April 2010
News Archive

4/23/10 - Two New Haulers
While having a nice conversation with a grandfather at a Target store who was buying Cars for his grandson, I glanced down to see two new haulers sitting on the shelf:  Vinyl Toupee (above, left) and Shifty Drug (above, right.)  The Shifty Drug hauler really stood out because its color scheme is quite a bit different than the Shifty Drug racecar that has been released by Mattel.  Look at the comparison at right.  The car is red and gold.  The hauler is MAGENTA and gold.  Believe it or not, the hauler is CORRECT and more accurately reflects the car's color scheme in the movie.  The question is, will Mattel correct their error on the racecar?   Maybe it will be one of the cars to be included in the next K-Mart Cars Collector Event on June 12th. Only time will tell.

4/23/10 - Diamonds are a Guy's Best Friend
There are only a few days left on an eBay auction for one of the most amazing custom Hot Wheels cars I've ever seen:  A Diamond-Encrusted Bugatti Veyron.  Check out an excerpt from the description:

The materials used in my secret process consists of diamond dust, stainless steel and genuine Swarovski crystals. I contracted a master jeweler to set each tiny stainless steel diamond reflector before I took over and finished the process. The time to create this beauty was very slow and very tedious but the end result is absolutely stunning!  To have the car in front of you with proper lighting shining down on its surface makes the car resemble a very expensive piece of jewelery rather than a one of a kind Hot Wheels. Its the best of both worlds really.

Click HERE to see the auction!

4/22/10 - Cars Needed!
If you are anywhere near the Metro Detroit area and have a classic car or Hollywood replica, you're invited to take part in a Classic Car Show to benefit a fantastic organization.  Community Living Services helps those living with special needs and they're looking for cars to take part in their Classic Car Show set to take place on Saturday, June 12 in Wayne, MI.  If you're interested and available to help out send me an e-mail and I'll reply with the necessary contact info.

4/21/10 - Gold Rush!
I stopped into a Meijer store this afternoon and found the gold Delorean from the Hot Wheels line.  Now, some people can't understand why Mattel would produce a Delorean in any color other than the stainless steel version we're all used to seeing.  Well, would you believe that THREE 24-karat gold-plated Deloreans were actually produced?  One of them sat in a bank lobby in Snyder, Texas for 20 years before being loaned out to the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles.  I saw it at the museum in 2005 and snapped the picture at right.  Below are more photos of the Hot Wheels gold Delorean with its stainless steel sibling.

4/20/10 - Diorama-rama!
It seems 1:64 scale dioramas are all the rage lately.  I've been seeing some pretty awesome dioramas from Greenlight and Motor Max in stores.  One that caught my eye was a Barrett-Jackson auction diorama from Greenlight.  The diorama originally included a 2010 Camaro, but I decided to have some fun and showcase some Hollywood cars that have recently gone up on the auction block, including the Monkeemobile, which my friend Mel might get a kick out of (wink, wink.)  Here are a few others:

Another diorama that caught my eye was a very detailed scene of New York City from Motor Max.  The diorama originally included a generic "city taxi" but I decided to goof around with some other appropriate Hollywood cars:

Of course Ecto-1 looks right at home in NYC although it's a bit too large for the diorama.  The NYC taxi pictured above isn't necessarily a movie car, but it is the 70's style cab that you see in movies like Taxi Driver and on TV series like Taxi.  And finally, I took the Manhattan armored truck from Spider-Man 3 and Superglued a Heroclix Spidey on its roof to complete the scene.  If you've had some fun with dioramas, I'd love to see the photos.

4/20/10 - Collectors' Collections
Well whaddya know?  Another submission for the Collectors' Collections Gallery.  This submission comes from Silvio Neuendorf from Germany, whose collection ranges from James Bond to Batman to Disney's Cars. Here's what Silvio had to say:

I have visited Your great website for a few years now and I love it! It's entertaining and very informativ and it's nice to see that there are people out there, who are as crazy as I am. I often get this "look" from friends, when I show them my little "movie museum", but I don't care, it's nice to feel like a kid now and then, even if you're over 40. Unfortunately it's not easy to get all this stuff in Germany (importing the items from eBay-sellers is often the only way...and meanwhile I know all the folks in my customs office. I hope to enjoy Your fantastic site for the future. It's my main source of information for my passion. I send You some pictures of my "museum", You are welcome to add them to Your "Collectors' Collections"-section if You like.
Have a super day,
Silvio

Thanks for the kind words, Silvio.  Your photos have been added to the Collectors' Collections Gallery.

