August '04 News Archive

8/31/04 - Interesting eBay Find
Thanks to a tip from fellow car-enthusiast TonyMoe, I won an auction for a 1:64 car that bears a striking resemblance to the V8 Interceptor from Mad Max.  Over in the Hollywood Die-Cast Forum, there was speculation that this was a custom-made car, but upon contacting my RC2 rep, she had this to say:

So, with some minor modifications, this car will represent the car from the first Mad Max film in my display, at least until someone does an officially licensed replica.

8/30/04 - The Fast & The Furious Update
I've received information that RC2's line of The Fast & The Furious cars will be on hiatus until confirmation of a third film from Universal Studios.  One glaring omission from RC2's line was Brian's blue & silver Nissan Skyline (pictured above) from 2F2F.  I'm told by my RC2 rep that the car will be included in the next wave of Johnny Lightning's Hollywood on Wheels line. 

8/29/04 - Pretty in Pink
Another eBay purchase arrived in the mail on Saturday.  This time it was the Charawheels Fab 1 from the original Thunderbirds TV series.  It arrived mint-in-package, but I opened it to photograph it and display it.  I got it for $4.99 plus shipping from Hong Kong.

8/27/04 - 1:18 K.I.T.T. Ready to Ship
I picked up the September issue of the Previews Catalog (for items shipping in November) at my local comic book shop.  Although I haven't seen any photos of the finished product, Diamond Distributors is taking orders for RC2's 1:18 scale K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider:

"This 1:18 scale die-cast features opening hood, doors, rear hatch, working passenger side ejector seat, working red scanner light, removable t-tops, working front hitch with grappling hook, and on/off switch on chassis."

The SRP is $40.00.

8/25/04 - Poll Update:  What a Race!
I wanted to give you an update of the Favorite TV Car Poll originally posted on August 6.  I've gotten tremendous feedback.  It's been a wild race, with unpredictable results.  Thanks to a rabid following, fans of the Monkeemobile have put the car in the lead by a narrow margin over the '66 Batmobile.  Coming in at a distant third is K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider.  Time for a turbo boost perhaps?  Tied for 4th, Green Hornet's Black Beauty and The General Lee are neck and neck!  Imagine seeing these awesome cars actually racing for supremacy!  I created a visual to help you imagine (above).  The poll is still active if you'd still like to participate.  You can only vote once.

In a related story, I received an e-mail regarding a similar poll conducted by Yahoo! Search.  In July, 10,000 people took part in a survey for Best Screen Vehicle.  The results are a little surprising:

• Lotus Esprit from The Spy Who Loved Me (29%)
• KITT from Knight Rider (17%)
• De Lorean from Back to the Future (17%)         
• Batmobile from Batman (1989) (10%)
• Mini from The Italian Job (1969)  (9%)
• Gran Torino from Starsky & Hutch (2004) (6%)
• A-Team Van from The A-Team (5%)
• Danny Zuko’s Greased Lightning from Grease (2%)
• Herbie from Herbie Goes Bananas (2%)
• Reliant Robin from Only Fools & Horses (2%)

Patrick Oqvist from Yahoo! Search comments:

"Although there’s loads of classic film vehicles out there, our search for the favourite has shown James Bond’s modified Lotus Esprit from The Spy Who Loved Me a worthy winner. With rear firing mud sprayers, an underwater kit that changes the car into a fully operative submarine, surface-to-air missiles, underwater smoke screens and torpedoes, the most desirable screen vehicle has to be Bond’s."

UPDATE:  Apparently, these are the top screen cars as voted on by the people of Great Britain.  I suspected as much looking at the cars on the list.  Thanks to Luke Hu for the info.

8/24/04 - Enter and WIN!
The friendly folks at www.munsterkoach.com are offering you a chance to win the complete first season of The Munsters on DVD.  The set includes 38 episodes and a 15 minute pilot in which different actors portray Eddie and Marilyn.  The highlight of this DVD is episode number 36:  Hot Rod Herman, in which Herman loses the Koach in a drag race, only to have Grandpa win it back with the Drag-U-La.  Click HERE and enter for your chance to win!  (You have until September 15th to enter.)

