Home » Advertising, collecting, diecast, Film, Internet, Marketing, Mattel Disney Pixar CARS, Retail, Toys, TV

TakeFive Community: Say Hello to Loolar McQueen, Darth N8er, Kwakamacca & NCC-2000

For anyone who wants to introduce themselves, step right up and answer these questions three (or more) (or make up your own- we’re not picky other than answering the FIRST one so we know who you are) 🙂

SIGNIN NAME?

BIO?

WHEN DID YOU START?

WHAT WAS THE FIRST CAR YOU GOT?

HOW LONG BEFORE YOU HAD CAR #2?

WHEN DID YOU DECIDE/REALIZE YOU NEEDED MORE THAN ONE?

WHEN DID YOU REALIZE YOU HAD TO GO BIG INTO THIS THING?

WHAT WAS THE CRAZIEST THING YOU’VE HEARD ABOUT COLLECTING THESE CARS? (NEVER YOU, SOME OTHER PERSON’S CRAZY STORY 🙂 ).

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE CAR?

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR TO ADD TO YOUR COLLECTION?

Send an email with photos to: metroxing@takefiveaday.com

(If you’re under 18 and sending a pic, be sure and include a note of permission from parents/adult, etc … thanks!)

SAY HI TO Loolar McQueen – Son Logan makes a pretty fierce Batman 🙂 – Not that scary with the mask off 🙂 … from the story below also, Too cute!

loolar1

loolar2

SIGNIN NAME?
LoolarMcQueen

BIO?
We are 37, Logan is 2.5.  I am a high school English teacher in Los Angeles Unified School district, teaching primarily Latino kids.  We love watching all the Pixar movies, but CARS, FINDING NEMO, and MONSTERS, INC. especially.  I look forward to the day I get to introduce Logan to Star Wars; I already have a big box full of Galactic Hero stuff I’ve been picking up for just that day.

WHEN DID YOU START?
My mother-in-law (Logan’s “Noni”) was buying them for our nephew (wife’s sister was doing the same for him), and we got a bunch of the extras.  We had north of 30 or so stuffed into a Pamper’s box.  I didn’t pay too much attention; just put them in a box, figuring “when he’s older.”  He got a taste of playing with diecast cars whenever he went to Noni’s house, and he loved walking around with fistfuls of cars.  We started watching CARS with him, though, and pretty soon his Grammy gave him some pajamas and some framed small posters of McQueen and Mater from Target.  It wasn’t too long before he was pointing to “Ma-KEEN” and “Toe-MAYer.”  That’s when we actually opened those two up and let him have them.

WHAT WAS THE FIRST CAR YOU GOT?
Not sure, so we’ll go with the first ones we gave Logan:  McQueen and Mater.  But the first car WE bought is a tale told below…

HOW LONG BEFORE YOU HAD CAR #2?
I think the big deal is when we actually bought some ourselves, rather than gratefully accepting the extras and doubles from family.  We were at a local swap meet (my mother, his Grammy, was in town, and lives for garage sales).  There was a dealer with a bunch of colorful racers – what I would later learn were the K-Mart racers.  I said to my wife, “we don’t have any of those.”  Well, five minutes later, we did – at $5 a piece, I think it was fair, given what retail+tax+gas would have been.

WHEN DID YOU DECIDE/REALIZE YOU NEEDED MORE THAN ONE?
I got home and started to scour the internet for a checklist – if they made these racers, what else was out there?  I had done some toy collecting years ago, and had largely gotten rid of all but a few pieces, so I knew my way around news groups, ebay, and blogs.  That’s when I stumbled on TakeFiveADay, and realized there was a whole LOT I didn’t know about the CARS line…  I made the mistake of showing some of the great pics on this site to my wife, and it was like the swap meet all over again.  “Ooh, let’s get those!”

WHEN DID YOU REALIZE YOU HAD TO GO BIG INTO THIS THING?
I think the big moment was seeing a picture of the Motor Speedway of the South, and researching all the racers.  We’re not into car racing, had never collected cars of any sort, but it was just stunning seeing all those race cars.  That was when the “collect them all” bug hit us.  I tell you, we were getting a little tired of watching the movie, good as it is, nearly every day – but now we had the fun “game” of playing spot the car, thanks to the research we’d done about which toys were out.  We’ve spent the last two months making the rounds to WM, TRU and Target, as well as the occasional KMart.  I used to do this back when I collected Star Wars figures, so I’m an old pro – but it was totally fun and new to have my wife along, just as excited as I was.  Even more chaotic to have the boy grabbing at cars, too.  My wife actually grabbed a few Hot Wheels and started her own collection of cars.  So far, she has (in her words) “a purple one” and “an orange one” and “a blue one.”  You can guess her criteria for selecting Hot Wheels.  But she loves getting new CARS to add to Logan’s (someday) collection, and has been a very bad influence on me – when I see an ebay auction of a lot (I always try to stick to that $5/per price point), she never says no.

