How could a character in the Cars movie have no speaking lines and be a classic? If that character was Bessie, the answer to that question is easy... She may be Basic Service Equipment, but she's a great Car.
Bessie has only been released twice... A small plastic version was released in a large Mack playset that folded out into 3 parts - I have that plastic version somewhere... and the only time as a Deluxe diecast version was on the Night Skyline cardback:
Here's the cardback:
Bessie was eagerly anticipated but was very rarely seen in stores... My first Bessie arrived from Rippers in the UK on International cardback on April 28, 2010:
Online US retailers got the case with Bessie towards the end of May 2010... It was never seen at major box stores (Toys R US, Target, Walmart) in the US... Bessie was found in early August 2010 at a grocery store chain... It was also found at a few Kohl's stores that same time... at the end of August 2010, I first found Bessie at Burlington Coat Factory and on 9/6/10 I found her at another Burlington Coat Factory store:
Those were the only times I saw Bessie in a store... 2 times in a 3 week period... when new Cars turn up first at an overstock place, you know there's a distribution problem.
I believe the local flea market still has a Bessie in stock, but I'm not paying $89 plus tax for one.
Here are a few photos of Bessie opened:
And I've also staged Bessie a few times with Lightning McQueen with Shovel:
I'm down to my one opened Bessie in a display case, and one International carded Bessie... I never had many of her - she is perhaps the most rare Deluxe Car as far as the US cardback is concerned... from time to time I've seen a "clean" Bessie (no tar stains) on eBay but at $600 it's way out of my price range... I wish the Disney Store would have released a large scale Bessie like they did Frank, but they never did.
Will Bessie be re-released? I hope so... I don't buy Cars as an investment - I buy them to enjoy them... Time will tell - neither Bessie nor Frank were announced in the returning 2013 Deluxe size Cars mentioned in a post on TakeFiveADay this week.
As Mater mentioned to Lightning McQueen in Cars, "I'd give my left 2 lug nuts for a date with Bessie", I know many of you who don't have her would be willing to pay a premium price for her... you'll have to - if you want to add Bessie to your collection.
Thank you for reading... as always, your comments are appreciated.
P.S. - Those of you who post comments on this article will be entered in the drawing for a prize.
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