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Originally published in April 2012... this article takes a look at the various cardbacks/series that have been released in Mattel's Cars product line... it's been updated to include new cardbacks.
We love our Cars... We always have... we always will... we may not like all of every release (too many pegwarmers), but we like new releases... Singles, Deluxe, Movie Moments, Haulers, Launchers, box sets... if it's got enough new releases or if it contains Cars that we're missing, we want to find new Cars... in a store, online, through a friend - we want to find Cars.
From time to time, Mattel changes the packaging - a transition takes place from one series of Cars to the next... Sometimes we like the transitions, and sometimes we don't... Fixed eyes or lenticulars?... US versions or International versions?... Sometimes it's easy to find new Cars and sometimes it's not... It may depend on where you live and it may depend on who you know... Certain Cars have been released only in certain countries - when that happens, you need to rely on someone else to help you obtain those Cars.
Sometimes we like to open our Cars, and sometimes we like to keep them carded or unopened... sometimes we open for display and/or we open to play... sometimes we give Cars to our children or grandchildren or to friends... At times I find it just as rewarding to give as to receive... this is especially true if I've seen nothing but pegwarmers and hope that if I help a store clear out old inventory they'll get in something new.
In this article, we'll take a look at the various series of Cars that have been released from 2006 to the present... an overview of Cars.
Desert Back Cars
In the beginning, Mattel released a set of 12 Cars on what is called the Desert Back cardback... these were called the DB12 series because there were 12 Cars shown on the back of the card...
A little later Mattel released the Desert Back 16 Cars (DB16)... as you see in the above photo, there are 16 Cars shown on the cardback... Cars were selling so Mattel released more Cars... Desert Back Cars were released on US and International cardbacks; I have no International Desert Back Cars but I know friends who do... The main releases were the singles and a set of 4 Movie Moments... in the 2006 Factory Set, Mattel also included a Desert Back Rollin Bowlin Mater single and a Dirt Track McQueen single.
More details on the Desert Back Cars can be found in the article found at:
http://www.pixarcarsdiecast.com/foru...sert-Back-Cars
The Supercharged Cars Series
The second series (or wave) of Cars was the Supercharged series... Many new Cars were released as singles, in Movie Moments, and in boxed sets... In the above photo, a set of the exclusive Walmart 8 singles is shown... I had not started collecting Cars in earnest when the Walmart 8 were released; I found a few in stores later on but got many from friends or from eBay... I opened many of my Supercharged Cars and did so without taking pictures... today I almost always photograph Cars before tearing the package open... er, carefully opening the package...
Supercharged Cars were released on US cardbacks as well as on international cardback... I have Supercharged singles and boxed sets on both US and International cardback...
Here's a photo showing Dale Jr on both Supercharged and World of Cars international cardback:
I also have Dale Jr on the international Race O Rama cardback as well as on US cardback... How can you tell the Supercharged Dale Jr is on international cardback? You really can't in the above photo... you have to look at the back of the card:
One of the Supercharged boxed sets I have is the Radiator Springs Shopkeepers set... I have it on both US and International cardback:
Here's the cardback:
Two of my other favorite Supercharged boxed sets are the Dinoco 400 set and the Radiator Springs Gift pack:
I won those in a Cars Cares benefit auction.
During the Desert Back and Supercharged series, the Cars had a lot more diecast (metal) in them than the do today or had in later series...the difference in weight between a Supercharged Mater and a Final Lap Mater and a Cars2 Race Team Mater is amazing to me... I think I also still have a few Supercharged Movie Moments.
The World of Cars (WOC) series
The World of Cars (WOC) series came next... Mattel released more and more Cars in this series, including some of the more obscure characters... During this series I was able to find new Cars at most stores that I visited; I also started purchasing cases from online resellers during the WOC series because I was becoming a full-fledged Cars-a-holic... During the WOC series Mattel started releasing Mega size (now called Deluxe size) Cars... I was buying multiples of singles and Mega Size because I wanted to have them opened for display, opened for play, and to keep many of them carded... I met up with a local collector who saw my introductory post on another board and we've become great friends and trading partners... I also met collectors in many different states and countries during the WOC series... some I met in person and others I met via PMs or e-mails.
I received many International cardback WOC Cars during this series... Rippers and I were often sending huge packages to each other during the WOC days...
One of my favorite releases during the WOC days was the set of original Kmart 1 racers with plastic tires:
During the tail end of the WOC series Mattel released their first Chase Cars - Chase Lightning McQueen with Bumper Stickers and Chase Fred with Bumper Stickers were the only Chase Cars released in the WOC series:
Singles, Movie Moments, Mega Size, and Gift Packs - those were all some of the Cars items that came out in the WOC days.
