Mattel Disney Pixar CARS: Andy Gearsdale Area 51 Mystery
Thanks for the great pics, “John H.”
Andy Gearsdale, a giant Army transport was once scheduled for release in 2012.
But of course, he never made it out like a few other Deluxe in 2012. Though you could probably pick up 92,000 Submarine Finn’s.
A new Andy Gearsdale seems to have popped up but it’s not listed on the Mattel breakdown for 2016.
It’s a nice looking diecast but most of the clues (chassis info/tires) seems to point to a Disney store release.
Compared to Mattel Sarge.
Nicely scaled.
Compared to Corporal Kim of the Toons lineup (UFO Mater).
Mator UFO.
As John H. notes, if it was a Toon release, he’s have the door UFO logo/designation.
From CARS 2.
Thanks for the great photos, “John H.”
It definitely seems like to be a Disney Store offering – probably a box set? Give us a shot if you see it online or in stores.
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metroxing
12 February 2016
CARS World 2016, Disney Pixar CARS 3, Mattel Disney Pixar Diecast CARS 3
11 Comments
eBay (China) continues to be flooded with these. Most of the sellers are not the usual dealers in Cars, in many cases Andy Gearsdale is about the only Car in their store.
I wonder if maybe a production run was done under contract for Disney Store or the Theme Parks but was cancelled or rejected for some reason?
The manufacturer would then be motivated to sell them off any way that he could.
Another possibility is that this model is destined for the Theme Parks. We’ve seen them turn to Mattel (or a Mattel-alike factory) in the past for manufacturing of Cars models for sale inside the Parks.
Good point there — but in the end, it won’t matter to me, I bought two, and they’re good enough for me to enjoy them.
If China is listening to our gripes and complaints on what we’d like to see made — perhaps we should offer them advice here in the way of a “hit list” of the top five Cars we still need!
1. Wrecked Hudson Hornet
They were sent photos of the hauler prototypes exhibited at the Petersen yet they continue to do scary Mack’s with made up graphics.
If it’s a factory custom, where is the original tooling from? The gold Sally etc., are simply plating existing parts that are already being made in-house; but creating all new tooling (that is pretty darn accurate to the screenshots) is certainly stepping up their game –if that is what is happening.
The factory workers just managed to secure a prototype of Andy and made a mold. There’s not much more to it than that. It’s also been known since last June that Andy would eventually be made as a factory custom.
Then the Chinese are certainly showing a level of sophistication and initiative not seen before. Seems unlikely to put that kind of money into tooling, then only to sell them piecemeal via the “back door” and hope for significant sales numbers.
“Fit and finish” is often a great indicator of quality, so I took apart an “Andy Gearsdale” to look inside. All the interior (and thus unseen by the consumer) molded surfaces feature a high level of finish, smooth polished tooling, no wild tooling marks, and they generally look like first rate quality parts. I’d be surprised if it were knock-off tooling that they would go to such extremes as that. Most knock off Chinese toys have parts that fit atrociously, and this “Gearsdale” model ‘fits like butter’ with great precision.
There were no part numbers or mold numbers on the inside, and other than the visible:
© Disney/Pixar
Made in China
There are no maker’s marks, tooling or mold numbers, etc. Mattel often has mold numbers engraved inside parts, but Disney Store offerings usually don’t. As a further clue, Mattel uses spun-down rivets for assembly, whereas Disney Store almost always uses blackened screws — just as seen on this “Gearsdale” model.
Blackened machine screws, btw.
This is most likely a factory custom just like the Gold Sallys and McQueens on Ebay from China. Probably not coming to the Disney Store.