The fourth movie in the Fast &
Furious series has had its release date moved up to April 3rd. A
thread was started in the Hobby Talk forums saying Johnny Lightning's new
Fast & Furious series has been canceled because of the move. I
fired off an e-mail to Tom Z of RC2 and he responded back that the series is
"on hold." So until it comes from the big guy, I'm going to remain
optimistic and hope we still see this series at some point.
2/25/09 -
Elvis has Left the Building...
... and by "building" I mean
warehouse, because Elvis RV is now shipping! The above photo was posted in
the Cars the Toys Forum by "cac1959." I can't wait to find this
one in stores! I'll be checking WalMart, Target and Toys R Us DAILY
trying to find this one. It looks like RPM Semi Cab is shipping in the
same case.
2/24/09 -
Sponsor News
I got an e-mail today from sponsor
Movie Car Mania about the arrival of a 1:12 scale replica of Steve McQueen's
Triumph Motorcycle from The Great Escape. Here's what Rodney
had to say:
"After a long wait, the
Triumph TR6 650 Trophy motorcycle that Steve McQueen used in the Great
Escape is now available. MiniChamps has done a great job reproducing this
piece of movie history. This is a great collectible for the Steve McQueen
fan."
Click on the image
above and visit
Movie Car Mania for more info about this and other awesome TV and movie
die-cast vehicles.
2/22/09 -
And the winners are.....
Well, today is the presentation of the
Academy Awards. Normally, I get pretty excited and have a gathering at
my place to watch them. This year? YAWN. It's time to hand
out the Bandit Awards. Over the past month I've asked
visitors to this site to vote in several different car-related categories.
It's time to announce the winners:
BEST MOVIE OF
2008 - Apparently, 2008 was the year of the bat as voters named
The Dark Knight the best movie of 2008 with 37% of the vote. I
don't think this comes as much of a surprise. Death Race made a
strong showing, coming in second with 31% of the votes.
BEST CAR
CHASE/RACE SCENE OF 2008 - Again, The Dark Knight cast a
shadow over the competition. The armored car/semi truck/Batmobile
chase scene netted 45% of the votes to come out on top.
BEST MOVIE
CAR OF 2008 (stock or slightly modified) - Would you believe we
have a TIE in this category? The Gran Torino of Gran Torino and
James Bond's Aston Martin DBS each received 29% of the votes. The Audi
R8 of Iron Man wasn't too far behind with 25% of the votes.
BEST MOVIE
CAR OF 2008 (custom or heavily modified) - The Dark Knight
continued its dominance as the Batmobile (or Tumbler) garnered 29% of the
votes.
BEST ACTOR OF
2008 - In what some would consider an upset, screen legend Clint
Eastwood edged out Christian Bale (39% to 36%) as Best Actor for his role in
Gran Torino. To date, Gran Torino has grossed $130
million and Eastwood's performance is a major reason for the movie's
success.
BEST TV CAR
OF 2008 - In the only landslide, voters overwhelmingly named KITT
of the revamped Knight Rider as best TV car with a whopping 58% of
the vote. It looks like car buffs have come to accept the Shelby
Mustang GT500KR as the new face of KITT.
BEST DIE-CAST
TOY LINE OF 2008 - The bat-trend continued as voters named
Mattel's 1:50 scale Batman line as best toy line of 2008 with 42% of the
votes. Seeing what's on tap for 2009, I wouldn't be surprised if
Mattel repeated this achievement next year. Johnny Lightning's The
Dukes of Hazzard line fared well with 32% of the votes, surprisingly
edging out Mattel's Cars line.
My thanks go out to Bill Spencer for
creating the Bandit Awards logo and for collaborating on the
list of categories and nominees. Thanks to all of you who voted as
well.
2/22/09
- The Blue & The Gray
I found another addition to the
Cars Mega Size line. This time it's the Dinoco Semi Cab, who
apparently goes by the name of Gray. These things are showing up
EVERYWHERE. Okay Mattel, enough with the semi trucks. We have
the Mega Size cabs, the semi trucks and the pit crew boxed sets all hitting
the stores at the same time. How about working some new characters
into the mix? Elvis RV anyone?
2/16/09 -
Toy Fair News
News and photos are starting to
trickle out of the '09 New York Toy Fair. Pictured above is a light-up
Delorean from Back to the Future II. It appears to be 1:18
scale and will be offered by Diamond Select. Head to your local comic
shop and grab a copy of Previews to order yours. The pics above
are courtesy of
Cool Toy Review.
