Great Britain and Northern Ireland 2018/19/20/21/22/23 Finds

[niftynigel]

Case AE has just started to arrive at Smyths. The website states that they will be in stores this week.
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I just popped down to my nearest one (about 20 miles away) and bought Jimmy Cables, Hot Rod Junior Moon, Sputter Stop Racing Tractor and Lightning McQueen (with Piston Cup).
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It looked like they had an initial allocation of two cases, as they still had plenty of the last 2020 case in stock!
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On another recent trip, I noticed that The Entertainer and Toymaster had XRS Mud Racing singles, XRS Drag Racing singles and Rocket Racing singles all priced at £4.99 GBP. B&M Bargains had some of those too.

[boogity]

cracker finds nigel, we still behind in locktown, smyths arnt open yet, maybe try sainsburys over weekend if weather poor

[niftynigel]

To bolster the GB and NI finds ... already posted in the general finds!

I went to my local Sainsburys on Tuesday evening. They had the remnants of the AD case. I purchased The Easter Buggy. The few cars were on offer down from £7.00 to £5.25. I then went onto a few local Sainsburys, taking in ASDA, Morrisons and Tescos too - not a car in sight.

Tonight, I decided to go a little further afield and go to my nearest Smyths, 20 miles away. They had loads of the final 2020 case!

I thought I'd take a slight detour on my way home. First big Sainsburys nothing. The second one had a few cars, so I picked up Pat Traxson and H.J. Hollis. There was a member of staff in the toy section. I asked her if they had any more, but unfortunately not. She did say that a very big store only three miles away had three nearly full cases! I got there with about ten minutes to spare before closing! I picked up Aiden, Ruby Easy Oaks, Ramone (Green), Ducky Fauntleroy, Lighting McQueen as Easter Buggy and Taco! There appeared to be more than one Suki per case and more than one Cartney Carsper, so it looks like Racing Red Jackson Storm is not in that case or at least the variant that Sainsburys have! They were £5.25 at all stores! Funny how some stores got multiple cases and most stores got none!

[niftynigel]

happy belated birthday old son, you got a good haul of cars, her indoors did you proud
we got our jabs on 1st march, still working away as hard as ever, got a cracker wee tesco lego van, came with lego tesco man, it cool
havnt been looking for cars recently, but spotted metallic union jack ramone in sainsbury, would of bought it back in the day, but left him
cycling spring classics now on, so thats keeping me in front of the telly,
what you make of those two jokers,nigel? what a pair of wasters, harrybo lost the plot

I'm confused - there are lot more than two jokers in the world and most of them are not funny! They are in every walk of life!

If you are referring to sport, there is such a fine line between success and failure. Look at the bizarre season in the (English) Premier League and even the (English) Premier Rugby!

One minute you're a hero, then the next minute you're a zero!

On the Cars front, I hope to be able to go into London after the shops open in April. With a bit of luck, there might be some 2021 cars!

[boogity]

happy belated birthday old son, you got a good haul of cars, her indoors did you proud
we got our jabs on 1st march, still working away as hard as ever, got a cracker wee tesco lego van, came with lego tesco man, it cool
havnt been looking for cars recently, but spotted metallic union jack ramone in sainsbury, would of bought it back in the day, but left him
cycling spring classics now on, so thats keeping me in front of the telly,
what you make of those two jokers,nigel? what a pair of wasters, harrybo lost the plot

[cac1959]

Nice finds, niftynigel... over the years I've learned to buy what I can when I see it... I have seen case AC multiple times... I bought most of the ones you bought but passed on Rust-eze Lightning McQueen, Tex, Jimbo, and Tom W... I figured one each in the case I bought was enough.

VANDANCE - the only Racing Red Car I've seen in a store is the Jackson Storm... I only have a Mater because I bought the AB case... it looks like I'll have to spend $25 on eBay to get another Racing Red Mater - that case has to be somewhere, but no idea where.

[VANDANCE]

I was hoping to see some of the ‘racing red’ series on these clip strips but sadly not. The four big Asda’s in my area have have multiple clip strips and the same assortment. I was pleased with Hot Rod River Scott, Caleb Worley and Will Rusch. Also found 2021 mini racers.

[niftynigel]

On my home from my first COVID-19 jab, I popped into the two nearest ASDA superstores. One ASDA (Burgh Heath) was very near the major local vaccination centre - Epsom Downs Racecourse. The ASDA at Sutton didn't have any cars, neither did the Morrisons or Sainsburys. The large Tesco Superstore at Cheam didn't have any cars too!

As the non-essential shops in England aren't due to open for at least another four weeks, I gave in to temptation and purchased the ten cars I wanted on the clipstrip cards. Apart from all having the same barcode and different SKUs to the cars in regular cases and the clipstrip cut out hanger, they are identical to the international cards.