WHAT WAS THE CRAZIEST THING YOU’VE HEARD ABOUT COLLECTING THESE CARS? (NEVER YOU, SOME OTHER PERSON’S CRAZY STORY 🙂 ).
People driving hundreds of miles across state lines with only the faintest hope of finding something… yikes!

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE CAR?
My wife’s favorite color is purple, so I got her an N2O Cola off Ebay at a pretty sweet price (we came along too late to take advantage of the promotion – didn’t even know about it except from what I read here – trust me, we’ll get in on the next one for Gask-Its!).  Sure, we had a Transberry Juice, but that one will go to Logan.  N2O belongs purely to her, so I’d say it’s my favorite because of that.  My personal favorite in terms of sculpt and capturing the character is probably Filmore.

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR TO ADD TO YOUR COLLECTION?
I have the Hauler case with Jerry on the way from Traver, from whom we got the last case of launchers.  I’m all for supporting the “little guy,” and his markup is incredibly reasonable – he’s a great resource for this community (and I know, having been a collector of many lines, and dealing with the real slimeballs out for an easy buck).  We can’t wait to give Logan the haulers – he loves trucks and gets so excited when one passes by on the street (“Big RUCK!”).   We’re just waiting a little longer past the oral stage (and yes, we know not to give him Sarge).   Personally, I’d say I’m real excited for Sven (since we live in California with the real Governator), Pizza Planet truck, and seeing all the racers available (we’ve got 19 of them!).  As for what’s supposedly out right now, I’d love to get Elvis and Chuck Manifold and all those new ones; but it’s slim pickings here.  I ordered a Mega case just to get Dustin Mellows, which I’ve never seen on the pegs (luckily, Logan was really into Al Oft and Marco, too).

Sorry this is so verbose – damn English teacher can’t say anything succinctly!

SAY HI TO Darth N8er. Very funny photo of Brett – who could resist a cute baby mechanic  🙂 … Nice lightsaber effect on Christopher’s pic 🙂 plus of course, dressing up for a Colts game 🙂 … okay, I’m guessing it’s for the Star Wars Fan Day in Indy a year or two back. And very cool customs – amazing paint job on the authentic “King,” dressed as the original meep-meep Roadrunner street car and a great US Army custom … he’s working on some new customs – he’ll surprise us down the line – looking forward!

baby

pic-2

indy

meep-meep

us-army

SIGNIN NAME? Darth N8er

BIO? I am a 29 year old father of 2 boys.  Christopher is 7 and is a 1st degree black belt in ATA Taekwondo.  Brett is 3 and LOVES cars.  I am addicted Star Wars and CARS (thanks to Brett).  We live in Williamston Michigan, a small town near Lansing.  I collect 2 of every thing.  One for Brett and one for me.  My oldest, Christopher doesn’t really like cars.  Ever now and then there will be one he wants, but that doesn’t happen that often.  His addiction is Star Wars and G.I. Joe.  I also enjoy restoring old cars and am currently working on 1977 Ford Granada and a 1966 Ford Fairlane for my Mom.  In the pictures Brett is working on my Geo (lol), Christopher is the karate kid and little Anakin Skywalker, and I am….. Darth N8er.  The guy standing next to me is my younger Brother Brenton.

WHEN DID YOU START? Black Friday 2007

WHAT WAS THE FIRST CAR YOU GOT? Dinoco 400 set

HOW LONG BEFORE YOU HAD CAR #2? I’m not sure, I bought every car I could that day.

WHEN DID YOU DECIDE/REALIZE YOU NEEDED MORE THAN ONE? When I bought the Dinoco 400 set.

WHEN DID YOU REALIZE YOU HAD TO GO BIG INTO THIS THING? When I bought Brett his first pack of minis and I wanted them.  Those darn thing are SOOOOOO CUTE (as my wife says).

WHAT WAS THE CRAZIEST THING YOU’VE HEARD ABOUT COLLECTING THESE CARS? (NEVER YOU, SOME OTHER PERSON’S CRAZY STORY ). Besides what I read here, nothing.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE CAR? Darth Mater!!!!!!!!

