What's new with Michael Zarnock?

What has Michael Zarnock been up to?
by Marty Krellman

Author/Columnist/Guinness World Record Holder,
Michael Zarnock stays very busy in and out of the world of Hot Wheels.

Latest update July 6, 2007
July 6, 2007
The NEW "Hot Wheels Variations, The Ultimate Guide 3rd Edition" is out on our website and in the stores now! We have been sending out all of the orders that we have. Please bare with us as we have had to order more! Please check Michael's Appearance Page to see where he will be over the summer months. He always looks forward to meeting as many Hot Wheels collectors as he can when he's out there!

June 14, 2007
Michael's new "Hot Wheels Variations, The Ultimate Guide 3rd Edition" will be released July 6, 2007!
You can pre-order it from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and all the rest,
or wait and get your autographed copy from Michael himself.
They will $25 in the USA, $28 Canada & Mexico and $32 overseas. As usual, shipping is included in our prices!
All ordering information will be on our website as soon as the book becomes available. Sorry, no pre-orders from us.

June 7, 2007
It is now official..... Michael has brought his "Guinness World Record" title back to the USA! In 2006, Michael's record was broken by a man in Argentina with 7,000 different models cars. In February 2007 Michael submitted the paperwork to the Guinness People for his new record of 8128 different Hot Wheels model cars! On June 1, 2007, Michael received the official stamp and plaque to commemorate the title!

May 15, 2007
There has been a lot happening since our last note back in February. On May 18, 2007, Michael is doing a 100 mile bicycle treck called "The Ride For Missing Children" and it is consuming so much of his time, not only physically, but mentally too, so please bare with us if he has not been around too much to talk with everyone. Funds raised in "The Ride for Missing Children" support the poster distribution program and mission of the New York Branch of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC-NY/Mohawk Valley). NCMEC-NY/Mohawk Valley distributes posters that aid in the search and recovery of missing children. You have seen these posters everywhere across the country. From September 1995 through July 2004 , they have sent out over 3,526,000 posters of 826 missing children. In that time, 516 of these missing children have been "successfully recovered". 516 out of 826, is that great or what???? Now you know why he is riding 100 miles on a bike! Each $0.25 raised is the equivalent to one poster of a missing child - one more opportunity to bring a missing child "home". OK, here is the cool part!

I'm sure most of you have seen a guy named Larry Price and Cars For Kids on TV.
You may have seen his black `64 Impala Funny Car get a flame job the other day on Muscle Car TV. If you didn't, click the links and check it out!

Well, Larry and Mike got to talking the other day and when he told Larry he was going to ride 100 miles on his bicycle Larry donated $500.00 for Mike's ride.
Mike is a member of the Mohawk Valley Corvette Club here in central New York and they also donated $500.00 for his ride!

Michael's new Guinness World Record attempt has been documented and we are happy to say, he has broken the current record of 7,000 and it is with all Hot Wheels cars again! The paperwork is being taken care of and hopefully it will become official soon. We will tell you how many cars it is after we get confirmation from the people at Guinness!

The new Warman's Companion Guide has been out for a while now and is doing very well and getting some great reviews!

On Sunday Morning July 8th 2007 at 8:30 am Michael will be talking live with Harry Rinker on his national radio show WHATCHA GOT? RADIO
You may remember Harry from his 3 year TV show on HGTV where he went to peoples homes and valued all of their collections.

The new 3rd Edition of "Hot Wheels Variations, The Ultimate Guide" will be released in early July, just in time for Michael's appearance July 28 & 29, 2007 at the Steel City Con AKA: "The Pittsburgh Toy, Comic and Childhood Collectibles Show". Check their website for all the information about the show.

February 1, 2007
It's already February 2007 and Michael's new book "Hot Wheels: A Warman's Companion Guide" has been released for a couple months now. This book was a long time in the making (and printing). It was supposed to be released in August of 2006 and didn't actually get released until December 2006. This book has tons of photos and information on cars from 1968 to 2005 along with some cool inside information about the first 16 Hot Wheels cars that were produced. Since this book covers all those years, there was not enough room to list variations, but it's still a very informative book and a must have for any Hot Wheels collector novice or seasoned! The Guinness Wold Record….. Michael has lost his title as Current Record Holder, but has already submitted the paperwork to reclaim it! Michael's record of 3711 Different Model Cars was broken by a man in Argentina who has 7000 cars on display in a Waffle Works Restaurant in Hollywood Florida. Michael's original record was set with only Hot Wheels. His attempt for this time will be all of the different Die-Cast in his collection. We can't tell you what the count is yet, but we will when we get all the paperwork sent in and hear back from the Guinness people. The New 3rd Edition of "Hot Wheels Variations, The Ultimate Guide" is almost ready to go to print! You can see what the cover looks like if you go to Amazon.com or any of the online bookstores. This book is scheduled to be released in early summer of 2007. The 3rd Edition is filled with all the known Hot Wheels Collector Number Variations from 1989 to 2005. Many new photos and of course all kinds of information!

If you would like Michael to appear at your function, you can email him directly for details at
Mike Zarnock@aol.com

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