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Every so often, Mattel makes available special Cars available to purchase either at the SDCC (San Diego Comic Con) event and/or at MattyCollector.com... In this post, I'll talk about these exclusives and show pictures.
SDCC 2008 - Lightning Storm McQueen
The first exclusive Car in this category was the 2008 SDCC Lightning Storm McQueen... This Car featured a ransburg paint job and rubber tires... it was packaged in an acrylic display case...
Here are some photos (I have included the "regular" Lightning Storm McQueen in a couple of them for comparision):
The 2008 SDCC was held between July 24 and July 28... A friend of mine bought one for me at the event and shipped it out later... I believe it was $20 plus shipping... this Car has gone up in value - I picked up another one for around $35 in the spring of 2010... It's listed on eBay (July 6, 2011) for between $50 and $57 plus shipping.
SDCC 2009 - Rescue Squad Mater
The 2009 SDCC was held between July 23 and July 27... The Cars exclusive item was from the Cars Toon line... it was the ransburg edition of the Rescue Squad Mater set... Not only were the Cars special, the box included the ability to display flames.
GOMATERGO and I each ordered one from someone on TakeFiveADay who was going to the event just in case there were problems with the MattyCollector order and fulfillment site; as fulfillment is done by Digital River, there have been issues.
I also ordered a few on MattyCollector.com after the event when there were some left...
In my opinion, this is a very nice set... There was a regular 4 piece Rescue Squad Mater Cars Toon set that included non-ransburg versions of these 3 Cars as well as a Rescue Squad Chopper... This SDCC exclusive is currently listed for between $42 and $70 on eBay.
SDCC 2010 - Tokyo Mater
SDCC 2010 was July 22 - July 25... For the second consecutive year, a Cars Toon item was the exclusive Car... Tokyo Mater with flames... here are some photos:
I believe the Tokyo Mater exclusive sold for $15 plus shipping/tax... it was available online at MattyCollector.com after SDCC had ended... It is currently listed on eBay for between $50 and $70.
It was during this sale that I noticed that more than just Cars exclusives were made for SDCC... I was able to purchase one of these from another friend in California; it sold out during the SDCC event and is now listed for between $69 and $90 on eBay.
I ain't afraid of no ghosts...
2011 - Barry Diesel
After not having any new Cars items on MattyCollector.com for quite a while (Matty has had the reputation of being a joke), 2011 featured Barry Diesel - a Dinoco guzzling RV... This item was announced towards the end of Winter 2011 and went on sale on Matty on April 15, 2011... I ordered several - I helped out several friends who were unable to order... this was my smoothest transaction involving the Digital River ordering system...
The Car was not cheap - it was $25 plus shipping and tax per each one - it's a large Deluxe Car no larger than a hauler... I think it's a great looking Car...
Here are pictures:
The one that I opened is housed in one of my Carney Plastics display cases:
A lot of people feel that this item was too expensive... they may be right... it's still available for purchase on MattyCollector.com as of July 6, 2011.
http://www.mattycollector.com/store/...oryID.12524900
All the other SDCC Cars exclusives have long since sold out on the Matty site... that includes the 1:24 scale items which have shown up at a few retailers who liquidate products... and some of the SDCC exclusives sold out at the event and never were available to purchase online.
2011 SDCC
Many collectors have been asking what special Cars item will be the 2011 SDCC exclusive... We've been told that there will not be one available... I wonder if it's because of all the new Cars2 products that have been available for the last 2 to 3 month - maybe Mattel was afraid it would be lost in the shuffle or that we've spent so much money on Cars2 items that we wouldn't have money left... Who knows... I'm not worried about it... my wallet may enjoy a few weeks to recover...
In conclusion
I'm glad that these special Cars have been available to purchase online... I wish Mattel would better utilize mattycollector.com... I know I would gladly purchase the remaining Cars Team Crew Sets (crew chief and pittys) if they were available to buy online... I'd also buy the remaining haulers or hauler/racer/pitty sets as well as the Pit Row Race-off launchers... If they'd put just one on sale each month... they wouldn't have had to mess with retailers who got burned on poor case assortments and illogical distribution... but that's another story...
