Keeping track of your collection

[Billy Kingsley]

OK guys, here is something I've wanted to show for a long time, and had no good way of doing until just recently. I'm somewhat embarrased to admit it never occured to me to use the "prt sc" feature, aka, Print Screen. DUH. Well, better late then never.

Several years ago, I decided to sort through my entire collection and make an accurate chart. I've been collecting 1/64 diecast since 1992, and until 2004 when I made this chart, I had been trying to keep track of what I had in my memory. This is easy to do if you have a small collection, but not so easy when your collection numbers in the thousands.

Let me tell you, it's somewhat frustrating and annoying to find out the car you've just spent $25 on was a duplicate. That was my kicker to create the chart. I had originally tried a hand written chart but that just didn't work, but putting it on Excel did work.
I am going to attach the screen captures so you can see them in full size, instead of having to squint to see them, if I put them on my websight.

Screen #1- This is part one of my stats sheet. I have each year listed, and the number of different cars I have from that year are listed there, with the totals at the top. The pie chart does not include my entire collection, just the actual as-raced race cars (and trucks, which are all togther). It also gives the percentage of each year.

Screen #2- This screen shows the chart for each basic brand. I keep a three way count of my collection- by year, by brand, and by overall brand. IE, the total for Motorsports Authentics. In the other chart, which you can see the tail end of here, has it broken out for MA into detailed cars and pit stop style cars. As you can see, I also played around with some texturing here, too.

Screen #3- This is a random shot out of the 1998 chart. The details I include are pretty straight forward. The rank is on there just so I don't have to do any mathmatical calculations to figure out how many cars I have. The dates off to the right of the two Mayfield cars is the date that I got them for my collection. Sometimes I include this, sometimes I don't. If I remember, I do include it. I didn't catch any promos on the screen, but that would go in the notes section. Each part is sortable, IE, if you want to see it by alphabetical sponsors, you can do that.

Screen #4- This chart shows 2007. It is the only chart I color coded. Black is old style cars, blue is CoTs. It is the only chart I have set up like this. The yes on several of them means I have taken a photo of the side of the car. At one point I had planned to take photos of every car in my collection, but I have kind of abandoned that project for the time being.

Screen #5- This is how I set up the charts that cover multiple seasons. The 1950s and 60s are combined onto one, the 1970s, 1980s and Trucks are all on charts like this. This is a screen off the 1980s chart. You can see here how Custom builds are listed, too. As an easy reference, I can check this and see that I am missing the 1981 #3 Wrangler Pontiac that was issued in 1998.

Screen #6- This shows how I list other assorted cars; these cars are part of my collection, but they aren't real race cars. This is the chart that includes track/event cars, various assorted promos (IE, the Land O'Frost Dodges from 2002), chrome chase cars, gold cars, Stock Rods, etc etc. Anything that isn't a real race car goes in here.

Well, that is how I do it. This system works incredibly well for me, as it's gone pretty much unchanged since I created it in 2004. (except for adding each new year, that is)

BUT...I am open to feedback. If you guys have ideas of things I could include that I have not yet thought of, or ideas on improvements, please share them, and I will consider anything you have to offer. One thing I know I need to make is a master list, listing all cars on one huge spread sheet. It's been on my to-do list for quite some time, I just have to do it. Another sheet I want to create is a chart of how many cars I have for each driver, that is something I don't know, yet.

And yes, I know I have too much time on my hands :)

[REUTIMANN_00]

Wow that looks good Billy!I wish i had that much time on my hands

[JPM42]

Man that is impressive and very well done.

[Bandit33]

Very cool Billy. I just did a basic spreadsheet for mine (seperate page for each year starting with 1997 and scale with car number, driver name, sponsor, quantity, book price, and total price). I haven't kept up with the pricing in a few years and there are a few cars I have that aren't listed (or weren't when I last updated it). Of course, I am still under 1,000 cars total, so it is a little easier for me...lol.

[minicup]

That is really cool, i dont have enough that i need to do that.

[frankies_gurl12607]

That looks really good.

[zmanz32tt]

wow

[jeeper]

awesome, I still have under 100 cars but i have been using diecastregistry for mine so far.

[JT179]

I use to do something similar to this before I downsized my collection to just include Matt Kenseth and Bill Elliott cars, though it was not nearly this extensive.

It use to be, before I went to a store to diecast shop, I'd print out my current list of cars so I made sure I didn't buy a duplicate. Now, since I have narrowed my collection to those two drivers, I don't have nearly as much trouble remembering what I do and don't have.

Now I simply keep a photographic database, so to speak, on Photobucket and my laptop so if I'm searching online for diecast (which is my primary shopping ground now) all I have to do is check the pictures to see if I have a car or not. Simple and rather easy.

Everyone has a different method, its just a matter of what works for them!

[hamlinfan11]

wow very impressive