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Mattel Disney Pixar Diecast CARS: The Old Mater Switcheroo

Last week in our post on ‘retired’ CARS, I pointed out that in the ‘production category,’ Mater was switched from mostly metal to just the cab portion as metal …Basically the old Mater was virtually all metal except for the tow hook apparatus and tow lines. The new Mater is all plastic except the cab portion and where his entire car except the tow area was essentially one piece of metal, he is now mostly all plastic and they fit a metal cab on top …

The telltale sign being a visible gap-hole in the plasticy Mater “engine” compartment.

mater

Desert Back – Thailand Mater is on the left. New ROR Mater is on the right. You can see now the engine is plastic and they dropped the metal cab portion over it – whereas before, it was all ONE piece of metal so no visible line-gap around the edge of the engine.

I thought the switchover was during WOC cards but people have reported that their supercharged Mater is the plasticky version. I did go back and look and my SC version is the all-metal version so presumably during some production run gap (was it during the Sarge recall?), they did the switchover …

sc-mater-wm

engine1

It’s a little confusing here as the SC version has a painted line by the edge of the engine but not an actual gap. Amd as with any diecast car that requires a wash or dirtied look, no two will ever be the exactly the same … but presumably, the early release of SC Mater was all metal.

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37 Comments

  • John in Missouri says:

    Mater Weight Update

    I scored my first Case G this morning, and bought Mater. He now weighs a full ounce less than the previous more-metal one! (3.25 ounces vs. 4.25 ounces)

  • PirateDad says:

    I wonder how much BUBBA will weigh?

    John, you are HILARIOUS weighing the cars!! I LOVE it!!

  • Bob Eckel says:

    While we are on the subject of TRUCKS… Was Chick Hicks Crew Chief Green Truck ever released?

    (MET: Nope, moved to Megasized, probably Fall or Holiday this year).

  • unimog says:

    Two years ago, when my daughter opened her first Mater, I was smitten with collector’s fever. I was smitten because of the quality of the toy. Last week, when I opened a replacement Mater, I was really disappointed with the change. I felt betrayed. My enthusiasm has waned.

    • John in Missouri says:

      I never see single packs of Mater anymore, but the next time I do, I have a bad feeling that when I lift it off the peg, my hand will go flying up in the air, since I’ll expecting something quite heavier.

    • John in Missouri says:

      And yes, once again, the Marketing Genuises in the Glass Tower strike again!!

  • Larry says:

    I dont have an EA number on the bottom of mine. I think I bought mine back when they only had like 10-12 cars out.

    • BMW says:

      Larry the EA is the factory code on the plastic blister, not on the car itself. The early cars did not have a factory code on the car bottom, or a date either. Just the made in Thailand mark with the Disney Pixar trademark. Only way to know actual production date is to have the card/blister saved that the car came from on the original 12.

  • John in Missouri says:

    John in Missouri’s Trivia Answer

    I don’t have a carded Bruiser Bukowski, but here are the 3 lightest on WoC cards:

    Fred with Bumper Stickers (1 3/4 oz || 51 or 52 grams, it was changing between the two)
    Chuki (1 7/8 oz || 55 grams)*
    Al Oft the Lightyear Blimp (1 7/8 oz || 55 grams)

    Brand New Mater is the hevaiest on WoC card (4 1/4 oz || 120 grams)

    * Chuki of ROR card is 52 grams

  • Monica says:

    RB mater appears to be all metal.

  • Ryan says:

    MET, did we ever find out about BN Mater? Remember I asked about that in your last post about this. Was BN Mater the same way? Can anyone actually look at their BN Mater and see?

    (MET: I only noticed the Mater since I opened the 3-pack. Basically I really only open the first appearance of a CAr so it’d literally been years since I opened a Mater. I know people had mentioned it before but when i felt it in my hand, I knew it weighed a lot less. With BN Mater, it’s be harder to fix since he’s just essentially one piece … I suppose they could slice his bed portion off the current mold and make it plastic also … right now, he’s just one piece of metal but that’s not always easy to do – the ROR BN Mater is ALL METAL still (except for the tow parts) so maybe when they need to make a new mold for BN Mater … but also keep in mind, BN Mater is re-released a lot less often than mater so they dont make that many BN Mater’s anyway … so they might leave him alone).

    • Ryan says:

      I guess since BN Mater has a hood and no reason to have a plastic engine, it would be hard to tell if the bed sides are plastic without checking an open one?

  • Mike H says:

    I’ll stick with my first release desert-back Mater. I remember getting him, and being just impressed with the detail in the paint on him.

  • BMW says:

    Just checked my SC Mater with J Hook. production code is 3256EA so late 2006. It is all metal, so can’t help much on when this happened.

    Probably all early SC versions with the J Hook hanger are going to be all metal, since the changeover to the folddown hanger was much later, early to mid 07??

    Wonder how obvious the weight difference is? Is the Radiator Springs Shopkeepers Mater the new plastic or all metal? Need to dig mine out.

    • BMW says:

      Checked quickly, ah glad these are in dust proof containers. Radiator Springs Shopkeepers Mater SC is all metal, the production code was 2006 on the bottom. So far my guess is all SC made in 2006 are fully diecast except for hook and tow line.

  • WillWaffle4567 says:

    This is a change of subject, but when is the winner of the elvis rv contest going to be announced?

  • NCC-2000 says:

    Walmart Bruiser may be the lightest? Or maybe Al Oft? Anyway, my SC Mater is the half plastic one, but all my BN Maters are still all metal. Why would they change one but not the other?

  • John in Missouri says:

    Met I would think that Brand New Mater is still all metal?

    To prove how much of a Carsaholic I really am, I weighed all the carded Cars on a kitchen scale, and Brand New Mater is the heaviest.

    Can anyone guess the lightest carded Cars character?

  • Dunroamin says:

    Partially plastic mater…bummer…but my Brand New mater is all metal…What’s up with that?

  • TarheelBill says:

    Mater is a heavy metal dude. No thanks on the plastic. :l

  • I thought Mater looked a little different when I took him out of the 3-Car gift pack. He definitely feels lighter. Too bad. I like my Mater with a little more heft. 😉

  • L8rM8r says:

    Poor Mater a victim of cost vs quality. Well I think I have all versions of Mater so I will take a look as well.

  • 5oclockshadow says:

    I will have to go back to Big Lots and see which versions they have there.

  • Daniel says:

    Collect ’em all.

  • hostile takeover banker says:

    we need a ghostlight mater!

  • cac1959 says:

    Mater… Gotta have my Mater…Thanks for the story.

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