Several months 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 - the Apple iCar, #84...
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 - Apple iCar, #84...
There has only been one official release of the Apple iCar - in the Speedway of the South set... There were only 1000 officially produced... there have been some factory backdoor releases... the Apple iCar has also been a favorite of customizers.
In this article, we'll take a look only at the iCar racer; we'll look at custom pittys, crew chief, hauler, and semi in another installment.
Speedway of the South Apple iCar
The above picture shows the bottom of the racer... note the date code of 2847 EA.
Let's compare with a photo showing the bottom of a backdoor Apple:
While the date code is the same, notice that the font is different... the EA is thicker in the bottom one... Also notice that the 7 is different as well as the 8.
Anyway, back to pictures of the Speedway of the South version:
(Note - the blob in the picture is poster putty)
Front view:
On a track from one of the 3 packs:
Looks great in front of the stands, eh?
Here's another shot of the date code:
Backdoor Apple iCar
In addition to the font difference, the difference in the 8 and the difference in the 7, the back wheels on most of the backdoor models move in and out on the rear axle - it's as if a piece is missing.
Side view:
Front view - note how the back tires have shifted to the passenger side of the Car:
Note how the back tires have shifted to the driver side of the Car:
The backdoor model was produced in the factory... they are very expensive today.
Custom Apple iCar
I have had custom Apple iCars made by two different customizers... one made me a crew chief and pittys along with a rubber tire racer... sadly, he's no longer in business and quit returning phone calls and e-mails... I will add a photo of the rubber tire racer in the future.
My current Apple iCar was made by Willie Chan - he sells on eBay as Custom ToyRevolution... He does fantastic work... He's not cheap - I paid $65 shipped for my custom Apple... and my grandchildren played with it and chipped paint on the front fender... oh well, that's OK - it is a toy.
Here are more pictures:
Rear view:
Side view:
In conclusion
From left to right, Speedway of the South set Apple, backdoor Apple, and custom Apple.
Here's a side by side photo showing the Speedway of the South Apple and the backdoor Apple:
If you want an Apple iCar racer today, your most economical one is to have a custom made... some of you may be able to make your own customs... that was not an option for me... I don't have the tools, the skills, or the patience needed to do it myself... I highly recommend Custom ToyRevolution... I intend to have him create more customs for me in 2013.
I also have a custom rubber tire racer (made from a Kmart 2 Shifty Drug or Clutch Aid), a chrome Apple custom racer, and custom pittys, crew chief, hauler, and a backdoor semi (cab)... I'll show those in an upcoming article.
So if you're not sure if an Apple iCar is genuine or a backdoor, you need to look at:
The font - the Speedway of the South version has a thin font.
The 8 in the date code is different.
The 7 in the date code is different.
On the side of the SOTS version, dashed lines around the sponsor names... dots around the sponsor names on the backdoor version.
I didn't intend to publish this article this quickly after publishing the previous one; however, there were some questions raised as to whether a member had received an Apple iCar from the Speedway of the South set or a backdoor version... I thought I'd get the information and photos on the site for members to see.
That wraps up this installment of Respect the Classics... 14.5 Piston Cup racers done... 21.5 to go... As always, thank you for reading... I appreciate your comments.
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