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Plastic vs. Rubber Tire Cars 1 Racers

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9:42 am
January 31, 2013


fongkx

Charlotte, NC

Team 95 Roadie

posts 154

Are the plastic or rubber tires racers from Cars 1 considered a "better" collectible?  I see most wants/requests are for rubber tires whereas I've been looking for the plastic tire versions.  I had always thought the plastic tires are the true/original cars vs. the rubber tire being just a KMart special.

Or is it just a personal preference?

1:10 am
February 1, 2013


TopherDawg

San Diego

Member

posts 406

I was hoping for some more responses to educate myself before I answered, but I guess not yet.  🙂

I searched ebay to see what was available and it seems the rubber tires have more listings and less expensive.  I didn't see any plastic tires for Tank Coat or Sparemint, other than their launchers.

I keep debating on chasing the 35 RT cars, but then new stuff comes out 🙂

4:07 am
February 1, 2013


SCAVENGER

New Jersey

Toons "You Were There" Character

posts 281

Not sure whats more valuable…but like TopherDawg said it seems the RT's are more available.  I can tell you it did not take long or an extreme amount of money for me to acquire 33 of the 35 available RT's.  Wasnt cheap though either! 🙂

10:01 am
February 1, 2013


Mike Manifold

Chi-Car-Go

Member

posts 717

Post edited 10:03 am – February 1, 2013 by Mike Manifold


Hopefully some longtime experts will chime in here.  There is an old checklist/grid on T5 somewhere that shows each racer and each format in which it was or was not produced.  Add that to Met's recent recap of lowest production cars and it would seem that plastic tire Apple, then Tach O Mint, then aggro-race-face Dale Jr. and Gask-Its would be the lowest run, and hence most valuable piston cup racers.  There were only 1000 hot wheels club sets, therefore there are only 1000 Apple I-Cars, only 1000 plastic tire Tach O Mints, only 1000 plastic tire aggro-face Dales out there.  Every other piston cup racer save for Apple has been released in 1 or more other formats, including singles cards, multipacks, pit row and/or lightyear launchers, and in KMart rubber tires.  Another factor to consider is that only the original hot wheels club set features truly superior, tangible, 100% great paint and deco quality control.  The quality was not all there for some releases, especially the rubber tire cars.  For many KMart days, you really had to pick through them to find a car without crooked or otherwise goofed up decals and/or paintjobs.  Another example: the cars in the rubber-tire 3-pack with McQueen, Gask-Its, and Faux Wheel Drive were erroneously given a matte or semi-gloss finish instead of high gloss finish.  Also, I would point out that the synthetic rubber tires will probably degrade much sooner than the hard plastic tires, especially if not stored just right.  Has anyone else noticed how fragile the rubber tires are on 30-year-old Hot Wheels rubber tire diecasts?  Their "lightyear" decals rub off easily with normal play as well.  So, although I haven't checked eBay/Amazon etc to verify this, I would think that the plastic-tire versions would still hold their value over the rubber-tire versions for all of the PC racers. Note for above query: Sparemint was available on a plastic-tire single card (K1), and later in a plastic-tire Target 4-pack, as well as plastic-tires release on Pit Row launcher AND LightYear launcher, as well as the KMart rubber-tire release.  Tank Coat has had multiple releases for sure, including Pit Row launcher. Long live the Piston Cup racers – Kaaa-Chow! Laugh

10:18 am
February 1, 2013


Cherie

Radiator Springs Tourist

posts 40

fongkx said:

Are the plastic or rubber tires racers from Cars 1 considered a "better" collectible?  I see most wants/requests are for rubber tires whereas I've been looking for the plastic tire versions.  I had always thought the plastic tires are the true/original cars vs. the rubber tire being just a KMart special.

Or is it just a personal preference?

I know that RT customs always sell for more money than PT customs. I think in the end it comes down to preference. I like the RT cars better myself. I think they are more realistic.

12:08 pm
February 2, 2013


BMW

Team 95 Roadie

posts 193

I  agree with everything Mike Manifold said.

Well done Mike.

 

Because the majority of the plastic tire race cars were only available in racing box sets from Target where you had to buy repeats of Mcqueens, and more expensive light year launchers and or Pit Row Launchers  the plastic tired racers are more expensive to collect. At 10 dollars or more each -

Tank Coat launcher was available briefly at Macy's for 18.99. You could get 5.00 off with a coupon.

 

I would add this about Tank Coat. For some reason Tank Coat was only released 3 times, ROR pit row launcher, in the SOTS set and as a Kmart rubber tire. Not in a Speedway 4 pack. He always commands a premium in plastic tires. And was short packed 2 per case in Kmart 5 as a rubber tire racer. He is one of the harder to get race cars.

 

 The Kmart 1  5 plastic tire racers  commanded a huge premium for years and are the best quality/paint/finish of all the Kmart Collector Series. If you can get the Kmart 1 Transberry, Spare Mint, SputterStop View Zeen and Shiny Wax at a reasonable price these are exceptionally nice.

 

Mike is totally right about that 3 pack with Gaskits and Faux rubber tires, it was so disappointing, the finish was horrid. 

2:26 pm
February 2, 2013


TopherDawg

San Diego

Member

posts 406

thanks BMW for the info on the quality for the releases. 

11:04 pm
February 2, 2013


Mike Manifold

Chi-Car-Go

Member

posts 717

Thanks for the illumination, BMW!  I had no idea what the quality was like on the first KMart day.  Excellent point regarding the retail pricing of plastic tire cars.  Aside from the few released as mainline singles, they were always more expensive than your average Car.  Then again, a person without a KMart, or a well-functioning KMart, within their grasp may have had to pay at least $6 or $8 or more for their rubber tire racers. I think we have an excellent case here for the superiority of plastic tire Cars, although of course it boils down to personal preference, as wisely stated previously.  Gee, now I'm wishing I had a complete plastic tire, or complete rubber tire, collection of racers.

9:18 am
February 3, 2013


flophunter

Wheel Well Regular

posts 103

great job on that post up there manny. i have always thought the fixed eyes plastic tires were the best. it was hard to get easy idle like that. hes my favorite launcher release car.

happy hunting

-flop

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