Thanks for reading...
SDCC 2008 - Lightning Storm McQueen
The first exclusive Car in this category was the 2008 SDCC Lightning Storm McQueen... This Car featured a ransburg paint job and rubber tires... it was packaged in an acrylic display case...
Here are some photos (I have included the "regular" Lightning Storm McQueen in a couple of them for comparision):
The 2008 SDCC was held between July 24 and July 28... A friend of mine bought one for me at the event and shipped it out later... I believe it was $20 plus shipping... this Car has gone up in value - I picked up another one for around $35 in the spring of 2010... It's listed on eBay (July 6, 2011) for between $50 and $57 plus shipping.
SDCC 2009 - Rescue Squad Mater
The 2009 SDCC was held between July 23 and July 27... The Cars exclusive item was from the Cars Toon line... it was the ransburg edition of the Rescue Squad Mater set... Not only were the Cars special, the box included the ability to display flames.
GOMATERGO and I each ordered one from someone on TakeFiveADay who was going to the event just in case there were problems with the MattyCollector order and fulfillment site; as fulfillment is done by Digital River, there have been issues.
I also ordered a few on MattyCollector.com after the event when there were some left...
In my opinion, this is a very nice set... There was a regular 4 piece Rescue Squad Mater Cars Toon set that included non-ransburg versions of these 3 Cars as well as a Rescue Squad Chopper... This SDCC exclusive is currently listed for between $42 and $70 on eBay.
SDCC 2010 - Tokyo Mater
SDCC 2010 was July 22 - July 25... For the second consecutive year, a Cars Toon item was the exclusive Car... Tokyo Mater with flames... here are some photos:
I believe the Tokyo Mater exclusive sold for $15 plus shipping/tax... it was available online at MattyCollector.com after SDCC had ended... It is currently listed on eBay for between $50 and $70.
It was during this sale that I noticed that more than just Cars exclusives were made for SDCC... I was able to purchase one of these from another friend in California; it sold out during the SDCC event and is now listed for between $69 and $90 on eBay.
I ain't afraid of no ghosts...
2011 - Barry Diesel
After not having any new Cars items on MattyCollector.com for quite a while (Matty has had the reputation of being a joke), 2011 featured Barry Diesel - a Dinoco guzzling RV... This item was announced towards the end of Winter 2011 and went on sale on Matty on April 15, 2011... I ordered several - I helped out several friends who were unable to order... this was my smoothest transaction involving the Digital River ordering system...
The Car was not cheap - it was $25 plus shipping and tax per each one - it's a large Deluxe Car no larger than a hauler... I think it's a great looking Car...
Here are pictures:
The one that I opened is housed in one of my Carney Plastics display cases:
A lot of people feel that this item was too expensive... they may be right... it's still available for purchase on MattyCollector.com as of July 6, 2011.
http://www.mattycollector.com/store/...oryID.12524900
All the other SDCC Cars exclusives have long since sold out on the Matty site... that includes the 1:24 scale items which have shown up at a few retailers who liquidate products... and some of the SDCC exclusives sold out at the event and never were available to purchase online.
2011 SDCC
Many collectors have been asking what special Cars item will be the 2011 SDCC exclusive... We've been told that there will not be one available... I wonder if it's because of all the new Cars2 products that have been available for the last 2 to 3 month - maybe Mattel was afraid it would be lost in the shuffle or that we've spent so much money on Cars2 items that we wouldn't have money left... Who knows... I'm not worried about it... my wallet may enjoy a few weeks to recover...
In conclusion
I'm glad that these special Cars have been available to purchase online... I wish Mattel would better utilize mattycollector.com... I know I would gladly purchase the remaining Cars Team Crew Sets (crew chief and pittys) if they were available to buy online... I'd also buy the remaining haulers or hauler/racer/pitty sets as well as the Pit Row Race-off launchers... If they'd put just one on sale each month... they wouldn't have had to mess with retailers who got burned on poor case assortments and illogical distribution... but that's another story...
Thanks for reading...
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