As these cars are from the 'AC' case assortment, it's likely that some of them won't be repeated or released in regular cases in the UK. I think Smyths are starting from the 'AD' and 'AE' assortments. This influenced my decision to purchase the cars - they were £6.47 GBP each. That's a good price by UK standards, but still works out at around $9 USD.
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The full assortment is:
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KORI TURBOWITZ	1
JEFF GORVETTE	2
J.D McPILLAR (TOW CAP No.4)	2
HOT ROD RIVER SCOTT	1
MANNY FLYWHEEL (N20 Cola No. 68)	1
DARREN LEADFOOT (SHINY WAX No. 82)	1
WILL RUSCH (VINYL TOUPEE No. 76) (2G)	1
CALEB WORLEY	1
EASY IDLE RACING TRACTOR	1
KATHY COPTER	1
PIT CREW MEMBER FILLMORE	1
RUST-EZE LIGHTNING McQUEEN	2
FABULOUS LIGHTNING McQUEEN	1
TOM W. (Trainee No. 061)	1
MAX SCHNELL	1
TEX DINOCO	1
DINOCO CRUZ RAMIREZ	2
MATER	1
JIMBO	1
PILEUP	1

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The cars I purchased were:
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CALEB WORLEY

EASY IDLE RACING TRACTOR

HOT ROD RIVER SCOTT

J.D McPILLAR (TOW CAP No.4) (2G)

JIMBO

PILEUP

RUST-EZE LIGHTNING McQUEEN

TEX DINOCO

TOM W. (Trainee No. 061)

WILL RUSCH (VINYL TOUPEE No. 76)

[cac1959]

Happy Belated Birthday, niftynigel! Congratulations on the Deluxe Cars that your wife bought you as presents... that's a nice lot.... and congratulations on reaching the 1000 post level.

[niftynigel]

I forgot to say, that a few weeks ago, for my birthday, my wife got me a few deluxes that I was missing, Frank Pinkerton, WGP Globie, Mr. Drippy and T.J. Well pleased with that lot!

I just realised that I reached 1,000 posts - Cars-a-holic! It's taken me nearly none years!

[niftynigel]

Also posted on the ASDA UK finds ...

Getting out in the current lockdown has proven to be very difficult. I was out and about today for work and popped into ASDA Sheerwater, near Woking.

They appeared to have two near full clipstrips of cars. I counted 43 cars (out of a possible 48).

The actual assortment is identical to the US 95AC case.

There's probably 10 or 11 cars in that assortment that I would like to get when they are included in regular cases.

Smyths are due a case, which looks like it's similar, if not identical to the 95AD case.

If all goes according to plan, all non-essential shops in England are supposed to open in the middle of April. Here's hoping ... I've had my first COVID-19 jab by then and the shops open as planned!!

[cac1959]

Thank you for the update, niftynigel... lockdowns such as the one in the UK are tough but until we have better control on COVID throughout the world are more necessary than some people think...I am hopeful that with the change of leadership in the US that the US may be able to do a better job than has been shown since the start of the pandemic.

Congratulations on your 2020 Florida Ramone find..

Sorry to hear about the VAT implementation on eBay... eBay in the US now charges sales tax for the buyer's state - all my eBay purchases are now 7% higher than the were... and since going to Cars shop does not happen often for me because of COVID, I've been buying more on eBay and/or buying 2021 singles cases.

[niftynigel]

England has been in a national lockdown for around two weeks - the first review is 15 February. No one is expecting the situation to change before all the vulnerable groups have had at least their first vaccine. Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have devolved governments - they have similar measures in place, indeed Scotland's rules are much more severe than England's. Thankfully, the figures appear to be lowering, both in terms of confirmed cases and deaths. The lockdown is likely to be progressively lifted from just before Easter. I don't know if that means non-essential shops can reopen.

Smyths Toy Superstores have been busy adding loads of 2021 singles to their website, but as they are showing loads of end of 2020 stock in stores, so unless they have a clearance sale, it could be months before they get 2021 cars in.

With the new film due in the Spring, I can actually see a situation where they cancel the 2021 cars. Any early 2021 cases that made it to the UK, may end of at TK Maxx, B&M Bargains, Toymaster and The Entertainer at £3.99.

I actually bought my first car in ages earlier this month. It was a 2020 Florida Ramone. Until Hydraulic Florida Ramone landed in the UK at the end of 2020, we hadn't had any of the Florida Ramones!

We might be confined to eBay in the UK for the time being. The EU and the UK have tightened up the rules on internet sellers having to register for VAT (sales tax). This is easy for big companies like Amazon, but private sellers, selling from the EU to the UK and vice versa are deterred from selling as they won't be VAT registered in a number of countries. This is nothing to do with Brexit, but has been planned for some years. It may eventually pave the way for a digital tax?

The UK and EU have a shared procedure, where goods under the value of 135 GBP or 150 Euros are not subject to Customs charges. Over this there will be customs charges and (Royal Mail) handling fees. VAT will be paid by the purchaser. Under this amount, VAT is paid by the seller as part of the transaction. This is what has put a number of small sellers off selling between the UK and EU.

Finally, the low value consignment relief (goods under 15 GBP or 22 Euros) has been scrapped by the EU and UK. It was possible to purchase VAT free purchases, e.g. CDs from companies registered in some tax havens, e.g. Switzerland. Those that are still trading across the water, have now raised their prices to accommodate the buyers local VAT rate.

[boogity]

also
2 other good finds
lego type tesco truck with wee mini tesco man figure, it down fom 20 to 10 and is now worth with, pretty good , i can now create tesco man diaoramas like the one where i fell down wifies steps and buggared me knee
second find was in lidl, it a glass display cabinet , in white or wood, holds i reckon 50 1.43rd,s also be good for 1.55 cars too, could get 75 plus in
looks good and good price too at 59.95, substanial unit , yet to build it .... it for me overflow 1.43 ferraris
good looking item
no room in house for another unfortunately
have a good christmas, keep ,er lit and stay safe

[boogity]

found wave 7 maybe series 1 mini racers in tesco, some had been opened , but they the ones i wanted, trainee, black white mater, transforming mcq and rusteze filmore
cars down to 5.50 but only had 2 old card storm, prob is they come in in 12s now and dont know what box looks like, wasnt going to any other shop to find out