8/23/04 - Latest Acquisitions
Two more online purchases arrived in the mail today.  The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Piranha arrived in decent shape, not MINT, but good enough to hold a place in my display.  Also arriving is the '00 Honda S2000 from 2 Fast 2 Furious.  The detail on Suki's pink Honda is pretty amazing.  My goal is to get all of the major cars featured in both Fast & Furious films. 

8/22/04 - "Just one more thing."
It never ceases to amaze me what people will dedicate a website to.  Browsing around online, I stumbled onto this little site dedicated to the TV series Columbo.  It has all the information you'll ever need to know about his car:  a 1959 Peugeot Convertible Model 403.  Click HERE to check out the site.  Die-cast versions of this car do exist, but not in 1:64 scale.

8/21/04 - "Taxi!  Drive me off of this picture."
Saw Alien VS. Predator on Friday (or AVP as the kids call it.)  I never thought I'd HATE a movie in which an Alien does battle against a Predator.  I was wrong.  I haven't hated a movie this much since Batman & Robin.  What should've been a mind-blowing piece of pop culture fun was nothing more than a videogame without the Playstation controller.  The only redeeming thing I saw in the theater was, believe it or not, the trailer for the upcoming film Taxi.  Arriving in theaters October 8, Taxi stars SNL's Jimmy Fallon as a cop who commandeers Queen Latifah's suped up taxicab to chase a group of supermodel robbers.  It actually looks like it could be a fun movie with a lot of great car chases.  If anything, maybe we'll get some cool die-cast cars from this.  We'll see.

8/19/04 - Tom Daniel Collection by Toy Zone
Saw this announced on the Hobby Talk BB.  A company called Toy Zone has released 8 die-cast cars based on the designs of the legendary Tom Daniel.  These are in 1:43 scale, but the detail is amazing and would make it hard to pass up for anyone who grew up with these cool cars.  Looks like 4 of them have been already spotted on the pegs of Wal*Mart and Meijer.  I'm sure the other four will follow soon.  Click on the thumbnail above to see all 8 cars listed.

8/17/04 - Another eBay Buy!
Another eBay purchase has arrived in the mail today. It's the Jumbo Jet from Austin Powers made by Collectible Concepts Group, Inc.  I've never seen it in stores, so I got it on eBay for $4.99 plus shipping.

8/16/04 - K.I.T.T. Tooling Model
I've gotten the "okay" to post pics of the 1:18 K.I.T.T. tooling model from RC2.  Pics of the finished, painted car aren't available yet, but you can expect to see them right here when they DO become available. 

In other 1:18 scale news, I've gotten confirmation that Sun Star will be releasing a railroad version of the Delorean from Back to the Future III.  I don't have a release date, but I'm told it will be available to the public "very soon" and will be released in 1:18 and 1:43 scales. 

8/15/04 - Easy Custom
Taking a lead from Hobby Talk BB member Itfalcon (world renown for customizing a '66 Batmobile from the JL '55 Futura), I decided to spruce up my JL Starsky & Hutch Gran Torino.  First I disassembled the body by drilling out the rivets holding it together.  Then I replaced the wheels with the correct "slot mags" found on a JL '34 Ford Coupe.  After putting it back together, I added a police light I took off an HO scale police car.  And there ya have it.  Simple, yet effective.  If Johnny Lightning decides to do a movie version of this car for the next wave of Hollywood on Wheels, I hope they do something similar to this.

8/15/04 - 100% Hot Wheels Batmobiles
I'm trying to get more info on these.  So far, all I know is that they're going to be released by Hot Wheels.  They're not exactly movie-accurate, but they sure look nice.  Thanks to Kuan Chee Hai for the photo.  I'll post updates as I get them.

8/13/04 - Lucky Friday the 13th!
Has this ever happened to you?  You get frustrated looking for something, so you make a bid on eBay, then find what you're looking for at retail the very next day.  (That seems to happen to me a LOT.)  Well, I placed several bids on eBay for some cars from 2 Fast 2 Furious, because I just haven't seen them in my area.  Then, after bidding on them, I go to Toys R Us, and find the very same cars I'm looking for on CLEARANCE!!!  Not only that, but I got OVERCHARGED at the register, and when I caught the mistake, they GAVE ME $5 on top of the difference.  So I paid a grand total of about $4 for the cars pictured above.  ('69 Yenko Camaro, '70 Dodge Challenger, '02 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII and '01 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder.)  Not too shabby. 

