October 2004

Each month I go through the most recent e-mails I've received and pick a few to share with you.  I try to personally respond to every e-mail I receive, but I also post a few here in my Q&A column.

I believe The Love Bug diorama is more accurate than the Ghostbusters diorama.  The Seabreeze Point diorama, which depicts Herbie without his racing decals, is right out of the first Love Bug film.  The Ghostbusters diorama not only uses a generic police car (instead of a NYPD car), but also displays the Ecto-1A in front of a rampaging Stay Puft Marshmallow man.  I know this is nitpicking, but the Ecto-1A is from the SECOND Ghostbusters film, which features a rampaging Statue of Liberty.  Personally, I think this is a pretty glaring mistake from the Johnny Lightning people. 

Hello,

I really enjoy your website.  You have some great info on there.  Because of your site, I have started collecting die-casts of my favorite cars from movies and TV shows I remember from the 70's.  I agree with your wish list, especially for a Wonderbug die-cast and a Sanford & Son truck.

I was checking to see if you had ever heard of there being any die-cast made of the Phooeymobile from Hong Kong Phooey cartoon or a die-cast of the semi truck from the movie Duel starring Dennis Weaver.  Also, have you ever seen a die-cast of the semi truck in the movie Maximum Overdrive with the green face on the front?  If you have heard of these, do you know who made them?  I want to do some searching if there were any die-casts made of these.

Thanks a lot,
Matthew Broyles

Interesting wish list Matthew. Unfortunately, if you don't see it on my site, it doesn't exist in 1:64 scale.  The Phooeymobile would've been an awesome addition to Johnny Lightning's line of cartoon vehicles from a few years ago.  It's a shame this line didn't sell well enough to merit a second wave.  I really liked these cars and I own all of them.  With the Special Edition Duel  recently released on DVD, a die-cast set would be awesome.  I just don't see it happening.  The Green Goblin truck from Maximum Overdrive would be a great casting too, but I feel the movie may be a bit too obscure.  Your only current option is to try to customize these vehicles yourself.  There is a great site for reference photos from Duel:

http://members.tripod.com/webzapper/duel.html

Thanks for the tip.  As you may know, Johnny Lightning has announced their Hollywood on Wheels 6 lineup, which includes a Yenko Camaro from 2003 film The Italian Job.  I don't recall seeing a Yenko Camaro and I don't own the DVD, though I've been meaning to pick it up.  I really enjoyed the film when I saw it in the theater.  If anyone owns the DVD and can do a screen capture of this car, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks for writing.  It always makes me smile to know my website has inspired someone to create or expand their collection, especially people in other countries.  To answer your question, I live in Lake Orion, Michigan (which is just north of Detroit, appropriately The Motor City).  For those of you living in the U.K., be sure to keep your eyes open for a TV special about TV cars.  It will air on Sky Television in November and will feature numerous celebrities such as Adam West, George Barris and the cast of The Dukes of Hazzard.  Also appearing on the program will be myself and my friend Dennis to provide some comic relief!