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My Maserati does 185
I lost my license now I don't drive
I have a limo ride in the back
I lock the doors in case I'm attacked
I'm making records my fans they can't wait
They write me letters tell me I'm great
So I got me an office, gold records on the wall
Just leave a message maybe I'll call
Lucky I'm sane after all I've been through
Everybody says I'm cool (He's cool)
I can't complain but sometimes I still do
Life's been good to me so far...
(Life's Been Good by Joe Walsh, 1978)
Fast cars and fast Cars - there's no doubt that the Maserati is one of them... I'm not sure that I ever wanted a Maserati as I was growing up... I knew I could never afford one... but now I own several... Not that I can drive any of them... but the Mattel 1:55 versions of the Maserati from Cars and Cars2 are really sharp and among my favorites.
In this article, we'll take a look at the 4 Maserati that have been released from the Cars movies.
Antonio Veloce Excellente
The first Maserati released was Antonio Veloce Excellente, the white Maserati... Antonio was one of 2 new Cars in Final Lap case B... I only saw Antonio and case B one day at 2 Indianapolis Target stores, and as it was the week before payday I could not buy all that I saw.
Antonio was a fairly expensive Car for awhile - however, once it was released as a lenticular single and then part of a lenticular 3 pack (with Ferrari F430 and Costanza Della Corsa), his price dropped... current eBay prices for a carded Antonio range from $20 to $60 plus shipping.
Costanza Della Corsa
While we had to wait several years for our first Maserati, we didn't have to wait long for our second... Costanza Della Corsa was one of 3 new Cars in Final Lap case C... in my opinion, case C was more readily found in stores than case B... I love Costanza's green paint.
Here's a close-up of Costanza:
The back of the Final Lap cards for Costanza and Antonio are identical... here's a picture:
Costanza was not released as a lenticular single... I had a 3 pack - I opened it up and sent the loose Costanza to my friend MrBrownstone in the UK... I turned the Antonio and Ferrari into custom Cars Christmas ornaments.
Antonio and Costanza's license plates are one digit off - even though Antonio was released before Costanza, Costanza's license plate number is one smaller than Antonio's.
Carlo Maserati
Cars2 also included Maserati vehicles... the first one released was Carlo Maserati, #25... Carlo was a burgundy Maserati, one of 2 new Cars in 2011 singles case J (along with Lewis Hamilton)... due to the oversaturation of earlier cases, I didn't see case J at main retail stores... I saw several at Kohl's stores (at a $5.49 retail price)... case J then appeared right before Christmas 2011 at Walmart stores... I think I found it a couple Target stores and Family Dollar several months after the earlier releases... and within the last 6 months I found it at Meijer.
Here's the back of the Carlo Maserati single:
Bindo
Of the 4 released Maserati singles, Bindo, #37 from 2012 case H, is one I have never seen in a store... I received 2 in my case H from JMDL Toys and one more in a trade this spring... I just opened one tonight... I like the blue:
Carlo and Bindo look pretty good side by side, in my opinion.
In Conclusion
One drawback to Bindo and all the Maserati Cars is that they are 2 piece - I think they'd look a lot better if they were released as unibody Cars.
Perhaps they will be in the future... And I'd love to see a 4 Maserati boxed set with Antonio, Costanza, Carlo, and Bindo... not that I expect it - Mattel doesn't make it easy on us collectors... and a 4 Maserati boxes set with metallic paint Cars would be awesome.
As always, I appreciate your comments... thanks for reading.
Chris
P.S. - I realize the Joe Walsh song "Life's Been Good" was released before many of our members were born... the song was first released as part of the soundtrack to the movie "FM"... and later released on a solo album and on Eagles albums after Joe joined the group... if you haven't heard it, I encourage you to listen to it on Youtube... I think it could be a great song to include in a Cars movie.
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