This one difference decides if you buy the car or walk away.
Short cards vs Long cards: which should you collect? And is one worth more than the other?
This confuses a lot of Hot Wheels collectors, even veterans of the hobby.
Here’s the truth: it doesn’t matter. But in the UK, short cards cost a bit more if the car is rare. Why? UK collectors want short cards more, and there are fewer of them around.
Short Cards Are The Most Common in the UK
If you collect in the UK, most of your Hot Wheels mainlines are already short cards. They have the same pictures and design as long cards, just squeezed onto a smaller card.
Walk into any UK shop and look around. Most of the dump bins and pegs have short cards. You’ll find them everywhere. That’s because Mattel makes short cards just for the UK market. They ship them directly to UK shops.
So if you’re in the UK, short cards are what you’ll find most of the time anyway.
Short cards are designed to save space and reduce shipping costs. At almost half the size of the long card, it’s so much easier to cram 72 cars into a cardboard box and ship across the world.
It’s also much easier to display more of them on the pegs as it’ll only take up half the space. If you go into any Smyths, the sheer quantity of cars and lack of space is overwhelming.
While the card art doesn’t necessarily differ, I feel as though the long cards just look better.
Short cards can hold a higher value in the secondary market.
When it comes to more rare cards, that are few and far between, such as hot wheels treasure hunts. They’re more expensive in short card form.
Many suppliers can import long cards from the US, and they are more common across the world. They’re also in less demand in the UK because the majority of collectors collect short cards.
This, in turn, pushes the value of short cards up when they’re a popular casting or are rare.
Long Cards are the Standard in the US
Hot wheels collecting is huge in the US; it’s much more mainstream than here in the UK. The supply of Hot Wheels over there is insane, and the demand is even more crazy.
The standard card released in the States is the long card.
This involves a taller, longer card with slightly more card art than the short card alternatives. The text on the back of the card is also English (US) only,
Long cards do make their way into the UK, though.
A lot of the clip strips in the UK shops are long cards. You’ll see these when walking in-between aisles at supermarkets.
You’ll also find that a lot of the long cards are imported from the States. Most of the treasure hunts being resold are brought over from across the pond.
The US cards actually show which Hot Wheels case or “mix” they are from on the back of the card, which helps hunt, so you know which treasures to look for.
Many UK collectors value long cards less. A lot of uk collectors will also try their best to avoid buying long cards because they differ from their main collection. This can affect the resale value of a long card version.
International Cards are made to meet regulations
The international cards are made to meet marketing regulations around the world. In theory, the UK short cards are also international cards.
International cards tend to have multiple languages on the back of them and contain less information than the US Long cards.
They’re also a lot more common around the world but can come in both short and long card versions.
The card art will still be the same as any other card; most of the differences are found on the back of these cards.
Hot Wheels Short Cards Vs Long Cards: Which has more value?
In the UK, the short cards hold more demand and, in turn, more value.
You won’t notice a difference in price on the more common cars; however, it changes when you chase treasure hunts. The short card will always be of higher value than the long card.
The other main factor is going to be the actual card condition, too. If the card is not in good condition, it’s not going to be worth nearly as much as it should be.
Short Card or Long Card: Which one should you collect?
Unless you’re “collecting” to resell, it doesn’t matter; collect what you like!
If you prefer short cards, then stick to short cards. The same goes for long cards, as they’re still pretty common here in the UK and we supply a lot of them!
You may also find that collecting long cards means you may also find super treasure hunts are cheaper, and you can get them quicker.
In the best-case scenario, you don’t really care whether the cards are long or short and can collect the cars you like.
Imagine finding a rare car or sth in the store and not buying it because it’s the wrong type of card!