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Respect the Classics: Launchers

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  • Respect the Classics: Launchers



    One of the things Mattel has done to encourage the sales of Cars diecasts is to release Cars in a wide variety of packaging and with many accessories... For better or worse, they have made many of them, and we have bought many of them... unfortunately, Mattel has demonstrated an unwillingness to finish product lines that they start... but that doesn't stop us from buying and collecting what we like...

    My grandchildren and I have enjoyed the Cars launcher product line... we have had many races using what was called the Pit Row Race-off launchers... Austin and I would each get 6 Cars and 1 launcher... we'd count to 3 and push the button to start the race... the person who's Car traveled the farthest not only got to keep their Car but also got the loser's Car... this would continue until one person had all 12 Cars... I must be a good Papa - I never won a contest against him... I might win a race, but he'd win the contest... Occasionally the rubber bands would break and we'd have to use another launcher until I could find another rubber band that would fit.

    In this article, we'll take a look at Cars launchers.


    World of Cars Pit Race Off Launchers

    The first appearance of Cars launchers was in the World of Cars series; there were no Cars launchers on Desert Back cardback... I opened most of my launchers but do have a few carded WOC launchers:

    Here's Lightning McQueen - note that there is no Rusteze logo on the spoiler:



    Here's the cardback:



    The cardback shows Lightning McQueen, The King, Chick Hicks, Nitroade, Leakless, and Octane Gain launchers... they also released RPM, No Stall, and Trunk Fresh on WOC cardback... I don't have a complete carded set of launchers but I think those are the only 9 that were released on the WOC cardback.

    When I first started buying Cars launchers, the retail price was usually $7.99 - double the price of the single Car... very few WOC launchers are on store shelves anymore... The King is the most rare Pit Race Off launcher in my opinion with Octane Gain being the next most rare... A few Kmart stores still have a few launchers - they were up to $10.49 last time I checked at a Kmart a few months ago... Nitroade and Leakless are the only ones I've seen on store shelves recently.


    Race o Rama Pit Race Off Launchers

    The next series of launchers were on the Race O Rama cardback... Mattel released several case assortments of launchers on the ROR cardback and I purchased multiples of many cases to help out others who might not be able to find them in stores... At this time I was definitely into International cardback Cars and received ROR launchers from a couple of UK friends... Here's Easy Idle on an International ROR cardback:



    The International cardback shows the Car number as well as the name of the Car.

    Here's the cardback of the Easy Idle launcher:


    Mattel released many launchers on ROR cardback including re-releasing Lightning McQueen, Chick Hicks, Nitroade, RPM, and No Stall... New releases from Case B included Vitoline (x2), Shifty Drug (x2), and Tank Coat (x1) with one repeat... Case D came next and included Retread (x2) and Shiny Wax (x2) as new releases along with repeats of RPM (x1) and No Stall (x1)... Case C came out after case D - there must have been a reason for the delay... this was the best ROR launchers case in my opinion... Case C included the new releases Mood Springs (x2), Fiber Fuel (x2), and Easy Idle (x1) as well as a repeat of Nitroade... I also was able to trade for an error launcher in this series... Here's Mood Springs with a Nitroade launcher:



    It was towards the end of the Race O Rama series that Mattel showed that they might not be finishing the Pit Race Off launchers - they introduced Lightyear Launchers.


    Race O Rama Lightyear Launchers

    When Lightyear Launchers were first introduced, I thought perhaps it was in response to the problem of rubber bands breaking in the classic launcher... many of the Lightyear Launchers were re-releases of Cars that had been released as Pit Race Off launchers... however, it didn't take long for Mattel to release Cars as Lightyear Launchers that had not been released as Pit Race-Off launchers... This upset a lot of collectors and upset a lot of them greatly.

    Here's a picture of the Clutch Aid Lightyear Launcher on International ROR cardback:



    Here's a photo of the cardback:


    In addition to Clutch Aid, Lil Torquey Pistons made its first release with plastic tires outside the Speedway of the South set as a Lightyear Launcher... in later cases, Bumper Save and Rev N Go were released with plastic tires as Lightyear Launchers... Fiber Fuel, Vitoline, and Shifty Drug were also released as Lightyear Launchers in the ROR series... Chick Hicks and Lightning McQueen were re-released - I did not buy them as Lightyear Launchers... I was beginning to realize I wasn't going to be able to collect them all... it wasn't my decision... it was Mattel's.


    Night Skyline Pit Race Off Launchers

    Just when we though Mattel was done releasing Pit Race Off Launchers, they surprised us... Sputter Stop and Spare O Mint (formerly known as Spare Mint) were released as new Pit Race Off launchers on the new Night Skyline cardback... I saw these advertised on Amazon.com for $9.99 with free shipping if the total order was over $25... I placed several orders over several weeks...

    Sputter Stop and Spare O Mint launchers:



    Here's a photo of the Night Skyline Sputter Stop Pit Race Launcher - it's the only one I have left unopened.



    Here's the cardback:


    There were still 6 launchers in the case - in addition to the 2 Sputter Stop and 2 Spare O Mint, there were 1 each of Chick Hicks and Lightning McQueen...

    Other launchers had been announced, but they were never released...


    Night Skyline Lightyear Launchers

    Mattel released many Cars as Lightyear Launchers on the Night Skyline cardback... I bought several of them (no surprise, eh?)... My favorite new Lightyear Launcher was Gask-Its, which came out late Fall 2010.



    Here's the Gask-Its cardback:


    Gask-Its was supposed to be released as a US Toys R US promo Cars but it was canceled ... I managed to acquire 2 Gask-Its promo Cars from the promo in France but they were very limited in supply (no more than 200) and very expensive... I found most of my Gask-Its Lightyear Launchers at Walmart stores for $9.97 each...