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR TO ADD TO YOUR COLLECTION? DARTH MATER (I know, only in my dreams), Pizza Planet truck, and all of the Mater’s tall tales

SAY HI TO Kwakamacca. Try saying that a few times fast. Starting collecting for his grandson and now, trapped himself 🙂 … Sam is only 6 but it looks like he’s been all over the world! Nice! … Though you won’t find many CARS in NorCal … though there are a fun other fun things to do 🙂 And I notice that on the roller coaster ride, there’s one look of horror and one of sheer happiness 🙂
dsc_2957
dsc_3007
dsc_3799a

SIGNIN NAME? Kwakamacca – is actually my xbox username and is a combination of my surname (MacLachlan), the fact I ride a Kawasaki ZX6R and my wife’s family hailing from Liverpool and shortening everyone’s name.

BIO?  42 year old working in England’s failing broadcasting industry – ITV – facing redundancy and looking for new work! I collect cars along with my grandson Sam (6) and blame any purchases on him lol

WHEN DID YOU START? I started back at the launch of the film by buying the first few cars we could find for Sam and we both have the bug big time now!!

WHAT WAS THE FIRST CAR YOU GOT? Toss up between Lightning, Mater or Sally – managed to pick them up in Woolworths back in the good old days and they were on BOGOF offer!! Now got over 150 cars mostly all open apart from the special ones my grandson deems too good to open!

HOW LONG BEFORE YOU HAD CAR #2? Took a few weeks trawling Woolies and TRU to get this one

WHEN DID YOU DECIDE/REALIZE YOU NEEDED MORE THAN ONE? Almost straight away we knew there were more than we had but it was by looking on ripoffbay that we discovered the true depth of this addiction!

WHEN DID YOU REALIZE YOU HAD TO GO BIG INTO THIS THING? Pretty much straight away and that hasn’t been helped by Mattel’s treatment of its customers through their distribution policies – Also the priority the American market receives – Kmart/tru/target special releases, US only speedway of the south – I could go on…. Ripoffbay’s profits must be hugely boosted by Mattel’s policies and sellers greed! Three Haulers for £99 plus postage – daylight robbery!

WHAT WAS THE CRAZIEST THING YOU’VE HEARD ABOUT COLLECTING THESE CARS? (NEVER YOU, SOME OTHER PERSON’S CRAZY STORY :-)).          Surely just being a part of the Cars collecting family is borderline insanity isn’t it???

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE CAR? Hmmm tricky one but I would guess Bluray McQueen has to be up there

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR TO ADD TO YOUR COLLECTION? Several of the haulers, Kmart racers, speedway of the south cars, N2O Cola/Sidewall Shine – the list goes on and on and on and on….

SAY HI TO NCC-2000. He claims to a poor Canadian without any CARS but if you look at his photo-video link, I think we know where all the Canadian CARS have gone 🙂 … of course, it’s not his fault, he fell for the Mattel trick – hey, it says collect them all and there are only 23 CARS on the back. This will be easy 🙂

SIGNIN NAME?
NCC-2000
BIO?
Name is Alex Amaral, I live in Cambridge Ontario Canada, and I wish we were as up to date on the Cars universe as the Americans lol. My collection consists of one of each from each series (desert, supercharged, woc etc) and is currently on display in my Cars room as I call it, in my basement. Slowly running out of room so I need to add more shelving, and when that fills up, I’ll think of something new.
WHEN DID YOU START?
Some time in 2007, don’t remember when exactly, but it was during the Supercharged phase here. I grabbed a few off the pegs to look at them, and within a few minutes made the decision that this was to be my new hobby. Silly me thought that the checklist thing on the back of the card was actually complete, then I found a few Cars with a different list on the back. Once I got home I figured I’d do some research  to find out just how many different Cars there were, and that’s when I really found out what I had gotten myself into. While searching for a complete listing of the Cars I stumbled upon the carsthetoys.com site and this place back when it was still 2aday. Became a member of carsthetoys and kept checking up on here to see what was going on. The rest as we say is history.
WHAT WAS THE FIRST CAR YOU GOT?
No idea, I bought as many different ones as I could find when I started.
HOW LONG BEFORE YOU HAD CAR #2?
A few seconds.
WHEN DID YOU DECIDE/REALIZE YOU NEEDED MORE THAN ONE?
I knew going in that I wanted them all.
WHEN DID YOU REALIZE YOU HAD TO GO BIG INTO THIS THING?
When I realized I had already missed a series and a new one was coming.
WHAT WAS THE CRAZIEST THING YOU’VE HEARD ABOUT COLLECTING THESE CARS? (NEVER YOU, SOME OTHER PERSON’S CRAZY STORY :-) ).
I’ve read many a story to be able to remember a specific one.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE CAR?
I have far too many (literally) that I enjoy to pick just one.
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR TO ADD TO YOUR COLLECTION?
Anything new that gets released. Even rereleases from old series on new cards.
I have a few pics of my collection, but they are no longer current.
I also have my Youtube video located here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLq9t6MezCs this is the most current documentation of my collection I currently have. I’ll probably end up taking new pics or making a new video in a few weeks once the new shelving is in place.

