Tom Carroll is well known by his fellow residents, the staff and even visitors to

Tom Carroll’s vast diecast car collection started when he got a miniature 1972 Chevelle as a Christmas present nine years ago. Today, his room at Orchard Villa has been transformed into what a friend has dubbed, “Tom’s Diecast Palace.” (Press photo by Ken Grosjean)

Orchard Villa in Oregon.

They call him “Big Tom” or, more often, the “car guy.”

To say that Carroll has a passion for cars might be somewhat of an understatement. His room has been dubbed by Orchard Villa's administrator as a “showroom within a showroom” for his vast collection of diecast cars and trucks, displayed on shelves, in cabinets, on dressers, on the TV stand – on just about every flat surface in the room.

He estimates that all together, there are probably between 575 and 600 cars and trucks in different scales – 1/18th, 1/24th and 1/64th. He also has a miniature garage setup.

A plate hanging on the wall, crafted by a friend in Tennessee, aptly proclaims the room as “Tom’s Diecast Palace.” 

“I’ve been around cars all my life,” he said, noting that he worked as a towing dispatcher for 22 years.

“I like them all – trucks, muscle cars, race cars – I’m just a car nut – a fanatic,” he said.

In April 1986, Caroll’s customized 1979 Chevy van was featured in a center spread in Vans & Trucks magazine. “I started showing the van in 1980 and I showed it until 1997,” he said. “Before I sold it, I accumulated 135 trophies.”

He started collecting diecast cars about nine years ago when he got a miniature 1972 Chevelle as a Christmas present. “It’s blue with black stripes,” he said. “I liked it so well – the detail was so nice.

“After that, I just started picking up cars here and there when I saw one I liked,” he said.

As his passion for collecting grew, he’d visit collectors’ shops and scan newspaper ads to watch for collectors who were selling off pieces.

“Once in awhile, I’d find something on eBay or Craigslist, but I like dealing collector-to-collector best,” he said. “A serious collector knows that you value the cars and that your enthusiasm and heart are in them.”

“It’s fun finding a piece you don’t have – like a treasure hunt,” he said. “They make so many, but I look for something that catches my eye, or for stuff that nobody had – something rare or off the wall.”

Among his cherished treasures is a series of 1-18th scale “muscle cars.” “I’ve got 25 of those – some that you would not find in stores.”

Like the burgundy and white 1958 Oldsmobile and the black 1957 Dodge Dart with a straight axle under the front.

And the blue 1969 Plymouth Road Runner. “There was kind of a recall on it because when Ertl produced it, they did not have Warner Brothers’ permission to use the Road Runner bird on the side of it.”

The current collection also includes dragsters, Corvettes, a series of Dodge Ram pickups, a small-scale garage setup complete with a car lift, diecast toolboxes, a diecast battery charger a welder and more.  

The collection was even more expansive before illness forced him to sell his home and move into Orchard Villa last year.

“I have some boxed up to sell only due to the fact that I have no place to put them,” he said, adding that if down the road, something unique catches his eye, he’ll make room for it.

“I’m grateful that the administration at Orchard Villa has let me display them like this,” Carroll said.

The collection not only brings Carroll joy, it has also been a great way to meet people who want to get a closer look.

“I have people stopping in all the time,” he said. “Sometimes other residents will ask if they can bring their grandkids in to see my collection. I have another friend on the other side of the building, and when someone comes in he says, ‘You’ve got to go see Tom’s cars.”

Sometimes they come bearing gifts. “The other day, a friend currently staying in the rehab section went to Kmart and saw a tow truck that Matchbox came out with, and he brought it back for me.

“On Sunday, I was sleeping and when I woke up, there was a Coca-Cola truck sitting here on my chair,” he said. “I have yet to find out where it came from.

“I’d really like to thank whoever left it,” he said.

Tom Carroll’s vast diecast car collection started when he got a miniature 1972 Chevelle as a Christmas present nine years ago. Today, his room at Orchard Villa has been transformed into what a friend has dubbed, “Tom’s Diecast Palace.” (Press photo by Ken Grosjean)

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