My Holy Grail, the Matchbox Motor Trend 1964 ½ Mustang Soft Top, by Rob Zurburg...

We love stories like this.

Our good friend and Matchbox collector Rob Zurburg finally ended his 14-year search for his holy grail with a lucky ebay find a couple of weeks ago.  We asked him to share the story.

And remember, if any of you have a similar story and want to share, please email us at lamleygroup@gmail.com.  This is one of the best parts of being a collector, and we are very happy to share the story...

(Thanks Rob.)

My Holy Grail, the Matchbox Motor Trend 1964 ½ Mustang Soft Top, by Rob Zurburg

Back in 1999 Matchbox released a series call Motor Trend Collection.   If I remember right there were three waves of this collection which was cancelled after the third wave.  The last wave had very limited numbers from what I understand.

The only dealer I knew at the time that was offering these sets was Neil’s Wheels.  The real reason I was unable to purchase this set at the time was I had a roommate who screwed me out of thousands of dollars and had emptied my bank accounts.  This left me with no cash flow and a lot of catching up to do.  I had no way to pay for this set because I had no extra cash, and I actually considered selling my collection to make up for the lost income. 

I had started to replace my childhood collection because my brother had pawned my it while I was in college.  I had figured I would always find another Mustang to complete the series.  I am a completest, so when I start collecting a line of Matchbox I search for every model to complete the set.  I am very committed to this.

I figured finding another Mustang to complete the set would not have been such a challenge.
I had found play sets from the 70's when I was a child and mint in the box, so I figured I would come across this Mustang with no issue.

I was able to purchase four of the other cars from collector Chuck W at the Matchbox Hershey Convention a year later.  Chuck was nice enough to tell me he had found two of them and sold one.  This didn’t help me but he did sell me the recolors of this series I needed.  I was very happy to find the recolors.  I figured one more to go.

My first missed opportunity was when this wave was released to the Tuesday Morning stores.  This was announced on a message board which I only checked a couple of times a week.  I did travel with my work at this time and was hard to get to a Tuesday Morning store right away.  By the time I found a local Tuesday Morning, there was nothing left from this release.

The second time was a few year ago on Ebay.  There was a green Mustang offered and I was willing to go up to about $350 to complete this set of Matchbox, and finally have my Holy Grail.  Well needless to say, the bidding went to over $500 and I wasn’t the winner. 

I believe Die Cast exchange had one on Ebay a few years ago and of course I was outbid.  If others had appeared on Ebay, they either sold very quickly or I never saw them.

My lucky break came two weeks ago.  I wake up every morning and no matter what computer I have with me, there is always a Matchbox Motor Trend search on the browser.  I never lost hope, but after going to years of Matchbox Gatherings and Hershey shows, I figured I would have found it buy now. The only one collector Everett has in his Matchbox Museum is a prepro model.  But I never gave up. I also go to a lot of flea markets with hope of finding this model on someone’s table for a good price.

I turned on the computer Tuesday morning at 6am and saw a whole lot of Motor Trend Matchbox with my Holy Grail and a Blue 57 Chevy I didn’t recognize.  The lot had a Buy It Now price which was way below what I had lost of ebay a few years ago.  The lot had already had two offers on it. Well after being so excited and nervous because there were already two offers, I hit Buy It Now and won the lot. 

I figured out afterwards that I also didn’t have the Blue '57 Chevy either.  I hadn’t realize I needed it until I had looked on the back of the card and double checked my collection.  I never realized that the Blue '57 Chevy doesn’t make an appearance on Ebay very often.

Now proudly on my desk, I have both the green Mustang and the blue 57 Chevy displayed.  I have pictures on the MC board.

I told my wife after searching for something for so long, and finally finding it, there is a little emptiness inside of me now.  After 14 years of searching I finally have it.  Mint in package. 

This is the fun of collecting.  This is an extreme case but it has always been the hunt and the search to find model to complete lines in my collection.  I will look at this car every day and smile.  My passion always runs deep for the Matchbox brand.  The fun is I will always have models and variations to search for.   On to the next model.