18,000 model cars in one room: I visited a Hot Wheels collector
Sven Kamm is one of Switzerland’s best-known model car collectors. I travelled to the canton of Aargau to take a look at his colourful treasures.
Stepping into Sven Kamm’s room means entering a brightly coloured world full of miniature cars. Thousands of them in all shapes and colours fill shelves, hang on the wall, on the door, on the ceiling. Sven Kamm, born in 1997, owns around 18,000 miniature cars on a scale of 1:64. At least that’s what he wrote recently under one of my articles reporting on a collaboration between the toy brand Hot Wheels and Ferrari. The US toy company probably hit a nerve with that announcement – not just with ordinary fans, but with collectors too. I was amazed when some readers wrote to tell me that they had several thousand model cars.
Quickly, I made an appointment with one of them, Sven Kamm. Now, I’m visiting him at his home in an idyllic little village in the canton of Aargau.
Source: Anne Fischer
As soon as he shows me his room, the stories start pouring out of him. For every car he takes off the shelf, he can remember when it came onto the market, how he got it and in which different versions it was offered. Almost every car is still in its original packaging or in a protective plastic cover.
It all started with a pink Cadillac
His passion for Hot Wheels cars began as a child. «I spent a lot of time at my grandmother’s,» he says. «Whenever we went to Migros, I always snatched up a model car». The first car he wanted was a pink ’59 Cadillac from Hot Wheels. Sven was four years old at the time. He still has the car, and even got a second one in its original packaging. After all, as he explains to me, a car is particularly valuable if it shows hardly any signs of use, i.e. if it’s still in its original packaging.
Source: Anne Fischer
The small room with a sloping roof, now used to store his little treasures, was once his childhood playroom. «When I was 14 or 15, I stopped playing here,» he remembers. It was promptly converted into a garage for his miniature vehicle fleet.
Sven Kamm owns model cars unlike any other
In addition to Hot Wheels, he has models from other manufacturers such as Mini GT and Tarmac Works. His favourites include Ferrari cars and, as a Japan fan, the Nissan brand. He’s also had models made that aren’t actually available commercially: customiser friends create them for him, based on a series model. So, he’s had his own cars made as toy models: a Subaru BRZ and a Nissan Skyline 22. He designed the back blister cards for storing them himself.
Source: Anne Fischer
And how do these little treasures find their way to him? «There are some that are easy to acquire and some you can only get through connections,» says Sven Kamm. He can purchase special editions from Mattel via a membership on their website – if he reacts quickly enough. He often receives other rare models from collector friends who know which cars he particularly wants.
«Damn, I still need that one»
«The maximum for me is always 80,» he says. If a car costs more than 80 francs, he won’t buy it. And he doesn’t want to spend more than 200 to 300 francs a month. That adds up to a solid 20 new models per month – he finds them at special tuning events, classic car fairs or in good old Aldi. «I’ve often thought: Oh, now I can collect less. But then you realise: damn, I still need that one.»
Still, he remains true to his principle of 80 francs. Sven would want to collect all the Supreme trucks from Hot Wheels. But when one model in collaboration with Gucci came out at a price of 120 francs, he had to pass.
Celebrated on social media
Sven Kamm works as a web designer in the social media department of a builder’s merchant and is studying web design and web development for his bachelor’s degree.
At the same time, he’s also trying to earn money with his passion: in 2016, he started setting up an internet presence under the name Toycarsaddict Daily. Together with a fellow collector, he shows off a car collection from A to Z with around 20,000 models. Anyone who’d like to know whether their own car is also available as a model can look there. «It’s like a library,» says Sven Kamm.
There’s also a store on his website featuring around 3,000 selected model cars. They mainly come from distributors in Asia, such as Malaysia. During good weeks, he sells around ten cars. In the store, you can also buy transparent presentation boxes that he’s developed for his own collection.
Almost 500,000 followers
At the same time, he began to present his collection on social media. Almost half a million people now follow him on YouTube and watch videos where he shows off his collection or presents individual valuable cars in greater detail.
Once a week, usually on Sundays, he releases a longer video discussing newly released cars. Every other day, he posts a short video which also goes on Instagram. These are short, funny reels that always feature his huge collection in the background. The car enthusiast now has more than 180,000 fans there too. And on Tiktok, he usually compares a Hot Wheels car with a Mini GT model.
He also constantly communicates with his community, responding to comments every day. When he goes on a longer trip to Scotland once a year, he produces the content for his channels in advance so that there are no long breaks. «I’ll never run out of content,» says Sven Kamm, taking a new car from the wall and immediately chatting about its special history.
Header image: Anne Fischer
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A true local journalist with a secret soft spot for German pop music. Mum of two boys, a dog and about 400 toy cars in all shapes and colours. I always enjoy travelling, reading and go to concerts, too.
