Michael Zarnock is an American author and columnist, who writes collector guides and articles about Hot Wheels toy cars and accessories.
Michael's knowledge and his massive Hot Wheels collection has earned him notoriety around the world.
Whether it be because of the 8 books and countless articles that he has written about Hot Wheels toys or the sheer size and diversity of his collection, this extensive knowledge has earned him the label,
"One of the worlds leading Hot Wheels authorities."
Michael is a 2 Time Guinness World Record holder! First in 2003 and then again in 2007!
He is in the record books for owning the "Largest collection of different model cars".
He is featured in the 2008 "Ripley's Believe It Or Not!" book #5 “Prepare To Be Shocked!”
February 2009 Michael was inducted into the "Diecast Hall Of Fame" and later that year Mattel Hot Wheels ® honored Michael by reproducing his old Altered Roadster Race Car as part of their Nostalgic "Drag Strip Demons ®" Series!
Michael was born April 21, 1958 in Utica, New York, into a working class family. As with most young men of that time, he grew up with aspirations of getting married and working with his dad in their family Body Shop repairing cars.
But, as we all know, things change. His parents divorced in 1974 and his dad moved to Florida. Michael stayed in Utica with his mom and attended local schools while working as a Auto Mechanic at "Nichols Dept. Store".
He has worked full time since the 11th grade. "Everybody thought it was pretty weird that I came to school with my blue work shirt that had "Mike" on it everyday.
They couldn't understand that I worked 45 hours a week while I was still in High School. They were all playing sports and hanging out while I was turning wrenches and fixing their parent's cars."
He graduated from John F. Kennedy High School, Utica, New York in 1976.
Some of Michael's other accomplishments over the years include racing Moto Cross as a teenager to building and driving many show and drag cars as an adult.
Some of those drag cars ended up being street racers for other people. Michael has many stories about those street racing days including the time that he got kidnapped at a street race.
This story has made it all the way across the country to Hollywood where he was asked to write a screenplay about it for Actor/Producer Christopher Titus. He has also rewritten that script to be published as a novel.
The mid 1980's brought another challenge to Michael when he became a singer/drummer and
co-wrote songs in a band called "The Blister Tones", <- click the link to see video's and hear some of the songs on MySpace!
After 3 years and 3 Albums, the band split and he went back to working on his house and collecting Hot Wheels ® again.
It's come to be, that Michael has spent so much time and effort on his collection that he has become one of the world's most respected authorities on Hot Wheels ® and their variations. So much so, that it prompted him to write a best selling Variation Guide called "The Ultimate Guide to Hot Wheels ® Variations", that was published by Krause in 2002 and went into it's second printing just a year after it’s released. That book is now out of print and sold out. Since then he has written 7 more books, been under contract with Toy Cars & Models Magazine for 6 years where he wrote a monthly Hot Wheels column and price guide, written numerous chapters in many other die cast books and countless articles, and currently has a monthly column in Die Cast X Magazine.
September 2003 brought great joy to Michael as he was awarded a
Guinness World Record ™ for his collection of 3,711 Different Model Cars.
Although Michael has more than 15,000 toy cars in his collection,
that record was for 3,711 different Hot Wheels model cars. The old record was 1,500.
In 2006, Michael's record was broken by a man in Argentina with 7,000 different models cars.
Michael has since brought his title back to the USA in February 2007 with 8128 different Hot Wheels model cars!
February 2009 Michael was inducted into the "Diecast Hall Of Fame" and later that year Mattel Hot Wheels ® honored Michael by reproducing his old Altered Roadster Race Car as part of their Nostalgic "Drag Strip Demons ®" Series!
Michael makes his home in the small upstate New York town of Deerfield with his wife Tina and youngest son Cody. His oldest son Christopher who is grown, lives in Mt. Airy Maryland and is a Hot Wheels collector himself.
Michael makes appearances at Schools, Conventions, Toy Shows and Hot Wheels Club functions across the United States and Canada. You never know where you'll find him. He has even made a few appearances in the movies.
He made his screen debut playing:
"Artie, the sleazy comic book publisher" in the "Catch Your Breath Productions", film "Detour",
and returned to take on the role of
"Freddy Grecko, talk show host extraordinaire" in "The Death of Daniel Whately".
Mike's latests movie quest is playing "Chester Greenfield II".
The wealthy father of the main character in the movie "Anchor Eddy's".
Below is your choice of 6 different video clips of Mike including his role in "The Death Of Daniel Whately" along with 3 old "Blister Tones" video's from the late `80s and 2 News Interviews.
