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It may seem with the over-saturation of early Cars2 releases that all Cars are easy to find, but that's definitely not the case... There are some Cars from the Cars and Cars2 movies as well as the Cars Toon shorts that are hard to find, or rare... some of these are getting even harder to find, even on eBay and Amazon.
We'll use this thread to try to identify those harder to find Cars... this will help new collectors as well as those of us who have been collecting for awhile learn what to be on the lookout for.
Feel free to contribute to this thread.
Some items on this list are going to be fairly easy to identify... others, not so... Certain items were released in certain countries so what might have been rare in one country might have been not so rare in another... Some items were plentiful for a short time period before disappearing from store shelves... Some items never made it to retail stores due to stores getting stuck with too many of the non-selling pegwarmers in earlier cases.
We'll add photos where possible.
Let's begin...
2006 Factory set
The 2006 Factory set was limited to 500 sets total... I believe it was originally available through the Hot Wheels RLC site at a cost of $149.99 plus shipping... it consisted of Desert Box singles and Movie Moments packages, and 2 first time carded releases as singles: Dirt Track Lightning McQueen and Rollin Bowlin Mater... This is one set I don't have in my collection and probably never will; current prices range from $1900 to $5000... even I have my limits.
Speedway of the South set
The Speedway of the South set came out in May 2008... I learned about it that March and joined the Hot Wheels RLC just to have a chance to purchase one of 1000 sets of the 36 Piston Cup Racers from Cars... With shipping and RLC membership fees, it was right around $362.00... When my wife learned I'd spent that much on one Cars item she was not happy with me... 2 weeks later, when they were going for $1200 on eBay, she wanted to know why I didn't buy 2 of them.
Here's a photo of the 36 Cars in the 2 trays:
I'm not sure I've taken photos of the display box... I still haven't assembled my SOTS set.
World of Cars Spare Mint Gift Pack
While almost anything from the World of Cars series is considered rare today, the Spare Mint Gift pack would be one of the most rare items... it was released in Singapore and possibly Thailand...
Lizzie
Everybody loves Lizzie... she was released as a single in the Desert Back series, the Supercharged Series, and the World of Cars series... she was released in some boxed sets in the Supercharged series... She hasn't been released since late 2008...
I remember leaving several Lizzie on the pegs at $2.00 each towards the end of the Supercharged series... In late 2010 I saw several Supercharged Lizzie at the flea market for $10 each and bought them all for friends who needed them... last I checked the flea market had one remaining but had raised the price to $30.00.
Blue-Ray Lightning McQueen
Limited to 15000 pieces... was available free if you purchased Cars on DVD... I already had Cars on DVD and wasn't going to buy it again just to get a free Car that wasn't even in the movie... Silly me....
Rollin Bowlin Mater
I left dozens of these at the local KB Toys when they were going out of business... the price was $10.00... at the time I wasn't collecting Cars... Sigh...
Bessie
(McQueen with shovel "pulling" Bessie)
For being a non-speaking character in Cars, Bessie sure was popular... by the time the Deluxe Bessie was announced, stores in the US were stuck with Mega Size Semis and not ordering new products... I received a couple from friends in the UK... the only stores in the US I found Bessie at were Burlington Coat Factory stores... Bessie just sold on eBay for $221.90.
Frank
Everybody knows Frank... the large combine that protects the Tractors... Frank was originally released on the Race O Rama cardback and then the Night Skyline cardback... again, stores didn't get a lot of those cases because they got stuck with cases containing too many semis.
I have more photos of Frank somewhere.
As it's getting to be time to get ready for work, I'll just list a few items for now and then add photos and reasons later.
From the Cars Toon series:
El Materdor
Chuy
Tokyo Mater with Oil Stains
From Cars:
Brian Parks Motors
Chuck Choke Cables
Stu Bop
From Cars2:
Newer items that haven't shown up in stores yet... online resellers have been pretty much the sole source so far although some of the 2 packs did show up at secondary resellers such as Gordman's in the US... The Security Guard Finn 2 pack was just found at a few Walmart stores in Texas within the last 2 weeks.
Movie Moments:
Mama Topolino/Uncle Topolino
Security Guard Finn McMissile
Ka-Ciao Lightning McQueen/Francesco
Acer with Helmet/
Singles:
Chase Radiator Springs Ramone
Metallic Paint Finn McMissile - available in the Walmart exclusive Cars2 Blu-ray movie... it was also added to the D23 Submarine Finn McMissile to increase sales of that item - with all the Submarine Finn McMissile on store pegs, people weren't buy the D23 Submarine Finn to get it in a nice box.
We'll add more to this thread in the coming weeks.
My best advice to you is this... if you see something at retail that you want that you don't have in your collection, buy it... make friends in other countries... I've had numerous trades with UK friends Rippers, MrBrownstone, niler7, madbob, pirelliboy, and djjd21... I've had numerous trades with friends in Canada such as cvc1968, toughenoughallnightlong, and stukatso... Trades with friends in Singapore and Germany... I've had numerous trades with friends in many states including Alaska, California, Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Missouri, Texas, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Washington, and Tennessee...
