Toy Car Collection Grows From Hobby to Passion
By Christina Smith
Angel Retamar has dreams. He has a desire to be listed in the Guinness Book of Records. He dreams of being invited to a premier car show. And he wants to visit a Hot Wheels manufacturing factory.
Retamar, 49, has an obsession. He loves toy cars. Retamar said he already has more than 80,000 toy cars, including 32 brands. He wants to collect one million by the time he turns 80.
In 1956, Retamar contracted polio. He was one. He wore two leg braces growing up. Retamar said his parents wouldn't let him play outside, because they were afraid he might fall and hurt himself. So he stayed inside.
Retamar said he was 8 years old when his father gave him his first 10 Matchbox cars to play with. He played with them constantly.
"I didn't have many toys to play around with. So I just played with the cars," said Retamar. "They were a thrill. They were my big-time thing."
Retamar's family moved from Connecticut to St. Petersburg when he was 15. His parents were divorced and his father remarried.
When Retamar turned 18, he began to collect toy cars seriously. He started attending the flea market at the Wagon Wheel every week. His first purchase was 30 cars. On average, Retamar said he visited the flea market twice a week.
It was at the Red Wagon flea market in St. Petersburg where Bob Torres first met Retamar. Torres, who has sold cars to Retamar in the past, said he thinks Retamar has the one of the largest toy car collections in the world, which makes him unique.
"(Retamar) is a nice guy. It's hard to find a person like that, who has been collecting for a real long time," said Torres.
Torres said he hasn't actually seen Retamar's collection, but he has heard it's impressive.
"I'm gonna have to go and see his collection sometime," said Torres. "He's told me he has a lot of cars."
Retamar is a big man and because of his leg brace, he doesn't move quickly and has a limp in his walk. He gets excited when he talks about his collection, waiving his hands in the air as he speaks. But when it comes to showing someone a car or bags of cars, he doesn't hesitate to straighten his leg brace and retrieve the item.
Not long after Retamar began attending the Red Wagon flea market, his collection began to grow. In a short amount of time, Retamar said his collection of 10 grew to 100 and then to 1,000 and then to 10,000. Today, Retamar shops around at the Mustang flea market, because the Red Wagon has closed.
"I never really cared about buying (cars), because I was having fun," said Retamar. "I just kept buying and buying, it was like a quest."
The most cars Retamar said he's ever purchased at one time is 200. He said he paid about $15 for them; he called it a bargain.
Retamar still wears a brace on his left leg and has trouble with his balance. He also has back and eye troubles. He attended a St. Petersburg vocation and technical school for a while but wasn't able to finish. He said he became frustrated with instructors.
Polio has prevented him from holding a steady job. He lives off Social Security, and tries to work when he feels well, so he can pay his bills and buy more cars. He said he mows lawns, plants flowers and just about anything else-as long as he can sit down every so often.
"(Polio) doesn't stop me from living my life. I do what I got to do and go where I always got to go," said Retamar. "I'm not a quitter. I get more determined to prove to people that I am self-sufficient."
When Retamar isn't working, he's out looking and buying cars. On Saturday, he purchased 12 cars-2004 Series Hot Wheels-at Kmart. He said his favorite cars are the "old beat up ones." He said he loves to create new cars with them.
Retamar said he spends about $7,000 a year on toy cars. He added that his bills come first though, including a house payment. He lives with his stepbrother, Mark Cummins. The single-level home is filled with just about everything from old TVs to stereos to books. It's a collector's home.
Retamar said his favorite car in his collection is sea-blue 2000 Cadillac Escalade made by Jada, an American toy company. He said it's his favorite because it has spinning hubcaps. He spent $8 for it.
In three notebooks, Retamar details every car he's purchased. Listed are the car's make, model, year and serial number. He said he keeps track because in his younger days his cousins tried to steal his cars. Retamar admits he has duplicate cars. He said that doesn't bother him, because he is collecting for quantity.
Listed in his records are a 007 car, a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car, a Flintstones car, a Popeye car and a Kermit the Frog car. His oldest car is a 1954 Matchbox tractor with a front-end shovel. He said his most unique car is a 1974 Olive Oyl car made by Corgi, a Great Britain toy company.
In his home, Retamar has cars everywhere. They are in boxes, in bags and in cases. They are under his bed, in the closet and on the floor. Retamar said having cars everywhere doesn't bother him.
But Cummings said his brother's collection is nuts.
"He should stop buying them and sell them all. He's got too many," said Cummings. "Sometimes it's just a waste of money, but I guess it all depends on what you like."
Retamar said he doesn't ever plan to sell his collection. He said he will continue to buy cars as long as he has money.
"I don't think I'm ever going to stop. This is what you call enjoyment," said Retamar. "It's a nice hobby, expensive hobby, but I don't care."
Retamar said not even his health problems will stop him from buying cars. Retamar said he is starting to experience postpolio syndrome-the slow, progressive weakness of muscles in survivors of polio. He said his doctor might have to operate on his right leg if it continues to get worse. Eventually, he might have to wear two leg braces again.
"I used to wear two braces. I still wear the brace on my right leg," said Retamar. "I don't want to have to go back to wearing two braces again, it was too much to handle."
As for his dreams, Retamar said it is his father, with whom he doesn't have much contact with, who pushes him the most. Retamar said only his father tries to discourage him from collecting. He said his mother, who died four years ago, was always proud of his collection.
"He told me that my collection was junk," said Retamar. "But I'm not going to let him put me down. I'm going to do it no matter what anybody says. If I make it, I know my dad will be proud and he will start bragging about me."
|