    There were many other Cars released as Night Skyline cardback Lightyear Launchers... Sidewall Shine, Vinyl Toupee, N2O Cola, Easy Idle, Trunk Fresh, View Zeen, Vitoline, Leak Less, Chick Hicks, Lightning McQueen, Bumper Save, Sputter Stop, Spare O Mint, Lil Torquey Pistons, Octane Gain, Dirt Track McQueen, Dinoco McQueen... I bought a few so I could complete a "Poor Man's Speedway of the South" set... Distribution of many of these was very hit and miss... I've seen a few of these at Toys R US stores recently - TRU has about the largest selection of Cars and Toons in the US today, but selection is not good... if you want or need some of these Cars, you may have to pay the inflated prices of eBay or Amazon.


    Cars2 Launchers

    In anticipation of the Cars2 movie, Mattel launched a blitz in the release of Cars2 merchandise... Along with lots of other Cars2 items, the first 4 Cars2 launchers were released on May 16, 2011... unfortunately, way too many of the first 4 were released - many stores still have Lightning McQueen, Nigel Gearsley, Max Schnell, and Shu Todoroki on the shelves or pegs.

    Here's a photo showing the first 4 Cars2 launchers opened:


    I eventually found Lewis Hamilton and Miguel Camino launchers on June 21, 2011 at an Indianapolis Target store:


    I've only seen Lewis and Miguel launchers at 2 Target stores and 1 Kmart store... I saw them at Elder Beerman right before Christmas and bought them when they were discounted to $9.99 - 60% off the $24.99 suggested retail price.

    Towards the end of September 2011 I stopped at an Indianapolis Kohl's store on my way to a conference... I saw 2 new Cars2 launchers that we didn't even know were coming:

    Francesco Bernoulli:


    Raoul Caroule:


    Raoul cardback:


    In November 2011 I found Raoul and Francesco launchers at several Family Dollar stores for $10 each... A few more Kohl's stores got them in right before Christmas as well at a price of $14.99 before discount... I've not opened Raoul or Francesco launchers yet.

    I hope Mattel will finish the Cars2 launcher series... they have released 8 of the 10 released racers so far... they need to release Jeff Gorvette and Carla Veloso launchers... and we need to see Rip Clutchgoneski released as a racer and as a launcher.

    I currently have enough Cars2 launchers to have one of each opened as well as one of each carded... and I'm sure I have a few extras as well...

    Here are a couple of comparison photos showing Lightning McQueen launchers from Cars2 and Cars:






    In Conclusion

    Mattel released 19 of the 36 Piston Cup Racers from Cars as Pit Row Launchers... we saw photos of several others (prototypes?) from the San Diego Comic Con Convention (2009 I believe)... Tach O Mint, Tow Cap, Vinyl Toupee, N2O Cola and maybe a couple of more... It would be so nice for Mattel to go back and re-release the missing 16... Yes, that adds up to 35... if you want an Apple Car or launcher you're going to have to get a custom.

    Speaking of customs, GotFrank has made several custom launchers that are currently unreleased by Mattel... there are decals available... I have a few extra launchers - maybe I can get him to make some custom launchers for me.

    I may add some more text and pictures to this article in the future... my wife is out shopping for a dress to wear when our youngest son gets married in early March... and as tomorrow is our 19th wedding anniversary and we both have to work, we're going out for an early anniversary dinner tonight.

    Thanks for reading... as always, I appreciate your comments.

    Chris
    Last edited by cac1959; 01-30-2012, 04:04 AM. Reason: Wrong photo


    I am cac1959... I am a Cars-a-holic... and a proud supporter of Nathan's Playroom

  • #2
    We stayed away from the launchers as much as possible while building our "Poor Man's Speedway of the South". The price tag of costing as much as 2 1/2 times the amount as a single was enough to keep me away. I only really wanted the car. The launchers we did get are sitting on a shelf collecting dust. The Pit Row ones were kind of cool for a display, but the tire shaped one were just lame. We ended up getting about 2 Pit row launchers and about 3 Lightyear launchers during our quest to get all the Piston cup cars. I didn't start collecting until after the third K-Mart day, so I had trouble finding the rubber tire cars from day 2.

    I had to buy 2 Cars 2 launchers because I wanted to be able to give my son all 10 of the released WGP cars when we got home from seeing the movie for the first time. At the time of the release of Cars 2 in the theatre, Lewis was only available as a launcher. I also didn't want to buy a four pack to get Nigel, so I just bought his launcher.

    signature courtesy of BomBom77
    http://www.pixarcarsdiecast.com/foru...ars-for-trades

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    • #3
      Great read Chris - I wasn't aware that there were so many missing launchers, hopefully they'll complete the Cars 2 set...

      I'm sure GotFrank will help you out with some customs...

      Comment


      • #4
        Great article! Very well said. Happy Anniversary as well.

        I have had some particular good luck with launchers. I was able to score a Night Skyline Spare O Mint launcher at Sears for $2 last year. Also, just last week my grandmother found Francesco, Raoul, and Nigel launchers for me for $5 apiece at Family Dollar and Big Lots. The Nigel launcher was an error. I noticed after I opened, it was missing the WGP sticker on the one side.

        Long live launchers, I hope I can get some from GotFrank as well.

        Comment


        • #5
          very good and interesting read.
          i do like the launchers myself and am hoping that they'll release the existing US releases of cars 2 launchers here this year.i've also had some good scores on some of the older launchers mainly the lightyear launchers.

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