For some collectors, it’s all about getting as many things as possible.

For Floyd Wombold of Albert Lea, it’s all about quality.

The Thorne Crest Retirement Community resident collects die-cast models of cars he once owned.

Sometimes he can’t get one just like he owned, so he gets one that is close.

For example, his first car was a 1931 Ford Model A.

“I had a two-door, but I had to take a convertible,” he explained. “That was a real simple car. It was a four-cylinder.”

They came in tan, light blue or black, in two-door, four-door and convertible models. The Model A could go about 40 mph.

He recalled when he was manager of one of his high school sports teams and some of the guys said, “Hey, Wombold! Why don’t you put some mothballs in the gas tank and make it go faster?”

He explained that doing so increased the octane of the gasoline, and when he tried it, his Model A could indeed go 55 mph.

Wombold has been collecting die-cast models since 1972. His wife encouraged him to buy his first one. He likes the die-cast metal cars because they are put together like the original cars, with fine details. Most are made in China, but when he first started collecting, they were labeled “Made in Taiwan.”

Most of the cars he has are 1/18th scale, although a few are 1/24th. He used to buy them from Franklin Mint, but now purchases them from Danbury Mint, since Franklin has moved more toward coins, jewelry and dolls.

He demonstrated on a 1959 Chevy how the wheels turn and the hood and trunk open. “It’s finished in the same colors as the real car,” he said.

He brought out a 1958 hard-top, black-and-white Chevrolet. He had purchased a used model like it — except the one he purchased was a convertible — for his son. His son was the most popular kid around with the girls after that, and even drove it in parades.

“But it was a mechanical monstrosity,” he said.

Then there is a 1948 Buick that was just like the 1947 Buick he had. “It was a tan-and-brown two-door they called a Sedanette,” he recalled.

Wombold also has a model of a bus, labeled “Southeastern Greyhound Lines,” that was manufactured in Loudonville, Ohio, not far from where he used to live. The factory made hearses and buses for short runs.

He’s got a model Cord that’s similar to his family’s very first car, which was an Auburn. His parents bought it used for $75. It had a rumble seat and front-wheel drive. It got terrible gas mileage, he said. The family got the car at his urging. His mother hung wallpaper during the Depression era, and he helped her by lugging her ladders and other equipment around in a red wagon — something he thought was beneath him.

Wombold has a model of a World War II Jeep and a tank. He was a medic in World War II and in a tank company during the Korean War. The real tank used in the war had two 12-cylinder Cadillac engines. “You talk about move,” he said.

There’s also a model of a 1953 Buick Riviera. “These were custom. They were high-priced and high-quality,” he said.

He never had a real car like it, but, “I had to have it because it was a great example of the whole era of cars,” he said.

Wombold also has a model of a Buick Roadmaster state patrol car. “I thought that was unusual — a state patrol car of that caliber and quality,” he said.

The one thing he still wishes he had is a Duesenberg.

Wombold will celebrate his 90th birthday on March 21. He’s a member of the Golden K I Kiwanis Club and enjoys photography.

Wombold and his wife, Judith, moved to Albert Lea in 1977. He was the advertising and public relations manager for Universal Cooperatives. The couple moved to the apartments at Thorne Crest Retirement Community in 2002. Judith died in 2006. They would have celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary on Valentine’s Day.