Sporting a gray Hot Wheels baseball jersey with the number 68 on the back (the year the die-cast car maker hit the scene and also the year Graves hit the delivery room), the bespectacled Graves is every bit the consummate collector. He figures he has thousands of toy, er, miniature cars in his home, some scattered loose, others still pristine in their packaging.

Normally, Graves and his fellow clubbers huddle at the Travelodge Suites on Northwest Loop 410 to barter or just bask in the glow of their micro machines. Only this meeting is more of an opening act for the real headliner: The first-ever Texas Regionals Diecast Collectors Convention.

It runs today through Sunday at the Marriott Northwest Hotel, and die-cast clubs from San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Dallas and the Beaumont area will entertain all sorts of enthusiasts with heaps of Hot Wheels, Matchbox and other tiny vehicles ripe for buying, selling and trading.

The event is sure to get hard-core collectors thumbing through their price guides. But Graves is quick to point out that die-cast collecting is more for fun than profit. A die-cast car is "only worth what somebody wants to pay you for it," he explains.

Of course, cashing in on those rare four-wheeled gems can be fun, too. And when you consider most die-cast cars cost under a buck apiece new, those little wheels can turn into big investments.

"I think die-cast models have done a remarkable job of holding their value and increasing in value," says Karen O'Brien, editor of Standard Catalog of Die-Cast Vehicles (KP Books, $29.95), a leading identification and price guide.

O'Brien says that despite the toy market's ups and downs, die-cast vehicles continue rolling on with some amazing prices. She recalls a recent auction where a rare pink Firebird from the original Hot Wheels line of 16 models fetched almost $9,000.

Of course, that's a rare bird, indeed. Thumb through the Standard Catalog and you'll find most mint-in-package, die-cast vehicles go for well under $100, making die-cast collecting a hobby that shouldn't hobble your bank account.

"One of the things that makes these cars appealing — besides their interesting designs, which are a story in themselves — is that they're affordable and you can share them with your family," O'Brien says.

Hot Wheels are by far the hottest wheels with collectors of all ages, both for their low prices and their legendary status.

Since Hot Wheels first scorched the toy scene almost four decades ago, Mattel has cranked out more than 3 billion vehicles in more than 11,000 models. Ray Adler, Hot Wheels associate brand manager, says Hot Wheels boasts one of the largest collector bases in the world, with 400,000 registered members on the official collectors' site, HotWheelsCollectors.com.

"I think it starts out with, as a child you used to love playing with these cars," Adler says, "(and) when you see them again you sort of have that same passion you had as a child."

That certainly explains the passion of Troy Perales, a South Texas club member and operations director for a San Antonio limousine company.

Perales caught the die-cast bug about five years ago when his older son, Alejandro, now 13, suggested he take up a hobby. Today, poppa Perales owns about 750 Hot Wheels cars, along with some Matchbox and Johnny Lightning vehicles.

"Small collection," deadpans Perales, 47.

When asked about his most valuable cars, he points to his table at the Travelodge meeting. There, among the new and loose cars, is a worn green Hot Wheels Twin Mill from 1969, a ragtag roadster Perales has had since he was a kid. The bowed-axle beauty probably wouldn't even meet the $15 near-mint value in the Standard Catalog, but to Perales it's priceless.

At the same table, Paul Cantu showcases some of his own green from yesteryear — four green Hot Wheels Beach Bomb minibuses and a green Volkswagen Bug. Along with three other colorful Beach Bombs, Cantu values the bunch at about $800.

"I'd rather be doing something like this as a hobby ... (than) spending money at a strip bar," says Cantu, 45.

(Guess it really is a sickness.)

Cantu started collecting in '96. He's since sold off what was once a 5,000-car collection down to a more manageable 2,000. Cantu and Perales became fast friends one day at a Target as they were combing the store pegs for hidden treasures.

Make those Treasure Hunts, some of the more sought-after Hot Wheels cars in stores today.

About 12 times a year, Hot Wheels releases a very limited Treasure Hunt car, usually at a rate of one per case of 72 cars, according to Graves. But there's not always a car in every case. The best way to distinguish a Treasure Hunt car from the rows of other cars on the pegs is by a treasure chest icon on the package.

O'Brien notes you can easily turn around one of those 80-cent-or-so Treasure Hunt cars for $25 on the secondary market. Graves' most valuable Treasure Hunt is one of the first — a 1995 Camaro he figures is now worth $325.

Of course, collectors such as Graves will stress that dollar values are irrelevant. The real fun is in the thrill of the hunt and sharing that thrill with fellow fans.

That's why for all the flea markets and conventions he attends, what Perales remembers most fondly is Christmas Eve 2000 when he found his first Treasure Hunt at a local Kmart. And why of the many cars Graves has parked in his home his favorites are "cars my friends give me or cars that have stories behind them."

So it should come as no surprise when Graves says he'll never sell his collection. It is, after all, the kind of sickness he hopes to never be cured of.

"I'd probably be buried with them," he says, "or let my kids have them."