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Are you sitting on a gold mine? Valuable collector’s items from the nursery
by Michael Restin
18,000 model cars in one room: I visited a Hot Wheels collector
25/2/2025
Translation: Patrik Stainbrook
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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