Nobody wants your VHS copy of Titanic

   I went to The Salvation Army to look around for a bit today. I did my usual browsing and checked out the DVD's/VHS tapes. There were more VHS tapes than DVDs. However what caught my attention was there were 3 copies of Titanic on VHS. Last time I went there there was one copy. My God they are multiplying, 

Tons of Titanic VHS at a thrift store

  I have a theory that every thrift store in the Untied States has at least one copy of Titanic on VHS. At least every thrift store I've been to has a copy of the 2 VHS tape set. You can't give these away. Nobody wants your dizzy ass copy of Titanic on VHS. Why is that? Well for one, Titanic was one of the best selling VHS tapes of all time. You probably know that Titanic was at one time the highest grossing film at the box office. So it sold even better on VHS.

  However some VHS versions of Titanic are in Widescreen, but most of them are in fullscreen.  The original DVD release of Titanic was in non anamorphic widescreen. However later DVD releases corrected that and Blu-Ray's are anamorphic
. So with the fullscreen VHS version you are losing a lot of picture. Nobody really has a VCR anymore. VCR's went out with high button shoes. So the question is, why does every thrift store in America have copies of Titanic on VHS?

  I think the reason why is that nobody wants them anymore is because most people have completely upgraded their VHS library to Blu-Ray or DVD or streaming for that matter. I'm not saying that there are people who don't still use VHS tapes, because there are people who still use them. VHS is an obsolete media format that still has a niche market. However the market for VHS copies of Titanic isn't existent. Maybe the people who collect widescreen VHS tapes there are but nobody wants Titanic on VHS. They just sit on the shelves and collect dust. 

  If I owned a thrift store I would literally just throw VHS copies of Titanic away. Literally every thrift store should do this when someone donates a VHS copy of Titanic. Some thrift stores have literally a shelf full of Titanic on VHS. Who knew a VHS tape would be a shelfwarmer? A shelfwarmer is a collectors term for an item that just sits on the pegs or shelves in a store for what seems like an eternity. AKA an item that nobody really wants.

  Titanic on VHS is something that nobody wants anymore. Seriously it's amazing to see these rot on shelves at a thrift store. I don't manage a thrift store but I would definitely throw them out when someone donates them. What was once all the rage is now just a common everyday item at a thrift store. So please stop donating your VHS copies of Titanic to thrift stores or charity. Nobody wants them. If you are in the market for Titanic, just go buy the Blu-Ray it is 4 discs of entertainment.

Spin Master Monster Jam Megalodon Ride Truck

   When Mattel lost the Monster Jam license in 2018, I swore off on buying any Spin Master products. However in the summer of 2020, I took a trip down to the Outer Banks in NC. On our way there, we passed Digger's Dungeon, the home of the world famous monster truck Grave Digger. We couldn't stop but passing the place made me want to revisit the Monster Jam line. I was semi paying attention to the Spin Master line when they took over the Monster Jam license, but I swore off on buying anything. Well after we passed Digger's Dungeon I just had to break my promise and buy the Target exclusive, Evolution of Grave Digger 5 pack. Once I got that 5 pack, I was instantly hooked on the Spin Master trucks.

  Anyway starting in 2020 Spin Master added a series of chase trucks to the line like they did in 2019. The chase trucks in 2019 were training trucks from Monster Jam University. In 2020 they were ride trucks. You know the trucks that give rides. Anyway the first ride truck chase that I found was the BKT Tires ride truck at Kohl's. That was the one that grabbed my attention even further. I then acquired a Grave Digger ride truck on eBay. I never found the Blue Thunder ride truck or the El Tor Loco ride truck or the Earth Shaker one. I wanted the Megalodon one so I found one for $9.99 on the Monster Jam merch site.

