You can never have too many Matchbox cars

When it comes to buying toys, I have all but launched an ultimatum around here that, if we buy new ones, or even accept toys as gifts, we must, for every one that we get, throw at least one away/donate it. Our house, like the houses of many parents of young children, is very easily overrun with balls, little people, dolls, puzzles, books, blocks, stuffed animals and other kid stuff. You clean one room completely and it's wrecked 7 minutes later.

So we have to control the intake of toys.

But when it comes to Matchbox cars, there's always an exception to buy one, or five, more.

I have this weakness because I remember them so fondly from my childhood - and I still think they're cool. The crazy thing is, of course, my son, who is not yet 4, has dozens more than I did at 8. I think at some point my mother made me earn them - "if you go to the doctor today and he gives you a shot, you can get a car - out of your allowance. Meanwhile, I'm way more lenient:"If you eat half your breakfast today, we can go to Target today to buy that cool Matchbox car race track! C'mon, hurry up, let's go, I'll help you eat your cereal..."

When I was the age at which boys play with Matchbox cars, or HotWheels or even lesser known brands, for that matter, there was a store in Bristol, where I grew up, Playtown, which had some totally awesome toys. They had many, many varieties and models of cars, plus Godzilla figures (Godzilla-King Kong was big then), LEGOS, bikes, real guns (which I never figured out) and Star Wars action figures. I remember crying once when I did not get Luke Skywalker because my parents claimed that Santa might bring it. I think he did end up bringing it, but I was scarred nonetheless; it was too late.


Getting a new Matchbox car was a cause for genuine celebration. I added the new shiny car next to my fleet of cars that had been run over by my dad's car in the driveway, and cars I wrote in black marker on. I kept my cars in a carrying case. A lot of kids did back then. We showed off our modest collections.

Now, there needs to be no good reason to purchase cars, basically, and if this is the biggest problem we have, so be it. (It's not, by the way. It's just my way of justifying it.) And they have cool cars now - Land Rovers, retro 70s Chevy vans, a blue Mini Cooper hardtop, an Audi TT convertible, a white Ford convertible concept car, and of course a full assortment of emergency vehicles, most of which lost their ladders and moving parts.

When I look at these cars, as my son is crashing them into each other or leaving them outside in the rain, I still inspect their interiors, with their tiny steering wheels and bucket seats, stick shifts and tiny tires. I push them down the rug if we're inside and make revving sounds. Ethan likes when I do this. Alison, who is a year and a half now, is starting to make siren noises. It's good imaginative play. And the cars themselves are cheap, still around $1. Not that I need any other reasons to justify purchasing them.

I can think of plenty more, though.