September

10/25/06 - An Offer You Can't Refuse!
Adam Hintz sent me a heads-up regarding Jada Toys' upcoming 1:18 scale '40 Cadillac Fleetwood Series 75 from The Godfather. First Scarface, now The Godfather. Jada is becoming a major force in TV and movie die-cast cars. Let's hope they follow up their 1:18 scale offering with a 1:64 scale version, like they did with cars from Scarface.

10/24/06 - Cool Customs!
Wow, check out these cool customs made by Tsunoda Junichi. RC2/Johnny Lightning is really missing the boat by not offering Snowman's Semi from Smokey & The Bandit, or how about a damaged version of Buford T. Justice's cruiser? I love it!

As you know from my wish list, the ambulance from The Cannonball Run ranks pretty highly on my list of cars I would love to see produced. Look what Tsunoda did with the Johnny Lightning's '78 Dodge Van. This really looks like something you'd see hanging on the toy store pegs. He writes:

Dear Mr. Joe Johnson,
My name is Jun Tsunoda, I'm Japanese. I e-mail you from Japan. I'm sorry in my poor English. I love a car coming out to a movie & TV show. I love your homepage so much.
I have collection of a lot of movie & TV cars die-cast, too, but I am a disease of a brain tumor. Therefore I cannot readily go to see in U.S.A.

I am good at making a plastic model & die-cast. I make the die-cast which sometimes appears for a movie & TV. I send a photograph of my work. Please look.
This is "Smokey and the Bandit" This Trans Am is a made by Racing Champions 1/64 scale. So I made a Bandit Trailer & junk police car.

Today, I want to show you another custom die-cast cars. I looked at your homepage. About WORST top 10. "Cannonball Run Ambulance" You chose this as the first.
I am agreeable in your opinion, too. Therefore I made "Cannonball Run Ambulance" with 1/64 scale Johnny Lightning Van. I made a package too. Cannonball Run is very old movie, But I love this movie.

I want to show you die-cast collection of me soon, too
Thank you
JUN (^ ^)/

Thank you for sharing your work with us. Maybe RC2 and Johnny Lightning will be inspired by your work.

10/22/06 - Dukes Packaging Pic
A photo (above) was posted on the Hobby Talk Bulletin Board by Ricky2400. The packaging has been unveiled for the upcoming The Dukes of Hazzard series by Johnny Lightning. The assortment is slated to include:

Three of the following:
1969 Charger General Lee

Two each of the following:
Daisy's Jeep CJ
Daisy's 1972 Roadrunner
General Lee 1969 Dodge Charger Dirty Version
Cooter's 1970 Camaro

One each of the following:
Dodge 1977 Monaco Police Car

I'm hoping the car used in the above sample is just for mock-up purposes. I'd be disappointed if they used RC2's lame General Lee casting and not JL's superior casting.

Mock-ups for Toy Fair usually do not contain the production car. The Johnny Lightning General Lee will be the JL casting of the '69 Charger. In addition, we made sure to change a couple of features on the "new" General Lee so that it will be different from the first one we made. If I remember correctly, the new General Lee will have a black chassis and I think, different wheels.

Mac

10/18/06 - Just in Time for Halloween!
I'm jealous! My buddy Dennis just sent me an e-mail telling me he nabbed a 1:64 scale van made by Maisto to promote the show Ghost Hunters, which is currently my favorite show on TV. He got it through an eBay auction, which offered the following description:

This is a promotional die-cast that was available at last year's San Diego Comic Con. It was only available at the Sci-fi Channel's booth. This 1/64th scale van based on the one used in Sci-fi Channel's show "Ghost Hunters" it's made by Maisto. It has never been removed and is still in it's factory packaging.

I didn't even know these existed. I'm not a big fan of the bling bling wheels, but I'm going to have to find one for myself. The van sells for about $10 on eBay. I've added the Ghost Hunters van to the TV Cars gallery.

10/15/06 - Halloween Poll
Halloween has always been my favorite time of the year. In honor of this most spooky season, I've created a poll asking you to vote for your favorite "scary" movie featuring a car. Click HERE to vote for one of the ten choices, or e-mail me with your write-in vote. I'll announce the winner in two weeks.

UPDATE: Christine ROLLED over the competition getting 56% of the votes, followed by The Car and Ghostbusters, each with 13% of the votes.

10/14/06 - '66 Batmobile Update
Ernie Renn of www.MunsterKoach.com forwarded a message to me that was posted in the Hot Wheels Collectors Forum:

"Originally posted by HWC Ned:
We will be releasing several different versions of the 1966 Batmobile in Hot Wheels, both in the basic car line as well as other lines and other scales. This is the only place you can get the official '66 TV series Batmobile. The team is working with Warner Bros., DC Comics and of course, George Barris on these. Look for an official press release the beginning of November at SEMA and we may have some sneak peak info Saturday night at the 20th Collector's Convention in Anaheim.

Trust me - it all looks a lot better than the Corgi stuff ever did."

With the imminent release of the '66 Batmobile, I'm going to need a new entry in the #1 spot of the Wish List. I'll be posting a poll soon so you can help me decide what should be at the top. I'll also have to replace the Dodge Monaco Police Cruiser from The Dukes of Hazzard since it's scheduled to be included in an upcoming Dukes series from RC2/Johnny Lightning.

