August '07 News Archive

8/30/07 - It's a bird!  It's a plane! It's ...
... oh, nevermind, it's just a plane.  Frank sent me an e-mail to tell me he found two new Superman 2-packs from Hot Wheels.  One includes a Lexcorp Jet and the other includes a Daily Planet delivery van.  As for the car and the motorcycle, well, I'm scratching my head on those.

8/30/07 - More Cars News
Be on the lookout for new Cars product hitting the toy shelves.  Four cars based on real people, Mario Andretti, Darrell Cartrip, Bob Cutlass and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. are starting to show up on eBay. 

8/26/07 - Cars Recall Recovery
After a period of empty pegs, it looks like stores are finally getting back to normal after the Sarge recall.  I've been seeing a ton of product on the shelves the past few days.  I still can't find much new stuff, but it's good to see the pegs full again (and not all Sally and Sheriff cars.)  I did spot Cars Movie Doubles at a Toys R Us.  Unfortunately, they didn't have the Lightning McQueen/Tongue McQueen 2-pack.  Someone must've beaten me to it.  I still haven't found a Tongue McQueen. Other Movie Doubles include Mater/Brand New Mater, Doc Hudson/Fabulous Hudson Hornet w/red rims & Ramone/Hydraulic Ramone (pictured above.)

Also, for those of you who missed out on Flo's V8 Cafe' and can't bring yourself to spend the big bucks on eBay, I was stunned to find that the Cafe' is currently shipping to Toys R Us as an exclusive.  Be sure to get yours before they're gone!

8/23/07 - Looooong overdue!
Mark Walters sent me an e-mail tipping me off to this exciting bit of news.  Apparently, Auto Art will finally release a 1:18 scale version of Mad Max's V8 Interceptor from The Road Warrior.  Officially, it should be released in November, but speculation says we probably won't see it until the new year.  I'm not sure what it will retail for, but it might sell for over $100.  We'll have to wait and see, but this is a MUST HAVE for 1:18 scale collectors.

8/19/07 - The Dark Knight
My friend Tim sent me some stills he found from next year's The Dark Knight.  I don't know about you, but I'm already pretty excited.

8/16/07 - The King is Gone
Today marks the 30th Anniversary of Elvis Presley's death.  I remember the day as if it were yesterday.  I grew up a HUGE Elvis fan.  I can't think of ONE Elvis song I don't like and love all of his movies.  I visited Graceland and Sun Studio two years ago and it was like a religious pilgrimage.  Click HERE for pics. 

Coincidentally, or maybe not so coincidentally, Johnny Lightning's new series of Rock Art cars has hit stores, featuring three new Elvis cars.  I saw them in stores, and just like the first series, I passed on them.  I wish Johnny Lightning would've used cars from his movies or his personal collection.  Heck, I might've pick up the GI Blues car if it had included a JEEP instead of a Shelby Cobra.  To see more Elvis die-cast cars, click HERE.

8/14/07 - Sarge Recalled!
EL SEGUNDO, Calif., August 14, 2007 – Mattel, Inc. announced today that the company has voluntarily recalled one toy from the "CARS" die-cast vehicle line ("Sarge" character), manufactured between May 2007 and July 2007, containing impermissible levels of lead. The recalled vehicles include 436,000 total toys, including 253,000 in the U.S. and 183,000 outside of the U.S.

The recall of the Sarge toy results from Mattel's increased investigation and ongoing testing procedures following the recall of select Fisher-Price toys on August 1, 2007. The toy was produced by Early Light Industrial Co., Ltd (Early Light), one of Mattel's contract manufacturing facilities in China, which subcontracted the painting of parts of the toy to another vendor, Hong Li Da (HLD), also in China. While the painting subcontractor, HLD, was required to utilize paint supplied directly from Early Light, it instead violated Mattel's standards and utilized paint from a non-authorized third-party supplier.

8/12/07 - Race the Truck!
This latest news items comes from, of all people, my SISTER Juanita!  As a "thank you" for completing a survey, my sister received a die-cast UPS truck in the mail.   Featuring flame decals, the die-cast commemorates the Race the Truck series of commercials starring NASCAR star Dale Jarrett.

8/14 UPDATE:  Metro Privratsky wrote me to say he got his UPS truck way back in 2002 (below.)  So these aren't as new as I thought, but still pretty cool.

8/12/07 - Holy Re-Release!
My friend Tim called me to tell me he found a Batman Begins 5-pack from Hot Wheels.  I told him that's old news.  He told me the one he found included a Gotham City Police Car.  I had to see it for myself.  A few days later, I found one at Toys R Us.  Apparently, the Bat-Cycle has been replaced by a GPD cruiser. 

8/2/07 - Resistance is Futile
I saw this posted in the Hobby Talk forums.  It's a photo of the vehicles slated to be included in Johnny Lightning's Star Trek line - Release 4.  Notice the little teeny tiny Borg Sphere.  As you may recall, the ships aren't die-cast, but the bases are.