My Hot Wheels Mustang Collection, by Jason Duncan...

We love seeing our reader's collections, and we love it even more when they take photos and write a little about it.  Today Jason Duncan, who keeps a blog dedicated solely to Hot Wheels Mustangs (find it (aptly named HWStangs, and definitely worth bookmarking) has decided to share a little about his collection.

Enjoy Jason's article, and feel free to let us know if you would like to share a similar article about your collection.

(Thanks Jason.)

Part 1: My Favorite Hot Wheels Mustang Castings

Let me start off by saying Hot Wheels has been putting out some very nice diecast models since 1968. Kids and collectors alike have took notice and made the cars very popular. But there is just one car that makes its appearance in almost every case of Hot Wheels. That car would be the Ford Mustang. The Mustang has been a huge part of Hot Wheels success. From the custom Mustang in 1968 to the 2005 Mustang that debuted in the mainlines in 2005, Hot Wheels has paid a lot of respect to such an iconic car.

I have been collecting Hot Wheels Mustangs for about four years now. My collection has grown to over 525 different ponies. It doesn't matter if the car looks the way I think it should or if the casting just doesn't agree with me; if it is a Mustang, I have got to add it to the collection . Of course the redline Mustangs from the redline era (1968 thru 1972) will always be some of the most adored cars. The spectraflame paint they sport will always be some of the best paint jobs on diecast cars.

Thinking about some of my favorite castings and variations, I realize picking just one can be a tough decision to make. I'm only going to discuss my top three out of all the Mustang castings. One casting that does stand out in my head as one of my favorites is the 1970 Mustang Mach 1. Since 1998, Hot Wheels has put out a huge number of castings. From the 1998 First Editions to the 2007 Holiday Rods, this Mach 1 is one that every Mustang collector alike should have at the top of their list of Mustang castings. One nice variation that stands out to me as one of my favorites of the casting is the yellow FE with five dot wheels. This variation is one that really looks amazing. As time goes on, this variation is getting hard to find as new collectors are scooping it up.

Another mustang casting that really looks good and is also another one collectors like is the 1992 Mustang. This casting debuted in 2007 in the Modern Classics series. Since then Hot Wheels has put out some nice castings of this Mustang. This Mustang is also highly sought after by collectors. My favorite casting of this car would be a close one, if not a tie. I really do like the spectraflame antifreeze colored 1992 Mustang from the Modern Classics. The paint job on it looks really good and really stands out. This color variation was one that you couldn't find very easily. The other 1992 Mustang casting I like is from the Redline Club. It debuted earlier in 2013 with the Real Rider Series and sported the new RLC exclusive paint process. The bright red color they went with on this car looks stunning! It is for sure one of my favorite Mustangs out of my entire collection.

The third and final casting that I like and think looks good is the 1971 Mustang Mach 1. You may seem to think I am a bit partial to Mach 1's, but the 1971 really looks great . The '71 Mach 1 debuted in 2010 in the Larry's Garage series. This is one Mustang casting that is probably one of the most sought after. The casting has also been used several times under the name 1971 Mustang Boss 351. My favorite casting of the Mustang really would have to be the black Larry's Garage set exclusive. The car was signed by Larry Wood himself and not very many were produced.

Now that I have listed my top three castings out of all the Hot Wheels Mustangs, it is time for me to name some of my favorite variations. As stated above, the 5DOT wheel variation Mustang is one of my favorites. Not only is that one of them, but I have several Mustang variations that I really think look good. Another variation that stands out to me is the red 1968 Shelby GT-500 with all black OH5 wheels. This wheel variation is hard to find and is currently being found in three packs. The regular mainline version is red and has chrome MC5's. Another nice variation that I think deserves mention is the silver 1965 Mustang Fastback with silver MC5's. That wheel variation was found in multipacks and some Target exclusive two packs. The regular mainline version is part of the 2010 Hot Wheels and has gold MC5's on it.

Part 2: My Collection

I am going to post some pictures of my collection so I can share them with the rest of the world. I am going to start off by showing the non mainline Mustangs. This means these cars are a bit more valuable than normal.

Pictured above are some variations, set exclusives, and some of the Mustangs that are more collectible.

The above cars are located in my first of two carney cases. These Mustangs include multi-pack Mustangs, mystery Mustangs, and promotional type Mustangs. These Mustangs really look nice inside that case! The Mustangs below the case are from the Cool Classics series. They have the new spectrafrost paint exclusive to that series.

This picture (located above) shows all of the Mustang $uper hunts. They all have real rider tires and spectraflame paint. These cars are limited when they come out and not found in every case of Hot Wheels.

The above Hot Wheels are the regular treasure hunt Mustangs. These are limited also and are commonly found in every case of Hot Wheels. These usually have the letters "TH" somewhere on the car to show that they are treasure hunts.