  So I ordered the Megalodon Ride Truck from the website and they shipped it via FedEx SmartPost. I never had a problem with FedEx SmartPost till now but boy did my package go on an incredible journey. My package was shipped from MD. From there it went through different FedEx facilities. until it hit NJ. This is where the bouncing back and forth came in. For some stupid reason, FedEx kept sending my package back and forth from our local FedEx hub in Pittston, PA to Keasbey NJ several times. It took a month and 2 days for the package to arrive in the mail. After this whole ordeal with FedEx SmartPost I began to realize that The Pony Express was more reliable than FedEx SmartPost. I bet the Pony Express would have delivered the package sooner than FedEx SmartPost. So I'm not the only one who's in this boat. I have a friend who ordered some WWE figures and they were being shipped through FedEx SmartPost and from what he's telling me they are going on an incredible journey to WI.

  Now that the FedEx SmartPost thing is behind let's talk about the Megalodon Ride truck. As with all of Spin Master's ride truck chases, Megalodon sits on a leaf spring chassis. I think the reason they sit on the leaf spring chassis is due to the rear of the truck lacking an engine. You see the rear of the ride truck is where the riders sit. The way they have the seats and roll cage in the truck, they can't put an engine in the back. Also the front lacks an engine as well. So don't think your truck is defective. It's not missing any parts.

Megalodon Ride Truck from Spin Master

  The Megalodon Ride truck has nice big BKT Tires on it. All of the Legacy and Ride Trucks with the exception of the Grave Digger ride truck have the BKT in white on the tires.

The Real Megalodon Ride Truck

  Now the body of the ride truck isn't really that accurate to the real ride truck that I have pictured to the right. The roll cage on the ride truck is separate from the body whereas the real one it is all one piece. However the toy is great too. Don't get all upset that it's not accurate to the real thing. The Grave Digger ride truck isn't accurate to the real thing also. The big difference is that the real one has a full open roof whereas the toy has part of the cab enclosed with a roof that has Grave Digger ontop of it. 

  The Megalodon Ride truck is a great truck if you love ride trucks. However since it's a chase piece, they aren't packed in every case. Sadly this is the reason why I won't have a Blue Thunder, Earth Shaker or El Tor Loco Ride truck. They can be quite expensive on eBay.

A Surprising Thrift Store Find

  So ever since thrift stores are now open again, I can enjoy looking around them again. So as usual I keep checking them every day. I lost my job due to COVID-19 and have all the time in to go to thrift stores again. So last Saturday, I went to the other thrift store, that isn't The Salvation Army. I wasn't hoping to find anything decent there but I did find something cool that I like.

My new Chevrolet Winner's Circle hat

  Ever since they expanded this thrift store, there are more rooms full of items to explore. For instance they have a room with a mannequin in the running position for sale. The mannequin takes the cake. No I didn't buy the mannequin. Seeing a mannequin for sale is just strange.
  Anyway I did my looking around and decided to check the hat rack. Usually this thrift store has a decent hat selection. The Salvation Army has been hit or miss with hats lately. While checking the hat rack, I noticed a hat on the bottom, it had the Chevrolet bow tie logo and Winner's Circle on the back. Could it be an authentic Chevrolet Winner's Circle hat like the race car drivers wear? If so I had to have it. I picked up the hat and indeed it was an authentic Winner's Circle hat. Best part was it was $0.99 and appeared to be unworn. So this was one of those shut up and take my money situations. I have a ton of hats in my collection. a good majority of them I don't wear.

The back of my new Chevrolet Winner's Circle hat.

  I already had a Chevrolet Winner's Circle hat that my coworker gave me when he was cleaning out his NASCAR collection. However that hat was an unstructured hat. It was a mesh hat which was a positive thing. On the other side it is an unstructured hat. I don't really care for unstructured hats. Although I do have a few in my collection.
  This new Chevrolet Winner's Circle hat has the textured Chevrolet Bow Tie logo. My other 2 Chevrolet hats don't have the textured bow tie. This one gives it the new modern look. I'm shocked that the thrift store didn't charge more for this hat because of how nice it was. Heck for $0.99 I'll take it regardless. I've beaten the eBay prices for it. Not that I was in the market to buy one on eBay. I wasn't. I do look up victory lane hats on eBay from time to time to see what's out there.

