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| Hi.......I'm Redliner. |
| My "given" name is Bruce Kalapach. I started collecting redlines when they first hit the shelves/pegs in 1968. Actually, my recently deceased grandmother sent me my first one as a present. I still have it and I showed it to her about a month before she died this past summer at the age of 94. It is an Antifreeze VW Bug. I actually have two of most everything. That brings me to the real part of my story. |
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| My grandmother and my parents always bought my brother and I Hot Wheels cars that were identical so we wouldn't fight over one color or another. For this reason, we got (2) AF Bugs, (2) Red Turbofires, (2) Red Splittin' Images, (2) Green TwinMills, (2) Open Hood Scoop Gold Custom Mustangs, etc., etc, etc. |
| These were the last toys that my brother and I played with "together". He died in 1969 from leukemia. He was diagnosed in January and died on June 4th. Nothing even slowed it down. That is why these little gems are so special to me. They bring back the memories of my brother and I playing with them. Now, they remind me of my grandmother too. I have since amassed quite a collection from purchasing entire collections, winning auctions on ebay, trading at our club in Dallas, and with folks off of rec.toys.cars. (newsgroup) I will always treasure most the "originals" that my brother and I took such good care of, though. I even had the presence of mind to pack them away in tissue paper within the original 24 car cases in my parents' house closet where they remained for 27 years until I got back into the hobby in 1992! |
| I would be happy to send photos of some of my rarer cars or any cars that you might want to see since I have the capability. I will always say that the "true" Hot Wheels are the original redlines that probably 80% met a "kids" death. This is what makes the perfect ones so wonderful now. |
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| Redliner |
| (Bruce Kalapach) |
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