Here's photo showing some of my international cardback WOC Cars:
Story Tellers
Towards the end of the World of Cars era, Mattel released Story Tellers - these were Cars that were part of the expanded Cars universe... maybe not part of the movie, but still Cars... In the US these we available in boxed sets, Christmas singles (originally TRU exclusive and later available to multiple retailers, I believe), and book-like carded versions at Target exclusives... Some of these I never found in stores and had to rely on friends. I have a few unopened singles, 1 2 pack, and a few unopened 3 packs.
Wedding Day Ramone:
Bubba and Brand New Mater:
Cousins: Jud, Buford, and Cletus:
I opened most of the ones that I got... I only got 1 set of the Showstoppers (Sheila, Laverne, and Rhonda) for myself and never took pictures before I opened them... I also made the decision not to get some of them that I already had such as Tractor and Red... The Showstoppers are going for crazy money on eBay these days.
I thought the packaging looked very nice... but they have a tendency to develop soft corners and edges due to how they are packaged... Many of these include repacks of Cars we already had.
Boxed sets included the Mater Saves Christmas sets that have been Target or Toys R US exclusives.
Look for an article on Story Tellers one of these days...
Race O Rama Series
The Race O Rama Series came followed the World of Cars series... Not only were more Cars being released for the first time, more Cars were being re-released on yet another cardback... Mattel had figured out a way to separate many of us from more of our money... Singles... Movie Moments... Gift packs in a horizontal boxed format as opposed to the WOC vertical series... Many Chase Cars came out in the ROR series... I was able to find many of them in stores in the county or on trips to Indianapolis or Dayton...
Here are some ROR 3 packs:
Here are some of the ROR Chase Cars (US cardback):
Here is Impound DJ on both US and International cardback:
This photo shows the cardbacks for both the US and International carded Impound DJ:
I definitely prefer the back of the International version.
During the Race O Rama series Mattel released more Deluxe Cars, launchers, haulers, Lightyear Launchers and more...
Elvis and Frank were 2 of my favorite ROR Mega Size Cars... Here's Frank:
Final Lap Cars
(Final Lap Antonio and Muddy McQueen)
Target exclusive... While I was glad to see new Cars being released, the fact that the closest Target is 50 miles away concerned me... and unlike many products which are stocked the same in all stores, Final Lap Cars were always hit and miss at Target... Some cases I never saw in a store... other cases I saw dozens of... A friend from Alaska sent me several of the Final Lap Case E Cars...
Another drawback of this product line was that a case of 18 might consist of 8 or 9 new Cars (4 each of 2 or 3 each of 3) and the release of McQueen, Ramone, and Chick on the new cardback... That was a problem... stores sold the new Cars but were stuck with pegwarmers (where have we heard of that before or still?)...
I originally did not buy all of the pegwarmers for myself... during 2013 I made the decision to complete the series and I did... it cost me a lot more money than if I would have bought them originally.
Later releases of Final Lap Cars consisted of 12 Cars - 3 sets of 4 new Cars or 4 sets of 3 new Cars... I had pretty good luck finding the last 2 cases of Final Lap Cars... There were 2 cases of Final Lap Cars released in the UK as Target cut back on their orders.
The following articles talk about the Final Lap Cars in more detail.
http://www.pixarcarsdiecast.com/foru...s-%28Part-1%29
http://www.pixarcarsdiecast.com/foru...al-Lap-Singles
http://www.pixarcarsdiecast.com/foru...ap-Re-releases
Lenticular singles
Some like MrBrownstone love lenticulars - Cars that were advertised as "Look, my eyes change"... some of us tolerated lenticular Cars... others hated them... I have very few of these Look my eyes change Cars... I gave most of them away... the Chase Cars are an exception... Many Chase Cars in this series had fixed eyes; as I started collecting Cars with fixed eyes, that was my preference.
The second wave of lenticular singles featured a Night Skyline cardback:
The above Chase Guido and Luigi is the only Chase Car that I never got on US cardback... I never saw it in a store... I never bought it on eBay...
Here's a photo showing a few more of the Night Skyline lenticulars as well as a few Toons:
Lenticular Cars have made a return in the 2013 Mattel Cars product line... I've only seen a few of them at a few stores and have not bought any.
Night Skyline Cars
The Night Skyline series consisted of Deluxe size Cars and various gift packs, launchers, and Lightyear Launchers and Haulers that were available to all retailers; they were not exclusive... Many of the Night Skyline Deluxe size Cars were released exclusively in the UK... While some people don't believe in collecting Cars that are released on International cardback, here are a few you would not have in your collection if it wasn't for the International cardback versions:
Chuck Choke Cables:
Brian Parks Motors:
Stu Bop:
US stores canceled orders of the Deluxe Cars cases - they were stuck with too many pegwarmers (Semi cabs) and didn't know how to tell between various Deluxe size Cars... stores use the same item number for multiple items; that makes it impossible to accurately track what is selling and what isn't.
Here's Bessie:
I got 3 Bessie from UK friends... it looked like this Car was not going to be released in the US... Then I heard that they'd been found at Burlington Coat Factory - I went to check out a few of those stores and did find a few... I think I may still have one Bessie on US cardback - there is one at the flea market for $85 plus tax (I guess I should have bought it when it was $28.00).