There are items that you'll have to pay more for... but check with friends before spending more for something than you'll have to.
Again, feel free to add to this thread.
Chris
We'll use this thread to try to identify those harder to find Cars... this will help new collectors as well as those of us who have been collecting for awhile learn what to be on the lookout for.
Feel free to contribute to this thread.
Some items on this list are going to be fairly easy to identify... others, not so... Certain items were released in certain countries so what might have been rare in one country might have been not so rare in another... Some items were plentiful for a short time period before disappearing from store shelves... Some items never made it to retail stores due to stores getting stuck with too many of the non-selling pegwarmers in earlier cases.
We'll add photos where possible.
Let's begin...
2006 Factory set
The 2006 Factory set was limited to 500 sets total... I believe it was originally available through the Hot Wheels RLC site at a cost of $149.99 plus shipping... it consisted of Desert Box singles and Movie Moments packages, and 2 first time carded releases as singles: Dirt Track Lightning McQueen and Rollin Bowlin Mater... This is one set I don't have in my collection and probably never will; current prices range from $1900 to $5000... even I have my limits.
Speedway of the South set
The Speedway of the South set came out in May 2008... I learned about it that March and joined the Hot Wheels RLC just to have a chance to purchase one of 1000 sets of the 36 Piston Cup Racers from Cars... With shipping and RLC membership fees, it was right around $362.00... When my wife learned I'd spent that much on one Cars item she was not happy with me... 2 weeks later, when they were going for $1200 on eBay, she wanted to know why I didn't buy 2 of them.
Here's a photo of the 36 Cars in the 2 trays:
I'm not sure I've taken photos of the display box... I still haven't assembled my SOTS set.
World of Cars Spare Mint Gift Pack
While almost anything from the World of Cars series is considered rare today, the Spare Mint Gift pack would be one of the most rare items... it was released in Singapore and possibly Thailand...
Lizzie
Everybody loves Lizzie... she was released as a single in the Desert Back series, the Supercharged Series, and the World of Cars series... she was released in some boxed sets in the Supercharged series... She hasn't been released since late 2008...
I remember leaving several Lizzie on the pegs at $2.00 each towards the end of the Supercharged series... In late 2010 I saw several Supercharged Lizzie at the flea market for $10 each and bought them all for friends who needed them... last I checked the flea market had one remaining but had raised the price to $30.00.
Blue-Ray Lightning McQueen
Limited to 15000 pieces... was available free if you purchased Cars on DVD... I already had Cars on DVD and wasn't going to buy it again just to get a free Car that wasn't even in the movie... Silly me....
Rollin Bowlin Mater
I left dozens of these at the local KB Toys when they were going out of business... the price was $10.00... at the time I wasn't collecting Cars... Sigh...
Bessie
(McQueen with shovel "pulling" Bessie)
For being a non-speaking character in Cars, Bessie sure was popular... by the time the Deluxe Bessie was announced, stores in the US were stuck with Mega Size Semis and not ordering new products... I received a couple from friends in the UK... the only stores in the US I found Bessie at were Burlington Coat Factory stores... Bessie just sold on eBay for $221.90.
Frank
Everybody knows Frank... the large combine that protects the Tractors... Frank was originally released on the Race O Rama cardback and then the Night Skyline cardback... again, stores didn't get a lot of those cases because they got stuck with cases containing too many semis.
I have more photos of Frank somewhere.
As it's getting to be time to get ready for work, I'll just list a few items for now and then add photos and reasons later.
From the Cars Toon series:
El Materdor
Chuy
Tokyo Mater with Oil Stains
From Cars:
Brian Parks Motors
Chuck Choke Cables
Stu Bop
From Cars2:
Newer items that haven't shown up in stores yet... online resellers have been pretty much the sole source so far although some of the 2 packs did show up at secondary resellers such as Gordman's in the US... The Security Guard Finn 2 pack was just found at a few Walmart stores in Texas within the last 2 weeks.
Movie Moments:
Mama Topolino/Uncle Topolino
Security Guard Finn McMissile
Ka-Ciao Lightning McQueen/Francesco
Acer with Helmet/
Singles:
Chase Radiator Springs Ramone
Metallic Paint Finn McMissile - available in the Walmart exclusive Cars2 Blu-ray movie... it was also added to the D23 Submarine Finn McMissile to increase sales of that item - with all the Submarine Finn McMissile on store pegs, people weren't buy the D23 Submarine Finn to get it in a nice box.
We'll add more to this thread in the coming weeks.
My best advice to you is this... if you see something at retail that you want that you don't have in your collection, buy it... make friends in other countries... I've had numerous trades with UK friends Rippers, MrBrownstone, niler7, madbob, pirelliboy, and djjd21... I've had numerous trades with friends in Canada such as cvc1968, toughenoughallnightlong, and stukatso... Trades with friends in Singapore and Germany... I've had numerous trades with friends in many states including Alaska, California, Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Missouri, Texas, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Washington, and Tennessee...
There are items that you'll have to pay more for... but check with friends before spending more for something than you'll have to.
Again, feel free to add to this thread.
Chris
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