of your list.  But if that’s the case, I’m here to tell you, it’s time to update your list.  I just got back from the spectacular Museum of American Speed, and the collection in that three-story building will hold its own against any in the country.