4/18/10 - Coming Up from Hot Wheels
Mattel released a poster a couple of months ago showing all of their new 2010 Hot Wheels releases.  Up until recently, I've only seen very low resolution images of the poster online.  Well, my thanks go out to Phil who e-mailed me a link to a hi-res image of the poster.  Here are a few cars worth noting.  Of course, we all know the Ecto-1 hit stores at the beginning of the year, although many collectors are still having trouble locating one.  I've only found two in stores so far and I hit stores a LOT.  I found a ton of Deloreans at my local Kroger store, but I haven't seen the GOLD version yet, although I hear it's out.  I know this is the stock version of the car and not the time machine from Back to the Future, but it makes you wonder if Mattel has anything up their sleeve.  The poster also features an artist's rendering of the Batmobile from The Brave & The Bold.  No word yet on when this one will hit stores, but I'm looking forward to adding this to my Batmobile collection.  Two other cars worth mentioning:  If Mattel releases the Ferrari 308 GTS (below, left) in red, it'll be a dead ringer for the Ferrari featured in the TV series Magnum P.I.  And finally, collectors' hearts began racing when Mattel announced they'd be releasing a '73 Ford Falcon XB this year.  As many of you may know, Mad Max's car is based on the same model.  Unfortunately, upon the release of the poster, we found out the car doesn't quite resemble Max's Interceptor.  But who knows, maybe Mattel will surprise us down the road with a few modifications.

4/18/10 - Collectors' Collections
It's been quite some time since a collector has submitted photos of his/her collection to this website.  But here we have a new submission by Dave in South Australia, who, as you can see above, has a collection with a heavy emphasis on The Dukes of Hazzard.  Thanks for sharing Dave. Your photos have been added to the Collectors' Collections Gallery.  If anyone else would like to submit photos of his or her collection, send me an e-mail with sharp, well-lit photos attached.

4/9/10 - California Dreamin'
Several members of my family are out enjoying the California sun while I'm freezing here in Michigan.  I wanted to go, but the timing was bad and work keeps me here.  One of their stops during their time in Hollywood was a tour of the Warner Bros. studio before a taping of The Ellen Degeneres Show.  They told me they thought of me when, during the tour of WB, they entered a showroom of amazing cars from TV and movies.  You'll probably recognize most of the cars pictured above, including the Gran Torino from Gran Torino, which was filmed right here in Michigan.  One car I didn't immediately recognize is the red and white car pictured above.  Apparently, it's from the TV show Chuck.  And the Porsche pictured in the bottom row, far right belongs to Ellen Degeneres.  The WB Tour is definitely on my list of things-to-do next time I visit California. 

4/5/10 - More New Cars!
I guess I can stop complaining.  I found a few more new Cars characters at Target today.  While in the die-cast aisle I overheard a mom say to her son, "Dragon McQueen?"  I glanced over and there were Dragon McQueen and Yokoza from the Toon line.  At another Target store, I found for the first time T.J. in Mega Size packaging, even though I believe this is the same casting found in the Toys R Us Boot Camp boxed set.  Regardless, it's nice to finally see some new things here in my area. 

4/4/10 - Chasing Cars
You can probably tell by my lack of posts that there hasn't been much to report lately.  The pegs continue to be barren.  I did, however, find evidence that the latest wave of Final Lap cars has hit a Target store near me. Unfortunately, the only car I could find was Wet Lightning McQueen (above, left.)  I'm confident that I'll find the rest of this wave (Jay Limo, Vern & Wrecked Mood Springs) in the near future.  I also stumbled onto a Chase King with Metallic Finish. 

In other Cars news, I picked up the El Materdor playset while at WalMart.  The packaging mentioned two cars included, but I was disappointed to discover upon opening the box that the cars included are plastic (see below.)  I was hoping they were die-cast metal.  Hopefully, Mattel will release El Materdor and the Bull-Dozer in a future Toons wave.