Michael Zarnock

}} Michael Zarnock (born April 21, 1958 in Utica, New York) 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 7 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 also a two-time Guinness World Record holder, in 2003 and 2007. He is in the record books for owning the "Largest collection of different model cars". He is also featured in the new "Ripley's Believe It or Not" book to be released in the Fall of 2008!
 * name=Michael Zarnock
 * image=Michael_promo.jpg
 * caption=Michael Zarnock with his Guinness World Record Hot Wheels Collection.
 * birth_date=April 21, 1958
 * birth_place=Utica, New York, U.S.
 * death_date=
 * death_place=

Life and work
Michael was born April 21, 1958 in Utica, New York into a working class family. As with most young men of that era, he grew up with aspirations of getting married and working with his dad in their family body shop repairing cars. 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 an auto mechanic at Nichols Department 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 in 1976.

Some of Michael's 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 1980s brought another challenge to Michael when he became a singer/drummer and co-wrote songs in a band called "The Blister Tones". After 3 years and 3 albums, the band split and he went back to working on his house and collecting Hot Wheels again.

Michael has spent so much time and effort on his collection that it prompted him to write a best selling Variation Guide called "The Ultimate Guide to Hot Wheels Variations", that was published in 2002 and went into its second printing a year after it was released. That book is now out of print and sold out.

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! Part of this collection is on display at the Childrens Museum in Utica, New York.

Since the release of his first Hot Wheels book, "The Ultimate Guide to Hot Wheels Variations", Michael has written a total of 7 books including the Hot Wheels Collector Number chapters in "The Standard Catalog of Die-Cast Vehicles II & III", and the 11, 12, 13, 14, & 15th editions of "Toys & Prices."

Michael was under contract with "Toy Cars & Models" Magazine from 2002 to the last issue of February 2008 where he wrote a monthly column and Hot Wheels variation price guide. In his column he wrote about the most current variations to be looking for along with collecting trends and pricing.

Michael now lives with his wife Tina and son Cody in a small town outside of Utica called Deerfield. Michael also makes appearances at schools, conventions, toy shows and Hot Wheels club functions across the United States and Canada. He has even made a few appearances on film. 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. His latest movie quest was playing Chester Greenfield II, the wealthy father of the main character in the film "Anchor Eddy’s."

Discography
Albums with The Blister Tones
 * 1986 &mdash; My Town (Krellman Records)
 * 1987 &mdash; Born Again Losers  (Krellman Records)
 * 1988 &mdash; Welcome To Our Neighborhood  (Krellman Records)

Filmography

 * 2004 &mdash; Detour (CYB Productions)
 * 2005 &mdash; The Death of Daniel Whately (CYB Productions)
 * 2006 &mdash; Anchor Eddy's (CYB Productions)