10/14/06 - Sponsor News
Movie Car Mania has gotten some new product in stock. X-Tractions The Dukes of Hazzard slot cars are available in both clean and dirty versions. Choose from The General Lee or Rosco's Cruiser. Movie Car Mania has also gotten in a supply of the 1:18 scale '67 Shelby GT500E, better known as "Eleanor" (below.) Click on the link in the top right column for more info.

10/13/06 - Too Much Time on My Hands
Goofing around with the camera on a Friday night. I keep hitting stores looking for the next Cars wave with no luck. I'll pass along news if I come across any.

10/13/06 - Holy Grail, Batman!
Turns out Friday the 13th wasn't so bad. I came home to find my Holy Grail waiting for me in the mailbox. I've been trying to get the Hot Wheels Zamac Batmobile for quite a while now. Every time I bid on one on eBay I'd get outbid. Finally, I won an auction at a reasonable price and now I can add it to my collection.

10/12/06 - "First you get da money, den you get the Caddy."
I got an e-mail from Jada Toys asking if I wanted to buy their full-size replica of the '63 Caddy from the film Scarface. Unfortunately, I can't quite afford it, but maybe someone out there would be interested. Click HERE for more information. Personally, I'm more of a Batmobile or Delorean Time Machine kind-of-guy.

10/12/06 - Collectors' Collections
Phil Santo of Toronto sent me updated pics of his collection to add to the Collectors' Collections section of this website. Click HERE to see them and all the others I've received. If you'd like to have pics of YOUR collection posted in the Collectors' Collections gallery, send well-lit, clear digital pics along with an e-mail to joe@hollywood-diecast.com

10/12/06 - That's One Big KITT!
Imran sent me an e-mail to tell me about the 1:15 scale remote contol KITT he picked up on eBay. He writes:

Just want to let you know about the new 1/15 scale KITT R/C from Hitari. It is a UK based company. I already have the KITT R/C and I must say that it is the best KITT R/C ever... I bought it at Ebay. The detailing is an exact mould of the ERTL 1/18 KITT except that this is bigger in 1/15 scale. Scanner moves and it talks with William Daniels original voice from the series!!! I have attached a couple of pics of it in its packaging and I hope you will share it at your website... Thanks!

10/9/06 - 50 Cars in Four Weeks
Nate of www.moviereplicacars.net has come up with a cool idea of trying to find all 50 cars listed in Gone in 60 Seconds (2000) in die-cast form. The cars can be any scale, but must be die-cast metal and must match the color of the cars featured in the film. All you have to do is send him a link to the photo featuring the correct car. Click HERE for a complete list of cars needed.

10/8/06 - Talking Cars in October!
I've gone through e-mails I've received over the past couple of months and selected a few to share with you. Topics include: Pixar's Cars, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, The Fast & The Furious, Supercar, National Lampoon's Vacation, Batman, Gone in 60 Seconds, Chicken Little (?) and MORE. Click HERE and enjoy. As always, I encourage you to send me e-mails (including photos of your collection.) For a more immediate response, join the Hollywood Die-Cast Forum and post your message there! Click on the link in the left column.

10/7/06 - Sponsor News
www.pro-models.com is offering an exclusive 10% discount on purchases of $100 or more to Hollywood Die-Cast visitors. Visit the site and be sure to use the coupon code hwdpromo

10/4/06 - A Nice Bat-Surprise
It's always cool in this hobby to stumble upon something totally unexpected. On my way home from work tonight I stopped into K-Mart to pick up some snacks. Of course, I browsed the die-cast car section and hanging on the pegs was a brand-new Hot Wheels Batmobile (numbered 207.) Check out the gold accents (above.) I rummaged through the cars on the pegs to find another, and to my surprise, I did find a second Batmobile, but this one was on a totally different card-back (see pic below). I don't know if one is more rare than the other, but I bought both.

I'm glad Hot Wheels is allowing us to continue the hunt for Batmobile variants. I enjoyed looking for each new variant and I'm looking forward to finding the Batmobile from The Batman animated series, and, of course, the 1966 Batmobile. Thanks Hot Wheels!

10/6 UPDATE: I noticed this little blurb on the back of the card: "Look for the brand new Batmobile from the animated TV show in our 2007 Mystery car series!"

10/3/06 - Welcome!
Please help me welcome www.pro-models.com as the newest sponsor of Hollywood Die-Cast.com. Pro-Models offers a nice variety of 1:18 scale die-cast cars, including cars from television and film. Check out the beautiful version of "Eleanor" pictured below. Please click on the link in the right column to see what else they have to offer.

10/2/06 - Holy Confirmation, Batman!
I finally have confirmation that Hot Wheels will INDEED be producing the 1966 Barris Batmobile in 1:64 scale! Here is an excerpt from an item posted on HotWheelsCollectors.com:

"And in case you haven’t heard, the 1966 Batmobile™ is making its triumphant return to mainstream culture as a new Hot Wheels® 1:64^th scale car."

The above graphic was found on HotWheels.com. This is exciting news, probably the most exciting news since I first started collecting TV and movie die-cast cars. One can only hope they'll follow up their 1:64 scale offering with a 1:18 scale Batmobile. Let's keep our fingers crossed. Thanks to Graham Little for the heads-up.

10/1/06 - Disappointing News
According to a press release posted on Collector's Net USA, it seems RC2 has canceled several series due this year, including TV Land/Hollywood on Wheels and the proposed James Bond release. This is sad news. I really liked some of the castings that were being proposed in the James Bond line. Make sure to let your voice be heard and contact RC2. I know I will.