Building a Garage of Stories, One Car at a Time

It all began with a ₹5 toy. My mom once bought me a small metal car, and that tiny piece of metal lit a spark in me. As a kid, I was fascinated by cars—I could recognise their brand just by looking at the headlights, even at the age of five. Growing up in a family of five, with my father as the sole earner, toys were a luxury. We didn’t even own a real car until 2015. But every Thursday, my mom gave me five or ten rupees, and I would rush to buy those small metal cars.

One day, I saw my neighbor with a few shiny Maisto cars—with real logos and details. They were way out of my budget, but instead of giving up, I saved for weeks and bought my first Maisto: a Porsche 911. Slowly, I added a Ferrari F430 Spider, BMW X5, and a VW Golf GTI convertible to my little fleet. Those four cars meant the world to me.

Then life happened. Studies, sports, and growing up pulled me away, and my mom kept the cars safely in our showcase.

Years later, in 2019, when I had started earning, something unexpected reignited the fire. During Covid, my nephew played with my old cars, and my mom gave him two. I don’t know why, but it struck me—I didn’t want to lose them. I realized those cars weren’t just toys. They were pieces of my childhood, my memories. That’s when it all got real. I began collecting again—this time not just Hot Wheels from Instagram pages, but carefully chosen models with stories behind them. I set a milestone of 100 cars and decided to showcase them in a proper acrylic case. Today, my collection isn’t about numbers. Each car I buy has a reason—a story, a memory, a connection. Some people might call it an obsession, but I call it storytelling in miniature form. And if you ever want to listen, I’ll happily bore you with the tales behind every single one. After all, isn’t that what collectors do?