May 2003 Archive

5/30/03 - RC Charlie's Angels Van Revealed
Mike Pingel e-mailed me a pic of Racing Champions' Charlie's Angels van, which should be hitting stores in June.  Check out Mike's website:  www.charliesangels.com

Thanks again Mike.

5/22/03 - Racing Champions Website Updated
ERTL has updated its Racing Champions site to include entertainment die-cast shipping in June.  Most are re-releases, with the exception of one interesting offering:

I'm going to assume the Charlie's Angels van will be based on the original ERTL casting.  I'll post pics as soon as I have them.

5/15/03 - Griswold Family Truckster can be YOURS!
Apparently the Griswold Family Truckster from the film National Lampoon's Vacation is up for sale on eBay.  No, not a die-cast version, this is the actual car used for filming.  Imagine taking the family across country in THIS. 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2174662642

5/15/03 - James Bond Die-Cast at Wal*Mart
If your local Wal*Mart has a Radio Grill restaurant, you may want to pop in for a special treat.  Johnny Lightning James Bond vehicles are available there.  According to Jeff Koch of Johnny Lightning, the cars will come in sealed boxes, concealing which car is inside.  He said that one style of car will be considered a rare White Lightning, though he hasn't said which car it is.  Good luck in your hunt.

Update:

Here is a pic posted by Badpauls at www.hobbytalk.com:

Apparently, the Lotus Esprit from The Spy Who Loved Me is the White Lightning.  Wlpaul posted that he found ONE in a hundred boxes!

5/12/03 - HOW4 Hogan's Heroes Vehicle Revealed
Hogan's Heroes Kubelwagen was revealed in a photo shown at www.mboxcommunity.com.  The Cadillac Eldorado from the film Rat Race has been canceled.  Look for Hollywood on Wheels 4 to hit stores in June.

5/11/03 - Misc. Mayhem Close to Making Announcement
Anthony at Miscellaneous Mayhem Productions tells me to keep watching the Bulletin Board at www.hobbytalk.com for an announcement regarding exclusive versions of Supercar.  He said that Johnny Lightning is producing these limited edition variants exclusively for Misc. Mayhem.  There will be three different versions:  Accurately detailed color version, black stealth "Condor" version, and a black & white version (shown above).  I will post the info here when they start taking orders.  Visit their website for more info and pics:

www.miscmayhemprods.com

5/9/03 - 1:18 Animal House Corvette Shipping this Month
ERTL updated their website to reveal that a 1:18 scale Corvette from the film Animal House will be shipping this month as part of their American Muscle line.  This will make a nice companion piece to the Animal House Deathmobile, scheduled to ship in October.

In other ERTL news, I received a case of RC cars from my comic book store.  The case was SUPPOSED to include the car from the film The Car.  It didn't.  The case included Tomb Raider, Smokey & the Bandit, xXx, Gone in 60 Seconds GTO, and James Dean's Mercury.  Needless to say, I was disappointed.

5/4/03 - X-Men 2 - Mazda RX-8
X-Men 2 opened nationwide this past weekend.  I really enjoyed it, though I think I liked the original better.  The movie features the new Mazda RX-8.  Not exactly the Batmobile, but a nice looking car nevertheless.  No word on a die-cast version of this car yet.  Click here for more info about the car.

5/3/03 - Back to the Future III Delorean
Charawheels (Hot Wheels' Japanese Counterpart) offers up this very cool version of the time traveling Delorean from Back to the Future III.  I discovered it today at http://www.showcasetoys.com/backtofuture.html and on eBay.  Charawheels continues to offer very high quality TV and movie vehicles in 1:64 scale.  If you haven't seen them, check out their versions of the original BTTF Delorean, K.I.T.T., the Mach 5, Airwolf helicopter and Lady Penelope's FAB 1 from Thunderbirds.

5/2/03 - Rare James Bond Piece Added to Gallery
A photo of one of the most rare and valuable pieces in the history of TV and movie die-cast has been added to our gallery courtesy of John from the Matchbox Community.  Loose, these pieces fetch top dollar on eBay.  I can't imagine what this gift set from On Her Majesty's Secret Service would bring in at auction.  Thanks to John for providing the pic.

5/1/03 - Spy Hunter G-8155 Interceptor
Ain't it Cool News unveiled the vehicle that the Rock will drive in the film Spy Hunter.  Dwayne "The Rock"  Johnson stars as pilot Alec Sects in the film based on the arcade game.
Click on the following link for more info:

 http://www.aintitcoolnews.com/display.cgi?id=15112