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A letter in the mail from Hot Wheels... what could it be?
Here's the letter with Certificate of Authenticity for a genuine Speedway of the South set...
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 6 more of the Piston Cup racers from the Motor Speedway of the South set.
This set was originally advertised to be numbered as a limited release... when they shipped, they were not numbered and there was no certificate of authenticity... Due to the threat of lawsuits, Mattel did mail letters containing a hologram with the number on it... Mine is 283 of 1000... I'll add photos showing the letter and envelope that it came in.
The Box
The Speedway of the South set came in a large box:
The display box from the Speedway of the South set is huge... I finally took pictures earlier this week - over 4 years after I got mine... Here's the back of the box:
The thin brown box underneath the display box contains the 2 trays containing the 36 Cars.
Here are close ups showing the back of the box:
Side of box:
Other side of box:
Piston Cup Racers
Of the 36 Piston Cup racers in the SOTS set, Apple was only released by Mattel one time, in this set... This is currently also the only official release of Tach O Mint with plastic tires... At one time, there was a prototype of a Tach O Mint launcher... if they ever release Tach O Mint as a Pit Row Race-off launcher (or Lightyear Launcher) I will buy it.
The rest of the plastic tire Piston Cup racers have been released again as either singles, Lightyear Launchers, Pit Row Race-off launchers, or in multi-packs... in fact, some of them are being released on the new 2013 cardback - King, Chick Hicks, and Nitroade come to mind.
We'll look at photos of 6 more of the 36 racers from the SOTS set in this article... as far as the order, I picked the ones in order starting with the tray on the left side in the earlier picture.
RPM #64
Each Piston Cup racer in the SOTS set came in a baggie... prior to taking photos for this article, I'd never opened 31 of the 36...
Here's a photo showing the production code, 2847 EA:
Note that the production code is at the front of the base of the Car.
I've always liked RPM #64... With plastic tires, it's been released many times - as a single, launcher... in boxed sets... and crew chief, pitty, hauler, and semi have also been released... it was also released as a rubber tire racer during the Kmart 4 event
Octane Gain #58
Here's a photo showing the production code, 2847 EA:
Octane Gain has been released in several different packages... It was in the Dinoco 400 box set.. It has been released as a launcher and a Lightyear Launcher... it was released in a 3 pack with hauler and pityy... in a 4 pack with an SUV Crew Chief and 3 pittys... A hauler and a semi (cab only) were released -the Octane Gain semi was the only racer semi that I never bought... The plastic tire single was recently released as part of the new TRU Radiator Springs Classic series.
Octane Gain with rubber tires was included in the Kmart 3 Cars Collector event...
Fiber Fuel #56
Here's a photo showing the production code, 2847 EA:
Fiber Fuel with plastic tires was released as both a Pit Row Race-off launcher and a Lightyear Launcher... The most recent release of Fiber Fuel is in the new Target exclusive 7 pack with Kit Revster, Polly Puddlejumper, and Coriander Widetrack... Fiber Fuel with rubber tires was released as part of the Kmart 4 Cars Collector event.
Lightning McQueen #95
The star racer of Cars, Lightning McQueen, #95... Mr. Hot Shot Piston Cup racer rookie who ends up in Radiator Springs... and the rest is history... or at least in the movie script.
Note that the SOTS version is missing the Rusteze logo on the rear spoiler:
(Sorry for the glare on the eyes)
Here's a photo showing the production code, 2637 EA:
Lightning McQueen has been released more often than any other Piston Cup racer, but you'd expect that from the main character of the movie... As far as other Team Rusteze members, we've seen Mack (hauler and semi) and a pitty named My Name is Not Chuck (as a single and in a 3 pack with Mack and McQueen)... some of the other residents of Radiator Springs appeared as team members (such as Sarge, Fillmore, Guido, Luigi, and Fabulous Hudson Hornet).
Later releases of Lightning McQueen contained the corrected rear spoiler with the Rusteze logo.
The Cars 1 Lightning McQueen with rubber tires was released as a single for Kmart 6; he also appeared in a 3 pack with Gask-Its and Faux Wheel Drive at Kmart 5.
Sidewall Shine #74
Here's a photo showing the production code, 2847 EA:
Sidewall Shine was released with plastic tires first as a TRU promo, and then as a Lightyear Launcher... it later came out in the Target Speedway 9 pack that included 4 new Cars (Timothy Twostroke, Hooman, Dash Boardman, and Tim Rimmer)... The only released Sidewall Shine team member was the Sidewall Shine hauler on the Night Skyline cardback...
Sidewall Shine with rubber tires was released as part of the Kmart 5 collector event.
N2O Cola #68
Here's a photo showing the production code, 2777 EA:
N2O Cola with plastic tires was released as a TRU promo... it was released as a Lightyear Launcher... the most recent release was as a single in the TRU Radiator Springs Classic series... as far as team members go, none have officially been released... There was a N2O Cola pitty in one of the Collector's Guides... and Target has listed on their website a team crew set with crew chief and 3 pittys... Hopefully we'll see them sometime.
N2O Cola with rubber tires was released during the Kmart 3 Cars Collector Event.
In Conclusion
My wife was not happy with me for buying a Speedway of the South Set... with shipping, membership in the Hot Wheels Red Line Club, and the one set, I spent about $362.00... Within a week of receiving my set, she wanted to know why I didn't buy 2 of them... Limited to 1000... some have been broken up and sold as individual singles...We've not seen as large a boxed set since then...
It may seem that most of the Cars in the set have a production code date of 2777 EA... but others were made on different dates... if I remember right, 17 or 18 of them were 2777 EA... many built on the Leakless body style have a production code of 2637, the same date as on my box.
I wanted a complete set of Pit Row Race-off launchers; Mattel released 19 and GotFrank made me the other 17 as customs... I wanted a complete set of haulers and still do... same goes for the team crew sets with crew chief and pittys.
I have not assembled my Speedway of the South set... if any of you have and would like to post a picture showing the fully assembled set, I'd appreciate it.
As always, thanks for reading... I appreciate your comments.
Chris
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