There's a lot to answer here…

1:55 is the mattel scale…Disney is larger in most cases

Starting to collect Cars 1 cars now will cost a fortune..but…if you want them loose, scoop up a large lot on eBay…if you are paying more than 3 bucks a car, it's not owrth it…unless it's a lot of Race Dmage mood Springs and Dexter Hoover with checkered flag 🙂

The other wild card is whether or not you want lenticular eyes…i'm sure everyone here will give you an opinoin on that…

There are a lot of traders here who will help you out….BBMIKE, ROB, SLICEPIE always seem to have good quantities of all kinds of cars.

I'm still working on how to display things

Good luck..I hope this helps

J

The Disney scale is 1:43 compared to Mattel's 1:55.

The cases that seem to be popular are the clear lexan? Carney cases.

You can google 1:55 Carney case and it'll pop up.

Don't forget about Amazon shopping in your searches as well.  I picked up a bunch of Cars stuff last night that was about half the price it was going for on ebay.  Some of it was even under msrp and ended up being with free shipping.

Hi RN,

I have a good deal of Cars 1 and some Cars 2 stuff listed on my trade list. I haven't been able to make any trades for a while, so I am, at some point going to offer them for sale straight up. If you are interested let me know and I will post prices sooner, rather than later.

-Tom

Post edited 1:06 am – November 16, 2011 by Mike Manifold
Post edited 1:06 am – November 16, 2011 by Mike Manifold

Welcome to the madness!  It's really great to hear from some new members.  Dunroamin and T-Dawg already gave you some awesome advice, and I'll try to add a few more thoughts…

Q You are starting to see Car eyes on all of the real cars you see day-to-day, and you ask…. Does this pass? 

A For sure!  Now, has anyone recently caught you altering real car windshields with white-out and a sharpie, to create Cars as they SHOULD look?

Q Are any of disney's diecast 1:55? 

A While the regular Disney Store line is much larger than the Mattel line, they do have some playsets and figurine sets with sizing close to that of Mattel's.  The quality of said cars does not muster up, and shoudl be avoided.  People usually pass on these unless they come with an all-important accessory (the evil camera for example) or awesome playset which Mattel has not yet made for the regular Mattel Cars line (oil-platform for example).  Many many people have commented that their Disney Store cars fall apart easily when played with.  They are great for display though.

 

Q Are toons made only by disney?

A No, both Mattel and Disney Store made Toons in their respective scales.

Q So how do you get Rip to match your mattel 1:55s? 

A Put in oven at 250 degrees fahrenheit for 5 minutes.  No, we are all still waiting for Mattel's Rip.  Get the Disney Store version only if truly desperate.

 

Q  Does mattel make all of the same cars disney does, or plan to?

 

A Disney Store did not end up making all of the Cars 1 characters that Mattel did.  According to a recent T5AD post, Disney Store is actually currently ahead of Mattel for many Cars 2 releases.  They seem to have totally separate manufacturing and release dates.  Some people do not collect Disney Store Cars at all.  You should take a look at some of the great collections here in the trading forum under "Collections" to get some ideas of different ways to enjoy displaying them, and to see how some collections do mix the two lines somewhat.  For instance, you'll see that some people favor the incredibly hefty Disney Store version of Frank the Combine.

Q Any thoughts on collecting the lenticular lens? 

A One or more Cars 1 character ended up being available only in lenticular form (Wilmar Flatzz comes to mind). 

Q So if you come across a questionable car, how do you know if it genuine? 

A You should probably get a few of the T5AD checklist magazines.  The completist one has a section about this I think, plus then you can see if you are missing anything.

Q Since I plan on opening my cars, is there any reason other then reference to save the packaging? 

A My 5-year old loves to play with the character name tags.  Some have used these tags to label their individual M2 manufactured display boxes.

Q Any recommendations from the openers for display cases or shelves? 

A Children's Toy Closet, as well as a few other reputable online shops, have these made specifically to fit regular Cars and separate Deluxe and Hauler cases

Q I will want something I can lock so little fingers are not taking mommy's collection.

A A lot of collectors here with kids buy 2 of each character. One for the kid, and one for the big kid.

Good luck!

Since the other members answered your questions so well, I only have a couple of things to add: 1) sometimes you can find cheap lots or individual cars on Craigslist, 2) there's nothing wrong with lenticulars, as long as you (or your kids) like them. IMO, some are better than others, but once I started displaying them I decided they looked pretty bad side-by-side with the fixed-eyed ones, and 3) welcome to the addictive and sometimes frustrating world of Cars collecting. Anything you need, just ask!