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Ghosts of Redlines One day in 1968 I was over at a friends house across the street when he showed me a Hot Wheels car - Purple Silhouette that he just got as a gift. I was amazed at the suspension and how fast this car rolled on the kitchen tile floor not to mention the Spectraflame paint, so brilliant! that was the start for me with Redlines. I showed my dad who was familiar with Matchbox cars and was also amazed at these cars. Soon I received my first car, Aqua Custom Camaro. It was all over then, when I was going to the doctor and behaved well I could pick out either a car or a track set. Hot Wheels for birthdays, Christmas, Hot Wheels for what ever. Thinking back on it now, I really think my dad enjoyed the redlines and track sets more than me. He could not get over the fact that a car could be dropped from 3' height and get all the way around a 360 loop and continue on, or jump over a ramp and land on it's wheels. My friends and I  raced day-in and day-out together. My collection was building rapidly with the help from my dad. Then...... 1971 My mother had been sick with Cancer for quite some time. I was never told. I had to go to doctor's office visits (radiation treatments, back then) with her so I always took my Hot Wheel case to play with during the long office visits. Then things got worse and she went into the hospital and soon passed away. I was thrown from a normal 11 yr. old childhood to manhood overnight and my Hot Wheels were not as important as basic survival. My father soon followed also with Cancer in 1979. 1997- to the present I was 37 at this time, shopping in Target one night with my 2yr. daughter and my wife. Out of the corner of my eye in the toy section I noticed the Hot Wheels logo, so I walked on over. My eyes landed on a box set that included Redlines. My mind quickly went back to all the memories of my childhood. I stood there for quite some time. Only until my wife walked up to me and grabbed my arm did I realize I had been standing there, staring at these redline cars. My eyes were watering. She asked if I was ok and wondered what just happened. I returned home thinking about the Redlines and went into the basement to look for that "box" I had kept as a child of three Redlines, A mint S'cool bus, Aqua Nitty Gritty Kitty, Red Custom Continental. Well as soon as I looked at these cars my memories flew back to me. Some happy and some not-so-happy memories. I enjoyed the memories regardless, places where I had played with that Beach Bomb, or on a plane traveling to California playing with that Corvette or just sitting in a hospital waiting room (because I wasn't old enought to go into the room) spinning a King Kuda front wheel to see how long it would spin. It's as though the Redlines have ghosts to them, I mean I have collected 200 redlines to date and I look at the redlines from 1968-1971 and I have so many fond memories of my once-happy childhood that its hard to explain. My wife thinks I have a "Problem" with these toy cars, but deep down she knows why I am really collecting Redlines. I think of it as collecting the Redline Ghosts of my childhood memories. May Redlines live on for ever! -- Guy Stevens