Part 1 Weekend of Wheels Convention

Arrival and Tour

The Official Man Cave Website (ManCaveSite.org) had a unique opportunity in Las Vegas this past March 2023. We’ve been following a young man, Anthony Schmidt on social media who is autistic and has the unique ability doing perspective photography. Forced perspective photography is a creative technique which uses optical illusion to make objects appear smaller, larger, closer to the camera, or further away from the camera. Anthony’s objects of choice are everything automobiles. He uses car models with a combination of dioramas and real backgrounds to make breathtaking photos you must see to believe. He does this only using his phone!

Anthony’s Mom Ramona and Anthony during the Banquet

We found out that Anthony had been selected to be inducted into the Hall of Honor as part of the Weekend of Wheels annual toy convention. The convention organizers allowed individuals or organizations the ability to sponsor tables for the event banquet. We took the opportunity to sponsor Anthonys Table to show our gratitude for the great work this young made does on a daily basis.

Let me not get too far ahead of myself. We arrived on Wednesday night to attend registration sign up and attend a private tour for Elite and VIP members. The convention was geared towards those who buy, sell and trade scaled model cars. Not really our thing but was interesting to learn about other hobbies and interests.

Kount’s Customs Rep and Steve

Our tour guide and my contact for this whole trip was Steve Johnston. You may have seen him on the TV show Pawn Stars who makes appearances as the toy expert on various episodes. He also is the owner of House of Cars in Las Vegas. It was a small group of about 9 of us on the evening tour. The first stop was to Kount’s Customs. I’ve watched the show for years, so it was a big thrill for me. We were able to tour the shop where the work is done, although Danny (Shop Owner and lead character on the show) didn’t want us to go through there. The shop was closed but there were still guys working on the next projects. We then got a tour of the museum that has some of Danny’s favorite projects. It felt weird going through the building when it was closed and most of the lights were off.

We then made a few stops at local newly constructed additions to the city, the Arch and the Show Girl sign. Had some photo opportunities and got back on the bus.

Next stops were to some of the toy shops that were sponsoring the conference. House of Cars, The Pop Shack and the Toy Shack. The stop at the Toy Shack was a nice stop due the owner Johnny Jimenez Jr.. You’ve seen him on Pawn Stars as one of the other toy experts that Rick calls in from time to time.