Once a year Hot Wheels sponsors an event in an elected city called Hot Wheels Nationals. During that event they will sell cars you can only get there. They usually sell around 4 cars a year there and these cars can be any casting they choose. These cars are usually limited to around 3000 or less and some are serially numbered. The picture above shows all the Mustangs that's been available at Nationals.

The Garage series Hot Wheels debuted in 2010 and included some very nice castings. All were very nicely detailed and sported real rider rubber tires. These were sold at any retail store. In 2011, Wal-Mart sold the boxed set which has exclusives in it that were only available with the box set purchase. The picture above shows the Mustangs from that series.

Collectors every year are offered cars sold online on HWC (http://www.hotwheelscollectors.com). These cars come from the site's exclusive RLC (Redline Club) and can only be bought if you join with a membership. These cars are limited and only a handful get produced. They can sport spectraflame paint, real rider rubber tires, or classic wheels that are only available to the club. These are all the Mustangs that the club has produced since it came out. (Photo above)

In the picture above, up top you have the RLC exclusive 1/24 scale Mustang Boss Hoss. Only 2000 of those were produced. Below that, you have the Cop Rod, Military Rod, and the Fire Rod '69 Mustang. The Military Rod was the hardest to find of the three and is highly sought after by collectors. Below those you have the 4 Larry's Garage exclusive CHASE '69 Mustangs. (On each side of the Mustang sign) Each one has been signed on the bottom of the car by Larry himself.

These Mustangs pictured above are just some nice set exclusives and some wheel variations. The very top left one is the 1998 FE '70 Mustang Mach 1 with the 5DOT wheels. That one has been mentioned and been reviewed in one of my prior articles.

These Mustangs above are some really nicely detailed Mustangs that came out in 2009 and were exclusively available only at AutoZone. There are 12 Mustangs in the set, which is called Mustang Mania. This includes some of the nicest Mustangs ever made.

These Mustangs were only available at Wal-Mart and include some very nice castings. Some of these were hard to find because every Wal-Mart didn't get these in their store. (Above photo)

The Mustangs up top are from the Modern Classics series which came out in 2007 and include some very nice castings. Some of these were hard to find once they hit store shelves. This set includes the '92 Mustang with the spectraflame antifreeze paint which I reviewed in one of my earlier articles. The Mustangs below those are from the Boulevard series which came out in 2012. This set replaced the Garage series.

This is my second carney case and includes some older Mustangs which came out in the '80's called the Mustang Turbos. It also has some wheel variations in it that were only found in multi-packs.

This is my display cabinet and all the Mustang box sets are in it. It also includes some code 3 cars, which are custom made and were only available at certain events at a Nationals event. Also included in the display are 2 Mustang 5 packs that Hot Wheels have put out over the years. Another nice set worth mentioning inside the display is the RLC exclusive Mustang Mania 10 car boxed set. They only produced 5,000 of the set which included some very detailed Mustangs.

These Mustangs are again, some variations and some set exclusive Mustangs. They include the 3 colors of the '12 Mustang Boss 302. (All 3 have the '10 Mustang GT body) That variation was hard to find.

These nice Mustangs are from the Classics series. Each one of them have spectraflame paint and are nicely detailed. I am still trying to work on obtaining all of them which come in 7 different colors.

The Hot Ones series originally came out back in the 1980's, but in 2012 Hot Wheels decided to bring the series back. When they brought the series back, they brought along with it some nice Mustangs. They are shown in the picture above.

Back in the earlier 90's Hot Wheels did a series called the Vintage series. This series paid tribute to the original 16 Hot Wheels that came out in '68. These made Hot Wheels very popular. These are the Mustangs that came out of that series pictured above. The packaging even mocked the packaging from '68.

These Mustangs pictured left are from the 2007 Holiday Rods series. This series features real rider rubber tires and each car had 3 different colors. The two cars to the right are two of the very first 2014 Mustang Hot Wheels. Hot Wheels is commemorating the Mustangs 50th anniversary by doing a 50th set.

Not really going to go into full detail on these because you will be seeing some being reviewed in my future articles. All of these Mustangs are mainline Mustangs from various years. Mainline means they were released with the basic Hot Wheels that you can buy at stores for a dollar. I did custom make the displays for them. They are double sided and one side can hold 54 cars.

These Mustangs are from various sets and include some nice Mustangs. Some are Ford exclusives and some are from the set called Ultra Hots.

This concludes this posting and I hope you had fun looking at my collection. Collecting Mustangs is a passion for me as it helps me relive the history behind such an iconic car. Hot Wheels has put out some very nice castings of the Mustang and I hope they only continue to get better in years to come.

As I conclude this article, I want to say that Mustangs and Hot Wheels have a very long history with each other. Hot Wheels have put out some awesome Mustang castings and some really are hard to list below my top three. With the Mustang turning 50 next year the future looks bright for Mustang collectors and car enthusiast alike. Let's hope Ford can keep the Mustang around for another 50 years!