Boatload of Diecast

[MrMoparCHP]

As mentioned in a previous post my Father accumulated a mast amount of diecast cars. As much as I wanted to look at every one I new I wouldn't get half them boxed up (we are under the clock getting this house cleared). As it was it took us (3 people) 11 hours and that was just the diecast and we still have more small scale stuff.

This room was full of the white file boxes with mostly smaller than 24th scale stuff.

At the end of the day we had 64 boxes with 9 18th scale in each, some of the large boxes also had some 24th scale in them so in the neighborhood of 600 cars. There were about 150 of the smaller boxes with everything from Hot Wheels to 24th scale in them.

We still have about two days just to clear the hobby stuff out of the house.


Alan

 

[traintech55]

That is one of the hardest things a child has to do. It wasn't easy when my parents passed. Just take it slow and easy.

 

[live4theking]

Alan,
That is a daunting and overwhelming task. I'll pray for you to have strength and perseverance
John.

 

[detmatt]

How did he accumulate so many? Internet? How long was he collecting? Must be tough, my thoughts are with you too.

 

[cantflip]

Thanks for the update Alan, I'm glad to see you're starting to get a handle on this task. It is seeing things like what you are going through that has caused me to think about at least leaving instructions for the disposal of my stuff when I go.

My thoughts are with you, and I hope you find a fair way to dispose of the collection that benefits your family. Hopefully without being another drain on your time and emotions.

 

[MrMoparCHP]

My father on the right with his 51 Chevy

My father had cancer, this was the third round discovered in October 2015. At the time they said 6 month to 2 years depending on treatment, he had 6 months, the treatment did more to make him comfortable. I was the primary one taking him to most of his appointments. For me this was wasn't an issue as I handle this sort of thing quite well and maybe we were already acclimated from having gone through this twice before in the last 12 years.

The die-cast amounts to probably half the hobby stuff I am dealing with. I just unloaded most of the model railroad stuff as I'm not interested in any of it. I already have a storage space 2/3 full with all the automotive kits and now these. I have a person that is interested in a bulk buy on the die-cast so I look forward to when he'll be available to look at them.

Initially I thought the money was going to be in the kits but it is now looking like the die-cast may be it. Because We need to clear the house in short order I don't have time to sort through anything yet so it is ending up in storage costing me money. Perseverance is my middle name and I do see money in this but just don't have the time right now to look into it.

My father was a car nut from the day he was born, growing up in Southern California in the 50's in the shadows of the George Barris shop in South Gate California. He was very old school so no internet, a majority of the 1/18 scale ones were probably acquired in the last 15 years from the local toy stores. He had the subscription to the various companies like Danbury mint and Franklin Mint. As for most of the others he had been collecting them over the last 30-35 years (the car kits go back 60 years).


Alan

 

[mr. fix it]

I am sorry for your loss Alan.
It's hard to imagine the amount of cars die cast and kits there. I'm sure the photos don't do it justice as to the scope of what is there

 

[MrMoparCHP]

At the end of the day I ended up selling (most) all the die-cast and kits, the rough counts had the Hot Wheels alone at over 3000, over 2000 kits, about 1000 1/18th scale die-cast and upwards of a 1000 other smaller die-cast. This doesn't count the couple hundred file boxes full of model railroad stuff. To put this in perspective the buyer of the die-cast and kits had a 26' Budget truck and it was FULL, I thought his helper was walking home when we were getting down to the last few boxes but they got it all in. The railroad stuff went out in 4 loads, 2 full loads in a B350 Van and 2 loads in an Explorer.

I kept a bunch of die-cast and some kits, I feel we did better selling it this way than trying to sell it piece by piece. It would have cost us to store it, taken forever and still ended up with stuff that didn't sell.


Alan

 

[LocuMob]

I've asked my dad to catalog his camera stuff so I have some baseline to deal with when I get to go through this process. At least the model railroad stuff I'm familiar with. I'm glad you were able to sell in bulk and save time and money in the long run.

 

[commando1]

Alan, how did you find and choose your buyer that was able to do the entire lot?

 

[MrMoparCHP]

Alan, how did you find and choose your buyer that was able to do the entire lot?

A friend was at a car show and there was a vendor there and he mentioned I might be interested in a bulk deal. I had already closed the deal on the die-cast when I asked if he knew anybody that dealt in kits, he said he has recently started selling kits.

As for the model railroad stuff I was at a car show and a fellow Barracuda friend mentioned to another Barracuda owner I had a bunch of model railroad stuff I was looking to unload, after he got what he wanted I donated the rest to a local model railroad club that yet another Barracuda owner is involved in.

Along with all this I located a buyer for my fathers extensive architectural book collection, he had over 2500 that my brother was about to donate to the local library (we had already donated a bunch (newer coffee table books) just to clear isle ways).


Alan

 

[LocuMob]

As for the model railroad stuff I was at a car show and a fellow Barracuda friend mentioned to another Barracuda owner I had a bunch of model railroad stuff I was looking to unload, after he got what he wanted I donated the rest to a local model railroad club that yet another Barracuda owner is involved in.

That club should be very appreciative.

 

[MrMoparCHP]

That club should be very appreciative.

My friend was and said the others were as well, he said what they do not use they will sell at the regular swap meet.


Alan

 

[traintech55]

Alan,
Glad you were able to dispose of all his property in a less painful fashion. Hope your are recovering from the loss even though it takes awhile.

 

[patrick66]

Disposing of an estate is a very heart-rending experience. About a dozen years ago, one of my co-workers died from a truly horrible, evil stroke. He collected 1/32-scale everything - cars, trucks, people, buildings. His garage was a complete layout of beautifully-detailed street scenes, comprised of all these items. Thousands! After he passed, his wife and daughter had all that to find a new home for. Took them about a year to find buyers for all of that, and then she sold the house and most of the rest of their stuff.

 

[cantflip]

At the end of the day I ended up selling (most) all the die-cast and kits, the rough counts had the Hot Wheels alone at over 3000, over 2000 kits, about 1000 1/18th scale die-cast and upwards of a 1000 other smaller die-cast. This doesn't count the couple hundred file boxes full of model railroad stuff. To put this in perspective the buyer of the die-cast and kits had a 26' Budget truck and it was FULL, I thought his helper was walking home when we were getting down to the last few boxes but they got it all in. The railroad stuff went out in 4 loads, 2 full loads in a B350 Van and 2 loads in an Explorer.

I kept a bunch of die-cast and some kits, I feel we did better selling it this way than trying to sell it piece by piece. It would have cost us to store it, taken forever and still ended up with stuff that didn't sell.


Alan

I'm glad you found reasonable ways to rehome these collections. I'm still trying to put my head around dealing with so much stuff.