For those of you who have been collecting for awhile, it might seem a little surprising that the Kmart events have now been around ten years. Back then the Kmart exclusives per event were not three or four, but six or seven. Things have changed a bit, but essentially the event has remained the same: collectors show up at Kmart on certain Saturdays at 9 AM, hopefully get a chance to snag a few models, and then many go home and complain about the event on HWC. It is a great tradition.
Nonetheless, the event is back after its long spring/summer hiatus, and there has been a lot of buzz about this one. Maybe not because of the exclusives, but rather the off-chance (and we mean off-chance) of snagging the Datsun Wagon Super TH. Whatever the reason, we have always loved the Kmart event. Partly for the models, partly for the people-watching. It can be a hoot.
I have been attending the events off and on since 2005, when I lived Pasadena. Incidentally, the first event I attended, in Temple City, remains the only time I have pulled a Super or Super TH equivalent, the yellow Morris Mini. I am starting to wonder if that will be the only time. I have been to a few around California, including the massive event at the now-closed Kmart in Torrance (I think), and since been attending here in Utah. Thankfully I have not seen any of the shenanigans others have reported, and that should be the case tomorrow.
Of course, with Kmarts closing all over the US, we do wonder what the future is of the Kmart event. We hope it continues, even if it means more folks will have to buy cases online. That remains to be seen.
Anyway, we thought to prepare for tomorrow’s event, we would look back on some of our favorite Kmart models from the last few years. We started by going to our friends at South Texas, who have listed all the exclusives together. It is fun to look back. Here are all of them as listed by South Texas:
And here are all that are listed on ebay, old and new:
Of those, these are the models that have been our favorites:
To us, nothing beats the last Kmart event, which features two of our favorite models, the E30 BMW M3 and Datsun 620. And alongside those two, the grey Datsun 240Z and ’69 Pontiac GTO Judge round out our Top 4. We thought we would give them the Lamley treatment:
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