Mattel Disney Pixar Diecast CARS 2: One Foggy Evening with Professor Z
Thanks to the CSI work of “DDD,” it looks like we can add Professor Z to the variant list …
This is the Professor Z that’s been available as a single, and on a short card.
At first “DDD,” just thought he discovered a “foggy” monocle version which seems a legitimate variant but not always easy to see through a plastic bubble and I wavered as to whether it was a significant variant …
… But then “DDD” also noticed that a door handle was added to his face so clearly and without a doubt, a production variant.
Professor Z, based on a German Zundapp Janus is an odd car and aptly named Janus as it was hard to tell if the car is coming or going and which was the front and which was the rear. And yes, in the real world Janus, to get in the car, you enter through the front as the doors opened from the front of the car, NO side doors.
So you might wonder what those yellowish-orange tabs are on the diecast and that it’s a mistake door handle but no …
As you can see, the real world Janus had some weird warning light there (along with the gas cap) so that part of Professor Z is actually correct on the diecast but clearly he was missing his front door handle … so now, in exchange for foggy monocles, he has a door handle.
So, yes variant.
DDD also notes that the “foggy one” reads 3350 or 3360 so they are older but the mystery deepens as the “foggy ones” I have do NOT have the door handle.
So far …
SINGLE CARD
Foggy with door handle
Foggy without front door handle
Clear without front door handle
SHORT CARD
Clear without door handle
So, thanks, “DDD” for poking at the Professor Z hornet’s nest.
What do you have?
(There is another WM only 2-pack release coming with Professor Z).
Janus Photo courtesy of the Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum & Wikipedia.
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10 June 2011
25 Comments
Hey guys! Guess what? I got that same thing on Saturday.
So, since Professor was also available on an error card 15/15, has anybody seen variants on this front?
It’s really an error, not a variant. DDD said the door handle on the other side is unpainted, so PZ must have done a 180 when the paint got applied there. Maybe Met could also add a photo of the unpainted door handle to show what happened.
I don’t think I’ve seen a PZ where his monocle was NOT smudged. Are a lot of people finding him with clear monocles?
His face is a door!
My Professor Z has a clear monocle. I saw a picture of Professor Z with a different expression on Ebay once. Could that be the Professor Z from the Walmart 2 pack with the red Gremlin?
It is unbelievable to me that this movie is only 2 weeks away!
The rear door on the Janus was also the entrance to the rear facing backseats.
Speaking of, what about the nxt 2 WM 2 packs?
They might come out after the film comes out.
Actually, the Fred and Holley 2 pack is out. I found it at my Walmart. The Tyler and Professor Z 2 pack might come out after the film comes out.
I must be blind. Where the heck is the door handle?
They’re confusing the reflector (or turn signal, whatever it is on his left side) for a door handle.
The variant door handle is on the left side of his face, next to his “nose” (the “Z” emblem). It’s only painted, not molded as it is on the back. The one with the door handle on the front has an unpainted door handle on the back, so it may be a production error masquerading as a vehicle-accurate variant (though not a character-accurate one).
The little sunroof on the Zundapps was actually an escape hatch in case someone parked too close to you and you couldn’t open the door! It was also on the Isettas (which Guido is supposedly modeled after, though I’ve never seen that).
Ah, it seems so obvious now. Thanks ya’ll.
Zündapp, not Zundaff
Can you add the code off the cardback to help Identify them better?
I have the clear one’s card but not the foggy one’s, though I may be able to get it…will check later and post. (I also have the foggy car but not the clear one anymore, though my nephew has it…long story).
What a cool little car!
From the above picture, I’d say the mouth is also slightly different.
Yeah – I thought the same about the depth of the mouth… But it could just be the angle… Looks like Mattel is havin’ some fun with this line up already, eh collectors!!!???
It looks like Professor Z was flossing his teeth, and a lot of the stuff flying off has fogged his monocle.
By the way, has anyone found the 10 Car box set at TRU yet? I keep looking online but no sign of it yet
I think he needs Fast Brite!
I’m not good at picking up on variants, good eagle eyes out there!