So when I'd make a trip to Dayton or Indianapolis, I'd stop at Target, Toys R US, Walmart, Kmart, and other stores such as Burlington Coat Factory, Kohl's, and more... secondary retailers were getting in new products that the 4 largest retailers would not.
Cars2 - The Porto Corsa series
The Cars2 product line launched with great fanfare on May 16, 2011... Cars2 merchandise was everywhere... unfortunately, almost every store had the same products... the same Cars... and way too many of them... The original release was on the Porto Corsa cardback:
Walmart had some exclusive releases known as the Mater's Secret Mission series:
Cars2 - The London cardback
Mattel later released some Cars2 merchandise on a London cardback... here is a Quick Changers Grem with crash damage... note the clock tower on the card:
Because stores were stuck with Porto Corsa Cars, very few items were released on this cardback.
Cars2 - The Tokyo cardback
In 2012 Mattel released the Cars2 Tokyo cardback... Movie Moments were the main product released on this cardback... in the US we saw one case that consisted of the re-release of Brent Mustangburger/Darrell Cartrip, Professor Z/Acer with Helmet, and Francesco Bernoulli/Ka-Ciao McQueen... and that was it... a second case containing Miguel Camino/Petro Cartalina, Miles Axelrod/cleaning pitties, and Mama/Uncle Topolino was released on a limited basis outside the US... I was fortunate to have friends help me with those Movie Moments; I hope they are released in the US sometime... They were found in TK Maxx stores in the UK; since TK Maxx and TJ Maxx (the US chain) have the same parent company, TJX, I hope that one day we'll see them in the US.
Radiator Springs Classic - Toys R US exclusive
Toys R US got burned by Cars2 pegwarmers... they simply didn't order many (or any) newer cases... as Mattel announced the end of Cars2 merchandise and the return of Cars, Toys R US came out with their exclusive Radiator Springs Classic series... these Cars had all been released before, but many of them were very limited in release or had not been released as singles before.
The Fabulous Hudson Hornet was my favorite from the first release.
Several of the racers have been released as singles (with plastic tires) in this series - Shiny Wax, Octane Gain, and N2O Cola are ones that come to mine... supposedly we'll see more in this series... time will tell.
In addition to singles, there have also been 3 packs:
And a 10 pack which is great for the new collector but disappointing to those of us who have been collecting for awhile because we already have them all many times over:
I thought about buying the Three-Way Tie... but I've got them all and have not seen many of them with blisters and cardboard in good condition.
2013 Cardback
When Mattel launched the 2013 series, many of us had not found new Cars for quite awhile... it was going to take a lot to jump start collector desire... Mattel managed to rekindle my interest... Originally I was only going to buy new Cars... and then we discovered there were variants - many Cars that had originally been released as 2 piece Cars were being re-released as one piece (unibody) Cars... I even bought Finn McMissile on the 2013 cardback because it was a unibody... and then the 2 piece on 2013 cardback because it was rare:
For the 2013 series, Mattel grouped Cars together by sub-series... you can see our checklist at:
http://www.pixarcarsdiecast.com/foru...list-by-series
Thanks to Fillmore1234 for his work on this checklist - he put a lot of time and effort into and I think it looks great.
We saw both new Deluxe Cars and the return of previous Deluxe Cars on the 2013 cardback... Here's Materhosen:
and here's Chase Francesco Fan Mater:
Here's is the Tubbs Pacer with spray paint/Tolga Trunkov Movie Moments, one of my favorite Movie Moments on the 2013 cardback:
We're now waiting for the 3rd case of Movie Moments on the 2013 cardback - it's got many eagerly awaited Cars, including the Uncle Topolino's Band 4 pack.
As the Mattel year ends at the end of October, we have about 3 months remaining until we see the 2014 series...
In Conclusion
I bought some Cars on International Cardback because that's how they were first released (or only released) or because I really liked the Car... I collected US Chase Cars and decided I wanted to have Chase Cars on International cards... Some Cars I didn't have carded so if I could buy it carded on a new cardback I did.
Here's the Tow Cap and Gasprin Movie Moments on World of Cars, Race O Rama, and Night Skyline cardback:
Did you know that Tow Cap is Reboque Cap?
Neither did I until I took out this Movie Moments this evening to photograph... I tended to buy racers in as many formats as I could... And if they release additional Piston Cup racers as singles, I'll buy them even though I already have them in various formats.
I also bought multiples of the Lightning McQueen/Kori Turbowitz international carded Movie Moments as I had trouble finding the Walmart 8 Kori single:
And once again, I'm more than ready to find new Cars in stores or online... and I think many of you are too.
We'll look at the various series of Cars in more depth in future articles and other posts.
As always, thanks for reading... I appreciate your comments and your feedback...
Chris
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