2/22/09 UPDATE: Check out this
well-done video from Toy Fair '09 found at
www.bttf.com:
2/14/09
- New Cars Find
I can't remember the last time I found
any new Cars product at K-Mart, but popping into my local K-Mart I
checked out the toy aisle to find the pegs freshly stocked. The one
new item I found is the Mega Size Chick Hicks Semi. The 2009 New York
Toy Fair begins on Sunday. I'll pass along any new Cars info
that surfaces on the net.
2/13/09 -
Star Car Sighting!
Friday the 13th turned out to be a
pretty lucky day for me. As I begin production of the third episode of
my local cable TV series Auto Focus I had an appointment to tour the
Walter P. Chrysler
Museum in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
I was almost overwhelmed by the wide array of beautiful cars on display,
including concept cars, historic cars and muscle cars. But there was
one car in particular that got me more excited than the others. The
car pictured above is the Dodge M4S, a concept pace car created by Chrysler
and PPG and capable of traveling at speeds in excess of 190MPH. Some
of you might recognize this car as the ominous, mysterious vehicle
featured in the 1986 film The Wraith, starring Charlie Sheen.
The car was loaned to the filmmakers and several duplicates were created and
subsequently destroyed for filming. The original was returned to
Chrysler and is now on display at the museum as a pace car in its original
paint scheme. Seeing it up close, this car is one of the most
beautiful cars I've ever seen. If you live in Michigan or plan on
visiting soon, plan a trip to the museum. You won't regret it.
Oh, and by the way, the car is NOT for sale.
2/12/09 -
Hollywood or Bust!
I recently joined NetFlix so I can get
caught up on the classic films I've been meaning to see. As I loaded
up my queue, I was looking at some Martin & Lewis movies and stumbled across
one I had never heard of: Hollywood or Bust! (1956)
Apparently, it was their last movie together before breaking up as a team.
The DVD arrived in the mail a few days ago and I finally had some time to
watch it. I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Dean Martin is
a con man who presents a phony raffle ticket to claim his prize: a
beautiful red Chrysler New Yorker Convertible. Unfortunately, Jerry Lewis shows
up with the REAL ticket and assuming there was a printing error, the two are
forced to share the car. A cross-country trip to Hollywood ensues,
full of laughs, pretty girls and a few enjoyable Dean Martin tunes. If
you haven't seen this film and enjoy a good road trip movie along the lines
of Tommy Boy or Pee Wee's Big Adventure, then I suggest you
check this movie out.
2/12/09 -
Another RAOK!
My gratitude goes out to Bruce for his
random act of kindness. A few days ago, after mentioning on this site
that I could not find Night Vision McQueen in my area, Bruce took it upon
himself to send me one. Now I'm able to add this one to my collection
and to the Cars Gallery. It
includes an 88-page Collector Guide. Thanks Bruce!
2/9/09 -
Holy Sardine, Batman!
Originally built for the 1966
Batman movie, the Batboat went on to appear in the TV series. And
now, you can add a 1:50 scale version of it to your collection thanks to
Mattel. Arriving in my mailbox today from sponsor Movie Car Mania is
the famed Batboat and Batmobile (with trailer hitch.) I can't tell you
how excited I am to add these to my collection. Click
HERE
for an interesting webpage dedicated to the Batboat.
2/8/09 -
Minor Updates
Spending most of the weekend sick in
bed, I did manage to watch some of the James Bond marathon on Encore.
During The Spy Who Loved Me, I felt like a little kid as I eagerly
awaited Q's delivery of the Lotus Esprit, signifying the start of one of the
greatest movie moments ever. I thrilled as the Lotus eluded a car,
motorcycle and helicopter, famously plunging into the water and converting
to submarine mode. The chase continued underwater, finally concluding
as the Lotus drives up onto the beach in front of startled spectators.
I decided then and there this particular moment had to be included in the
Best Movie Car Chases of all time.
Also, I made one change to my 1:64
scale die-cast Wish List. I decided it's
time someone produce the 1971 Plymouth Satellite Station Wagon from the
much-beloved TV series The Brady Bunch. Matchbox gave us a
Brady Bunch Station Wagon, but they shockingly used a Ford Taurus, which
hadn't even been created at the time of the show. I think this car is
long overdue.
2/6/09 -
Chasing Cars
I had a bit of good luck today,
stopping in a Toys R Us at lunchtime. It looked like the pegs were
freshly stocked and I came away with Hank "Halloween" Murphy, Easy Idle
Pitty, and literally falling into my hands was the Chase Impound DJ.
I'm almost caught up on new releases, but there always seems to be something
new to find. I still haven't found Night Vision McQueen, and I hear
new launchers are in stores.
2/2/09 -
Audi: Chase
How cool was that Audi commercial
featuring Jason Statham shown during the Super Bowl? Missed it?
Here it is:
