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Respect the Classics: Sidewall Shine

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  • Respect the Classics: Sidewall Shine



    Several weeks ago I started a series about the Cars Piston Cup racers with an article on Mood Springs... In this article, we'll continue with a look at another one of the Piston Cup racers and his team - Slider Petrolski, better known as Sidewall Shine.

    One of the earliest boxed sets and at the time of release the most expensive boxed set was the Speedway of the South set... Limited to a run of 1000 pieces, the SOTS set went on sale in May 2008... To be eligible to purchase the SOTS set you had to join the Hot Wheels Red Line Collectors club... I joined in April 2008, and bought one set when they went on sale.



    One of these days I'll put the Cars in the display box and put it out on display... For various reasons, many collectors did not purchase the Speedway of the South set when it went on sale... Several of the Piston Cup racers had already been released and they didn't want to purchase Cars they already had... they wanted to purchase just the Cars they needed at the approximate $4.00 price of a single... Unfortunately, Mattel didn't cooperate with those hopes... most of the racers were released, but in various formats and with other Cars or accessories that you might or might not have wanted... In this article, we'll take a look at another one of the Piston Cup racers and the other members of his team - Sidewall Shine.

    Sidewall Shine is based on the Nitroade body style.

    As you'll see in this article, there have been limited releases releases of Sidewall Shine and his team.

    Here's a photo of my Sidewall Shine from my Speedway of the South set:



    Toys R US exclusive


    The first release of Sidewall Shine outside of the Speedway of the South set was as a Toys R US mail in exclusive... this was the first US TRU exclusive... Buy 5 Cars... mail in the 5 cardbacks (with UPC) and $5.00 (paid online), receive a Sidewall Shine promo Car... Since I have a Speedway of the South set, I wasn't going to participate in the promo... but I changed my mind and bought one... I spent almost $30 for the Promo Car.

    There are 2 Sidewall Shine promo Cars in the above photo... the one in the left is in the sealed baggy that it came in... the one on the right has been removed from the baggy... I also have one that I've taken out of the display case - it's in a Carney Plastics display case in a Poor Man's Speedway of the South set.

    TRU did not sell as many Sidewall Shine promo Cars as the ordered... after N20 Cola, TRU canceled their US promos... before we got Gask-Its and Tach O Mint... Sidewall Sine was later released in the UK as a TRU promo... I received one of those from Rippers... Later I picked up a few more Sidewall Shine promo Cars on eBay for about $15 each shipped.

    Here's another picture of the Sidewall Shine promo:





    Kmart 5 rubber tire racer


    Sidewall Shine was one of 8 Piston Cup Racers with rubber tires released as part of the Kmart 5 Cars Collector Event on October 23, 2010... The Kmart 5 case assortment consisted of 18 rubber tire racers:
    3 each of Faux Wheel Drive and Gask-Its
    2 each of Sidewall Shine, Shiny Wax, Nitroade, Tank Coat, View Zeen, and Tach O Mint.



    The other 6 Cars were lenticulars: Chase Paint Mask McQueen, Dash Boardman, Tow, Kathy Copter, Pit Crew Sarge, and Radiator Springs McQueen... This case was released in Australia 5 weeks before the Kmart event - I traded 20 Cars to a collector in Australia for 20 Kmart 5 Cars... I sold a set of the 8 racers on eBay 3 weeks before the event... to this day, that is my only eBay sale... I sold the 8 racers for $129.99 plus shipping... while that sounds like a lot of money, based on shipping expenses and the cost of what I traded, I made $32 on the sale - that paid for one set of racers.

    This case also turned up in the UK at The Disney Store after the US Kmart event... I know several of my UK friends were able to purchase Sidewall Shine and the other Kmart 5 racers in the UK.