THANKS for sharing all.

Keep the Profiles Coming! Don’t worry if you don’t see it up right away … I have to wait for at least couple more to do a post …

«  »

26 Comments

  • Flik'sFriend says:

    nice to meet you all!

  • brian says:

    i love the custom #01 nascar! nice details on it is very cool DARTHN8er!

  • I just love these profiles! Great Cars collections and very cute kids! 😀

  • Altan says:

    Alex NCC2000,
    What a lovely collection. Welcome on board. Nice to see you again.

  • Roswell says:

    hay Met, i just thought looking at NCC-2000’s pics;
    is the Cab on the hauler the same sculpt as the cab in the Team pack?
    (eg; Gray Hauler and Team Dinoco Hauler)

    or is it just the megasized cab only thats diferent?

    (MET: Team Hauler ‘hauler’ the EXACT same as the Hauler releases (chick, Mack & Dinoco) only difference is it comes with Racer & Pitty). Megasize Semi’s (Cabs only) ALL have different expressions than the Team Haulers/Haulers).

  • hostile takeover banker says:

    Hello all!!!

    That picture of Christopher doing taekwondo is awesome. I bet you are very proud of him.

    Great as always to see members! 🙂

  • buckland-blowouts says:

    Hey Dudes-Loolar-N-Logan!!! Way to keep the force focused on Cars!!! SWEET!!!

    You too Kwakamacca-Dudes!!! Looks like you are hittin’ all the hot spots Luigi and Guido did before they ended up in Radiator Springs!!! Gonna head to Canada sometime!?!?!? you should see the cars up here man!!!

    And last but not least (Pun intended…) Alex-Dude! You could patent that room for us crazy over the top MIB collectors!!! I could sure use one!!! And by the time Cars II comes out, I’ll need another!!!!!!!!

    • kwakamacca says:

      Hey Buckland-blowouts we would love to visit Canada at some point but it will have to wait for a while, until our finances get a little healthier.
      Pics were taken on our last visit to California. The diner is Lori’s in SF, a favourite of ours, the rollercoaster is the Matterhorn Bobsled at Disney Anaheim and of course the Golden Gate needs no introductions!
      I think Sam, my wife and I are frustrated Americans and very easily move to California if the opportunity arose!
      Great idea to do the intros Met, nice to put faces to the names I know on here, mind you it is all of you who are to blame for my addiction to cars (I do it all for Sam of course)with your tales of finds, new releases and collections to admire and be totally jealous of!!!!!!!!

  • Clipsawd97 says:

    You know…i once had a dream to put all my cars in its own room all on shelves…in fact its what im currently working on…but i think Alex has just smashed my dreams =( there is no way i can compete with that…i mean i have a TON of cars…but i think Alex still wins. NICE COLLECTION ALEX!!! CANT WAIT TO SEE MORE PICTURES!!!

    • NCC-2000 says:

      No smashing was intended, lol. I’ve been wanting to do this since I started the collection more or less. When I bought this house, I immediately made plans to convert the room into a display area, so it all fell into place quite nicely.

  • BMW says:

    Excellent collection!

  • Lorri says:

    Alex what a great collection!

  • Daniel says:

    Hey Alex,

    You have got to get that SOTS off the floor!!! Get a deeper shelf, make a pedestal in the center of the room, do something please. This thing is way too precious to risk flood damage.

  • deal or no cars says:

    Hi ALEX it’s Frank!
    What, where, when … NCC for President , NCC for PRESIDENT!!!! .
    Alex is a wonderful Trader seller BTW.. so if you can Help HIM .. give him your best shot, you won’t be disappointed! I’ve made few transactions with him and all went smooth as butter .. sit and relax! 🙂

  • megaheat2008 says:

    MET I AM SORRY,ILEFT THE WINDOWS OPENED HERE. AM I GROUNDED? I HOPE NOT THERES MORE PEEPS JOINING THE TAKEFIVEADAY FAMILY WOOOOOO HOOOOOOO…….. WELCOME ABOARD OR SHOULD I JUST TELL YOU ALL TO CLIMB THRU THE OPENED WINDOW……”THAT I LEFT OPENED shhhhhhhh……

  • chuki_mama says:

    NCC-2000….all I can say is WOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!!!

  • heinz57baby says:

    Wow – busy day Met! Welcome everyone!

  • Darth N8er says:

    We were at Star Wars celebration 3 2005

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.