I Officially Lost my Job Today

  Earlier in April I got laid off from my job as a maintenance person at a car dealership due to the whole COVID 19 pandemic. However in my few months of working there since June 24th of 2019, I learned today that I am not going to be called back at all.
  Looking back at those few months of working at the car dealership, I had a lot of fun working there. The pay wasn't exactly great but I was grateful working there for the time I did. I did manage to snag some awesome free hats, and some other oddities from the dealership. So I'm definitely grateful for all of the stuff I got from my job.
  In my few months that I worked there I managed to get a framed poster of a Ford Windstar. It was in the attic. Yes, oddly enough the dealership had an attic where they stored old parts and service manuals, and files. As one person who worked there called it the dinosaur room. That framed Windstar picture now proudly hangs in the wall in my attic. Ironically I despise minivans but I have a framed Ford Windstar poster on my attic wall.
  During my months there I also shredded tons of old documents. Some of these documents were auction files from cars that were sent to the auction. In some of those auction files were car keys. This baffled me because how can sets of keys be left behind from a car that was sent to the auction. I acquired a lot of old car keys for my collection.
  I was able to acquire car emblems from the body shop that were being discarded. I accumulated a little collection of emblems. They are all in a shoe box in my collection room. I looked forward to finding a badge from a car company I didn't have. I never did get a hood ornament from there though.
  I managed to get a promotional Shelby GT500/GT350 coffee mug, which is my favorite coffee mug to use. I also got a hood shaped business card holder as well. Although I don't have any business cards to call my own, the ones I accumulate go in to the holder.
  I also found an old clipboard from Midas that was in the attic. How that got at a Ford Dealership is beyond me. It's a neat clipboard too. It is designed to look like a form and shows you how to fill out the form. It's a very odd piece for my collection.
  Then there was the Tool trucks that came to the shop. I loved going on the Snap-on truck ever since I went on one with my dad to get the magnetic hex shank warrantied. My dad used to buy Snap-on Tools and I kinda went on the truck to pay tribute to my late father. I did buy a few bits for my ratcheting screwdriver and bought 2 mini tip Phillips screwdrivers. I also got one of my Dad's old wrenches warrantied. I also acquired a ton of Snap-on Hats including a 100th anniversary hat.
 I also acquired hats from other companies that we did business with. I got 2 hats from a tire distributor, and 2 from another. I also got a Motorcraft hat and a AC Delco hat.
  It was a fun couple of months working there. Am I going to miss working there? Absolutely. I'll move on and find another job somewhere else. I'll wait a few weeks to get my unemployment and start looking for something elsewhere. Thanks for the memories and being able to meet great people.

Hot Wheels 2020 Entertainment Ecto-1

The Greatest Hot Wheels Ecto-1 Ever.

  I recently acquired a new Hot Wheels Ecto-1 from the Entertainment series. Now I already own an Ecto-1, but it's the first edition from 2010. The premium one from the 2020 Entertainment Series is a major improvement over the previous Hot Wheels Ecto-1's they have made. What exactly makes the 2020 one better? Well for starters, it has a clear coat over the paint unlike previous versions. Having a clear coat over the paint, prevents the tampo's from rubbing off. I love how the newer premium cars have a clear coat now. You don't have to worry about the tampo's rubbing off anymore. You can hold it all you want without worrying about the graphics coming off.
  The Ecto-1 from 2010 doesn't have a detailed painted roof rack. It's just plain black. All of the premium Ecto-1's have a painted roof. Speaking of painted details, the premium ones also have the Ghostbusters logo on the back door of the Ecto-1 whereas the first edition lacks the rear Ghostbusters Logo. The headlights and taillights are also painted which gives the Ecto-1 extra detail. Also there's 2 license plates on the casting that says Ecto-1. Since it is a premium car, it has a metal base and real rider tires.
  I totally recommend this car to any Ghostbusters fan and or Hot Wheels collector.