    Here's the cardback:


    Thanks to a custom Apple, I have a complete set of 36 racers with rubber tires:



    Launchers

    Sidewall Shine was released as a Lightyear Launcher on the Night Skyline cardback... at one time I had one but traded it to one of my friends in the UK... I also took a picture in a Cincinnati (Ohio) area Walmart store that featured 2 Sidewall Shine Lightyear Launchers with the missing racer... yes, someone had removed the racer... I took them up to the service desk... 10 minutes later, when I returned to toys, they were back on the shelves.

    Here's a photo of a Sidewall Shine Lightyear Launcher in with other Cars from February 13, 2010:


    Here's a picture showing the "Invisible" Sidewall Shine Lightyear Launchers


    Sidewall Shine was not released as a Pit Row Race-off launcher... however, thanks to GotFrank, I have a custom:



    Sidewall Shine Hauler


    Other than the racer, the Sidewall Shine Hauler is the only member of Sidewall Shine's team that has been released... If I remember right, I found it at an Indianapolis area Target store in December 2009... as you see in the above picture, it was on the Night Skyline cardback.


    Speedway 9 pack


    The only other release of Sidewall Shine as of this date was as part of the Target exclusive Speedway 9 pack that was released in time for the 2010 Christmas season... I first saw it in October 2010 for $39.99 and bought 1... we complained that only 4 of the 9 Cars in the set were new... today if we got 4 new Cars out of 9 for the same amount of money, we'd be extremely happy... On Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving), it was a special for $19.99... I was one week removed from elbow surgery and wasn't sure I'd be able to get to a Target to buy one for the price... Later on, after Target discontinued it, it went on clearance for $14.99 or less.


    In Conclusion - Team Sidewall Shine

    Here are some photos showing opened Sidewall Shine team members:

    Racer with custom launcher:


    Hauler/Racer/Custom launcher:







    No Sidewall Shine pittys or crew chiefs have been released... cvc1968 has made wonderful customs.

    Will we see more of the Sidewall Shine team members? I don't know... I would like to see them... I would like to add them to my collection (even though it will mean spending more money on Cars)... the molds for the pittys and crew chief exist... they'd just have to paint them and package them... I don't think we'll see them at retail stores... but many of us would buy cases of the team sets if they'd come with 2 each of 3 new team sets... those would be great cases to split with a friend... and some of us would buy a case by ourselves to have one to open and another to keep carded.

    In the event I can't find photos of the Lightyear Launcher, if anyone can provide a photo that I could add to the article, I'd appreciate it.

    That wraps up this installment of Respect the Classics... 12 Piston Cup racers done... 24 to go... As always, thank you for reading... I appreciate your comments.
    Last edited by cac1959; 11-24-2012, 02:41 PM. Reason: Date correction


    I am cac1959... I am a Cars-a-holic... and a proud supporter of Nathan's Playroom

  • #2
    I bought a Sidewall Shine at Kmart day 5 and then returned it when I found out he was going to be in the Target 9 pack. I was still a new collector at the time.

    signature courtesy of BomBom77
    http://www.pixarcarsdiecast.com/foru...ars-for-trades

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    • #3
      The only Sidewall Shine I have is the one from KDay 5. I had the chance to buy the Sidewall Shine Hauler multiple times at Shopko for $19, never did and am now regretting it. Hopefully I find him for a good price in the future.

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      • #4
        SWS was the race car that I most wanted... I had the hauler for ages but he was "racer less"...Great read again cac1959

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        • #5
          great article cac1959 and some cool photos,especially the racer-less lightyear launchers

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          • #6
            Chris, I believe the MSOTS was sold in 2008, not 2007.

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            • #7
              Thank you, John in Missouri... I'll make the edits in the articles... can't believe it took so many (12) for someone to notice that - I've even got my letter with certificate of authenticity on the desk.

              Due to Mattel's distribution in 2012 it just seemed like 5 years (and not 4) since I ordered my Speedway of the South set...


              I am cac1959... I am a Cars-a-holic... and a proud supporter of Nathan's Playroom

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