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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 - Manny Flywheel, better known as N2O Cola, #68.
N2O Cola is sponsored by N2O Nitro Cola - it contains nitrous which provides extra engine boost... you can use it in your home Car, but it's not permitted to be used in Piston Cup races.
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 unreleased members of his team - N2O Cola.
As you'll see in this article, there have been limited releases of N2O Cola and officially none of his team.
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 second US TRU exclusive... Buy 5 Cars... mail in the 5 cardbacks (with UPC) and $5.00 (paid online), receive one N2O Cola promo Car... Since I have a Speedway of the South set, I wasn't going to participate in the promo... but the last day I changed my mind and bought one... I spent almost $30 for the Promo Car.
There are 3 N2O Cola 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 and autographed by Martin Arrioloa, the designer of the original Cars... the one in front has been 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 N2O Cola or Sidewall Shine promo Cars as they ordered and canceled their US promos... before we got Gask-Its and Tach O Mint... Later I picked up a few more Sidewall Shine promo Cars on eBay for about $15 each shipped.
Notice that in the following photo that there is one hole towards the front of N2O Cola - a screw secured the Car to the display case.
I received my autographed N2O Cola promo Car in a trade with MrBrownstone - he won it in a Cars Cares (now Nathan's Playroom) auction... we worked out a trade... By accident I sent him the autographed promo Car... I mailed him another one in a package and he shipped back the autographed one to me.
The production code of my loose N2O Cola Promo Car is 2128 EA; it was made the 212th day of 2008 at the EA factory located in China.
Kmart 3 rubber tire racer
N2O Cola next appeared as one of the rubber tire racers for the Kmart Cars Collector Event #3 on October 17, 2009... By this time, Mattel had increased the size of the cases from 18 Cars to 24 Cars... most case selections were becoming filled with more and more pegwarmers... 19 of the 24 Cars in this case were rubber tire racers:
3 each of Trunk Fresh, Octane Gain, N2O Cola, Rev N Go, and Revolting
2 each of Leakless and Vinyl Toupee
1 each of Brand New Mater, Chick Hicks, Lightning McQueen, Yellow Ramone, and Sheriff
Thanks to a custom Apple, I have a complete set of 36 racers with rubber tires:
Launchers
N2O Cola 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'm not sure if I have a picture of it or not.
(Photo used by permission of djjd21... thank you, djjd21)
There was speculation that N2O Cola was to appear as a Pit Row Race-off launcher... however, like many Cars product lines, Mattel canceled the launcher series before finishing it... thanks to GotFrank, I have a custom N2O Cola launcher and have completed the set of 36 launchers:
TRU Radiator Springs Classic single
N2O Cola was just released as a single as part of the Toys R US Radiator Springs Classic series... I did not find it this past Friday, November 23... Friends found it in northern Indiana and Cincinnati, Ohio this weekend... I received it in a package this morning... Thank you, Chad!
While some collectors are not happy that it's now available as a single after paying about $30 each for it as a promo Car, it doesn't bother me... I collect Cars because I enjoy them, not as an investment.
Unreleased N2O Cola Team Members
N2O Cola Pitty with toolbox was supposed to be released as a single... we're still waiting.
And if I remember right, at one time, Target had listed the N2O Cola Team Crew set with crew chief (pickup truck) and 3 pittys for sale on their website... it was never actually available to purchase... I would have bought at least 2 for myself... A few were for sale on eBay for a limited time at a premium price... I'd love for the team crew set to be released... I have a photo of a N2O Cola Crew Chief from a UK Cars magazine... here it is:
We also saw a photo of the N2O Cola Hauler and unreleased pittys from the Petersen Museum Exhibit:
(Photo used by permission)
As Mater said, "I'd give up my left 2 lugnuts" for the unreleased N2O Cola Hauler, Crew Chief, and pittys.
In Conclusion - Team N2O Cola
Will we see the N2O Cola 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, crew chief, and hauler 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... 13 Piston Cup racers done... 23 to go... As always, thank you for reading... I appreciate your comments.
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