Bitten by the 'little (1/64th-scale) car-collecting BUG'! (temporarily anyway!)

The FIRST version of the (1/64th scale) '66  Bat-ride I scooped-up, circa 2007-08 or so!

As pretty much ANYBODY who's paying attention to this here 'Loydster-bloggie-thingie-wingie' can tell, yours truly has a 'nearly unhealthy' obsession with The Caped Crusader's set-o-wheels! No surprise then, that I also have a pretty sizable collection of replicas / toys / scale models of this most favorite-four-wheeled-Bat-themed vehicle, I've loved SO much!

This includes, also no surprise, Hot Wheels versions (HEY-- they're CHEAP! At least the ones in the 'basic assortments' are! BUT-- more on THAT in a bit!). A few years back, and continuing on in to the present day, the makers / designers / crazed-masterminds at 'The world's coolest car company', began releasing various versions of the car.

Numerous comic book-based versions, a couple from the various video games (the one from 'Arkham  Asylum' / City' is the coolest--- my opinion-- of those!)--AND-- one of the FIRST versions to kick off all of the 'Bat-ride-MADNESS'-- The 'Classic TV series' Batmobile!

Back around 2007-2008 or so, I snagged two of the 'basic assortment' cars.They STILL look VERY cool, for a vehicle in such a TINY scale! LOTS of neat-o detail, and there's even the bright-red pin-striping along the fins and the side of the body-- a nice little replica, especially for the 'entry-level' / 'basic assortment' price-- under a buck!

Life, as it tends to do, moved on for a spell. As I noticed them,I scooped up some of the other versions of the Bat-ride, I mentioned in the earlier paragraph (like I said, once a 'Bat-vehicle-fanatic', ALWAYS a 'Bat-vehicle-fanatic'!).

Then, just a few weeks back... while cruising around on good 'ol  E-bay... the Loydster became curious. 'I wonder,' I thought FOOLISHLY to myself, 'if there might've been some alternate versions of the '66 car released, lo these several years-down-the-road later?' I'd never thought to do any digging around to find out. BOY-OH-BOY-HOWDY! Did I open up the proverbial 'can-of-worms'!---

A 2013 version of the 'classic 66' Bat-ride. Sporting some NIFTY pin-stripes and more 'realistic'-looking mag wheels. (one of the 'variants' I do NOT have, by the way!

 There have been..... DOZENS of them! Especially if you count 'special editions' (convention exclusives, department store limited editions, Holiday editions, 'Treasure Hunt' cars, etc... etc!)! I scrolled down through page-after-page on E-bay, my mouth hanging open in shock, as a seemingly ENDLESS parade of '66 Batmobile 'variants' scooted past!

It was then, that SNEAKY little devil, the 'collecting BUG', came up on me from behind.... and bit me! BUT---- not quite as deep a bite as he used to be able to do to me! Hey, I've been a responsible 'grown-up' for a while now! But bite me he did! Of course, I didn't go off into 'INSANE-collector-maniac' land, and sink a boat-load of my hard-earned cash into something like THIS!---

The OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD-expensive, 'red-line' wheel-version of the car! These things go for anywhere from 80 to 150 smackers! Remember.... this is a Hot Wheels car... it's LESS than 3 inches long!

No, I set my sights on a goal a little more within my budget... and also quite a bit less INSANE! Why not (since I was nosing around on E-bay anyway!) do some digging around, and try to find at least 3 or 4 examples of cool versions of the car. Also, I set a top-spending limit of no more than 15 - 16 bucks-- for ALL 4 cars. In other words, 'basic assortment' cars, with different paint-jobs ONLY!  Not crazy at all, and I'd still at least 'appear' to be all 'grown-up' and responsible! Here are a couple of the NEAT-O 1/64-scale-Bat-rides I snagged!---

Blue-flame job, metal-flake paint! What's NOT to LOVE about this one?

Silver, this time with gray-flames! The red-tinted windows & pin-stripes give it a nifty 'junk-yard' Hot-rod groove! Batman-- crime-fighter AND part-time drag-racer!

The other reason I set of goal of finding just 4 cars, is my SEVERE lack of display space for anything much more than that amount. I add very much more things to display into the old 'Secret Sanctum', I'm gonna have to start 'rotating' things in-and-out, like exhibits at a museum! Hot Wheels cars being SO tiny.... 3 or 4 don't really eat up too much shelf-space---thank goodness!

So...  Now that we've had our usual 'Loydster-GEEK-OUT'!---A brief moment to be all 'grown-up' and serious!----

HOPEFULLY, everybody who's following along with the 'ol Loydster here, is staying SAFE and doing your best to keep SANE, in these CRAZY times we're living in! Truly a time in history like NO OTHER! My thoughts and prayers go out to ALL of you! May God's protecting hand be on each and every one of you! Again, stay SAFE, stay LEVEL-headed everybody!