I Miss Thrift Store Shopping

  With this COVID-19 Pandemic going on, there's one thing that I miss doing. Since non life sustaining businesses are closed, that means thrift stores have to be closed. This sucks big time. I now can buy stuff from thrift stores again but I can't. Wait a second, if I can now buy stuff at thrift stores again, but now I can't, that doesn't make sense since they are all closed right?
  Well on Ash Wednesday which is the beginning of Lent, I went to The Salvation Army to take a look around, I didn't buy anything that day. However it gave me an idea of what to give up for Lent. By not buying anything that day, I decided to not buy anything from thrift stores for lent. So when the governor shut down all of the non essential businesses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I kinda got to fulfill my Lenten promise. I'm not going to get religious here. But I made a sacrifice and actually succeeded with my promise of not buying anything from a thrift store for Lent. However it was partially successful due to the shutdown of non essential businesses. Before the shutdown I would still pop into thrift stores to test myself.
  There were times I would go in and see a bunch of stuff that I liked and wanted to buy. One day I was in the other thrift store and saw a bunch of hats that I loved and wanted to buy. One of those hats was a Jeep hat. However I stuck to my promise and refused to buy the hats. I'm kinda glad I was able to stick to my plan of not buying anything. My wallet felt fatter.
  However since Lent is now over, I want to start shopping at thrift stores again. I'm absolutely positively 100% ready to start buying stuff from thrift stores. Just before the order to shut down the non essential businesses I remember the 25% off color tag that was for the week. There was one item that was that color tag. So next week that 25% off color tag would have been 50% off. I don't know how I remember the color tags before the shutdown but somehow I did. Weird right?
  I just want this Coronavirus to go the Hell away already. We are all sick of being cooped up in our houses. I seriously can't wait for this pandemic to end so I can go thrift store shopping again. 

One of my best vintage Hot Wheels finds.

  I collect Hot Wheels cars. I have a huge collection of them. So many, that I'm running out of room to store my loose cars. Every once in a while I go to the local farmers market where a few sellers sell Hot Wheels cars, both MOC and loose. Some sellers don't know what the value of some of these vintage cars are, and some do know the value of them. This is one of those stories.
  Lately I haven't been blogging a lot lately since I have been busy being cooped up in my house with the Coronavirus Pandemic and being laid off from work as a result. So I thought I would start blogging about random Hot Wheels cars and the stories behind them. This is the story of the 40s Ford Two Door from 1983.
  On June 12, 2019, I went to the farmers market. I spotted a vendor who was selling a variety of vintage items, some of which were various vintage Hot Wheels cars. While looking though the box of cars I spotted a couple of vintage cars that I liked. I saw a 31 Doozie redline blackwall that was in excellent condition. I asked him how much it was and he said $5 since it's a redline blackwall. I wasn't going to drop $5 on a car from the 80s. I just can't pull the trigger on that. However he did have some other interesting cars for sale for $1. I spotted a Classic Packard with Whitewall blackwall tires, for $1 and a Tomica Rolls-Royce Phantom VI both for $1. However there was one more car that caught my eye that was also $1. That car was a 40s Ford 2 Door from the 1983 Real Riders Series.
  This seller wanted $5 for a vintage redline blackwall but wanted $1 for a vintage Real Rider. His pricing strategy didn't make any sense charging $1 for the Real Rider. I couldn't pass up paying $1 for a vintage Real Rider. You can't argue with paying $1 for one. The 40s Ford Two Door was in really nice shape for it's age. It had very few paint flaws and 2 out of the 4 tires still had Goodyear on them.   For a car from 1983, I certainly made out good paying $1 for it. I'm not a flipper, I'm a collector. So I have no plan on reselling it. It's one of the stand out pieces in my collection. In fact it's the only vintage Real Rider that I own. There's still many vintage Hot Wheels cars I need to track down eventually. Just not now because of this pandemic. Once the pandemic is over, I can start going to the farmers market to look for vintage cars again.