OH YEA, THE FEELING...

It's often said that we can't go back to the past, well I'm telling you that we can.  At least I did today when I found a box on my front doorstep.  Not just an ordinary box, but a box that was filled with the kind of joy and excitement that I experienced so many times since December 1989.  That was that month and year that I received my first 1:24 scale diecast. 

When I opened that first fateful box, I got a fluttering feeling in my stomach and I'm sure my eyes popped in and out of head, like in the cartoons.  Gasping at the incredible workmanship of the model I took from the box, had me not believing such piece of art could exist in miniature form.  Of course each ensuing model from the mints repeated this experience and the more times I got a box, the more times I couldn't wait for another one. 

Truth admitted, I was addicted!  Collecting these perfectly replicated little cars became one of the most exciting ways to relax and unwind.  THEN IN 2014, IT STOPPED!  The mints announced they were no longer able to produce our favorite cars with a bunce of mumbo jumbo words revolving around China seizing their plants and molds, which shutdown the plants.  I (all of us) were forced to go cold turkey without any more models and those boxes delivered to our doorsteps.  Oh yea, there was the secondary market, but we could no longer get the "good stuff" from the mints.  In the last decade, we've kept our lust and yearning for the hobby going by sharing our collections and stories here on the Diecast Forum. 

Flash forward to this past Tuesday and my finding out through a pop-up advertisement on my computer that Mint Models/Legacy Motors had come across a slew of brand-new, unopened 1:24 scale cars!  I didn't waste a Mork nano-second getting to my phone, just like I used to when I'd get a Mint brochure in the mail announcing a new model. 

One ring, and on the second ring Michelle Peters answered the phone.  WOW!  Two things here, first Mint Models is a company that really answers their phone.  No recorded message telling me my, "Call is very important to them, but do to the high volume of calls, my call will be answered in the order it is received", and then some obnoxious music to annoy me and make me wonder why, if my call is important to them, why am I not talking to a real person? 

That's the way businesses do it today, but NOT Mint Models!  We get a human voice that is excited to talk to us.  And Michelle doesn't just quickly take your order, she enjoys talking about the model car hobby.  I ordered the Franklin Mint 1939 Ford New York World's Fair Convertible Coupe for the incredible low price of just $99.  Michelle chatted with me about some of the other models that were available, took my payment information, and advised me that my model would be shipped that day!  The anticipation began! 

I got an update via email of my pending order, then another telling me that it shipped, and finally a third one advising me that it would be delivered today.  I had that "little boy on Christmas morning feeling" waiting for my box.  I left the house to run some errands this morning, and when I returned home, THERE IT WAS!  A box that gave me that "fluttering feeling in my stomach".  I felt it all over again, I was in the past!  Picking up the box, there was nothing else more important for me to do, except cut open it and relive the "eye-popping" excitement of seeing my new model. 

I really was in the past!  I really went back!  I felt the adrenaline rush, and yes, "my eyes popping out" when I saw the model.  Oh yea, the feeling, it was real.  It was December 1989 again and today, I went back to the past.