My theory is that men are autistic. Men have the Collecting Bug more than women. It is men that spot trains, men that fly off to the Isles of Scilly on the basis that someone may have spotted a Rufous-sided Towhee, men that obsess about batting averages, men that need a complete collection of Autosport, men that cream themselves over an unused block of Penny Blacks.

When I was young I collected Panini football stickers. Like most of the boys in my class. The average album seemed to have about 544 stickers. It took most of the season to complete. Obsession. Introspection. Autism.

The girls had sticker albums too, Smash Hits ones or ET film ones. They had around 100 stickers and it took about a week to do. Lack of dedication. Or better things to do.

There are some exceptions, and the whole thing is about comparing maybe 10% of the male population to 2% of the female, but it is IMO a major difference between the sexes. I mean, women actually throw away magazines. I don't even throw away the airline freebies.

I am guessing that at some point in the distant past Ug the caveman was keeping statistics of which of his Neanderthal tribe was the best at hunting. "Noop got 3 rabbits today, but Klog got a bison, which puts him into 4th place, a woolly mammoth and a partridge behind Ekko. Skag is only outside the relegation zone on foal difference."

And he recorded them on the Neanderthal Internet - he painted them on the walls of his cave

But few men collect shoes in the way that women do...

I started this thread with a smug certainty that I was above this disease of 'collectingosis'. But the other day I returned from a skiing holiday, and without really thinking, I found myself carefully placing my ski-pass and piste pass in a particular drawer in the box-room. And in that drawer is nearly every ski-pass that I have ever bought and a piste map from every ski-resort I have visited. Yes, I am a collector without even realising it!

Just in case you were trying to suppress your collecting addiction,let me put some fuel on the flames







more to come...anybody else collecting posters?
cheers Marty

I'm collecting gloves too...

Are the gloves a collection - or simply unused Christmas presents?

oops...forget to add that one ------>
I'm not quite that desperate but they just happen to be in my posession...I saw the Brabham gloves on ebay and just had to have them...the balaklava and the single glove are from the Sauber F1 Team a few years ago.
I have no further plans to extend that particular part of my "collection"..

Those Brabham gloves are really neat!
I also collect signed gloves and racing suits as well as helmets. Here is a pair signed by Senna in 1989:



And another:



And suits are fun too.



But vintage toyz are best...

Well, I know AJ's big-headed, but this is a bit over the top...

Indeed that head is quite big, but this is a very large (17") tinplate toy so it does not look too bad. It would certainly have looked a lot better with a smaller head! It is made of hand painted celluloid. At one time I was thinking about making a smaller one, but I won't touch it. The box is beautiful with a painting of the fight between Sachs and Foyt.

Another one is this one sold by Sears that is even slightly larger and has what appears to be a Japanese driver:



They also made it in different colors and without driver:





Some are friction powered, some electric, some have automatic jacks that lift the toy up so that you can change the wheels, attached with real little 3-prong knock offs...
A whole program!

There is also a 15" Kurtis-Novi that is quite attractive:



All those rather scarce toys are Japanese of course, and were produced when the real thing was roaming the Speedway...

That's Hiro Matsushita taking his rookie test in... 1963?

Great toys, really! How good would it be to be 10 again?

That makes me 59 going on 11.......

Michael and Barry,
Between the tinplate toys, my collection of Dinkies and Tootsietoys, my old racing collectibles, the full-size racing cars and all the books, pictures, testimonies, authographs etc., when they bury me, there will be a heck of an auction on top of my grave!

In the meantime, I am so lucky to be alive...

T54
once again...very impressed with your collection....you seem to have quite a bit of everything.

some more (humble) posters











cheers marty

OH !! WOW!!,I might have discovered the 'Brotherhood',a couple of years ago, confronted with the prospect of purchasing a 20ft container to store my collection of 'THINGS',I made an offer to a' Comercial Collector',having prevously been aproached to sell,my subjestion was that he could 'buy' my magazine collection of some 15000, read;1st editions/collectable publications/ Hot Rod -Custom-musclecar-Motoring-Motorsport-etc etc that I had collected over 40yrs,all in 'plastic' zip lock bags,get the picture,so !! my offer was $3AUD each ,you take the lot,I will keep nothing !!,....."aw !!...I'm not paying $3's each, you've got to be kidding !! pay $45k !!,no way !!" , strange reaction when you consider that the average automotive(imported) publication( in Australia)news stand price costs at least $9.50 plus,....and the same 'classic' magazine copy from his shop averages $5/$10's... oh well !!..... as you all know I bought that 20ft container........

And what other "THINGS" do you have in your collection??