8/13/04 - RC2 Updates Its Website
RC2 has made some really nice updates to its website, showcasing some of the 1:18 scale entertainment-related die-cast cars offered by its Joy Ride division.  There's not much shown that we don't already know or haven't already seen, with the exception of some new photos of their upcoming James Bond line (um, they spelled Aston Martin wrong.)  Speaking of Joy Ride, I've seen photos of the tooling model for K.I.T.T., but I want to get permission before posting.  Also, I've heard from a reliable source that Christine will be offered as an officially-licensed 1:18 scale die-cast.

8/9/04 - Added to Hollywood Die-Cast Gallery
I've heard about this, but hadn't seen it until yesterday.  Apparently, Dragon Wings Die-Cast is offering a Pan-Am Boeing 727-200 aircraft which is packaged with a DVD copy of Catch Me If You Can.  In the film Leo DiCaprio's character poses as a Pan-Am pilot.  This would make an interesting addition to anyone's movie die-cast collection.  Check out this eBay auction for more info.

8/7/04 - Latest Acquisition:  Speed Coupe
I've been going a little eBay crazy lately, picking up cars that I've been meaning to get, but keep putting off.  One of my latest acquisitions is this George Barris beauty.  It was part of Johnny Lightning's Show Rods line released in 1999.  The packaging simply refers to this car as a "Speed Coupe," but if you look at page 64 & 65 of the book Barris TV & Movie Cars, you'll see that the car was driven by Dwayne Hickman in the TV series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, which aired from 1959 to 1963.  You may also have noticed in the photograph above that I'm going to get a little more creative with my photos of loose die-cast cars.  I went to my local hobby store and picked up some HO scale accessories to make my photos a little more exciting.  Let me know what you think.

8/7/04 - Talking Cars in August
It's that time of the month to go through the e-mails I've received over the last month and select a few to share with you.  This month's topics include Knight Rider, The Today Show Van, Back to the Future 3, Starsky & Hutch, White Lightning, Batman (of course), Jurassic Park and movie Mustangs & Camaros.  But, before we get to the Q&A column, once again I need to announce that nothing you see on this website is for sale by me.  This website is strictly informational.  I get a TON of e-mails from people interested in buying the die-cast cars featured on this site.  Maybe someday I'll sell die-cast cars through this site, but not yet.  Now, onto the Q&A.  Click HERE and enjoy!

8/6/04 - Vanishing Point Challenger on the Horizon?
I started a thread at the Hobby Talk Bulletin Board asking Johnny Lightning to produce a 1:64 white '70 Challenger similar to the car seen in the film Vanishing Point.  (I just watched the DVD for the first time.)  Based on the cryptic responses I got, it looks like it may be on its way.  Will it be officially licensed?  Well, RC2 holds the license (at least at one time they did) and JL has the proper casting.  Considering RC2 recently bought out JL, maybe we'll see this as part of the next Hollywood on Wheels series.  I'll keep you posted.  I just recently joined Johnny Lightning's Business to Business Exchange, allowing me to bring you the latest scoops.

8/6/04 - Favorite TV Car?
The UK's Sky Television is asking its viewers to name their favorite TV car.  The results will be announced later this year.  I've been inspired to ask the visitors of Hollywood Die-Cast to respond to a poll of our own.  What is your all-time favorite TV car?  Click HERE to vote for one of the ten cars I've listed, or E-MAIL me to submit a write-in vote.  I'll post the results in a month or so.

8/3/04 - Wow!  What a Weekend!
What an amazing weekend.  But first, let me get you up to speed.  About a week or so ago, I got an e-mail from Denise O'Connor from Sky Television in the U.K.  Denise told me they were working on a documentary about TV cars and came across my website during an online search.  After talking on the phone, Denise invited me out to Tennessee where they would be videotaping at the Star Cars Museum in Gatlinburg.  Early Sunday morning, my friend Dennis and I packed up some of our die-cast car collection, and drove more than 9 hours to Tennessee.  Not only did we spend time at the Star Cars Museum, but we also happened to catch the last few hours of DukesFest '04 at the Bristol Motor Speedway.  Click HERE for the full story and more photos!