In theory, if you bought all 17 CASES for World of CARS, you’d wind up with 306 CARS or 76 different CARS (which includes the “extra” versions of #44 Fred (re-scaled) & Darrell Cartrip (mouth fix)).

Of course, technically, it would have been hard to actually buy a full case of M and the two CASE W’s as they were configured as a pallet or endcap for Wal Mart but you knew that 🙂

We know what was shipped and when it was shipped but actual numbers are hard to come by. We can generally presume about 20,000 cases are sold for each CASE code but it’s also easy to see that number change by 2,000 cases in either direction for mundane reasons, for production reasons, for sales reasons or distribution issues.

For instance, it’s likely that because of WM CASE W and the endcap program-purchase that that was going on at the exact same time that WM decided not to buy many CASE T’s so CASE T may have been the lowest production case? With contents of CASE T shifted to the KM case, WM’s W case & W re-stock case & smaller retailer displays? The nitty gritty details are not always apparent – or while the KM Piston Cup racers only appeared on that one day in that one shipment but how many cases were shipped? Mattel presumably made certain KM was going to buy equal amounts of production or even more – so maybe 25,000 cases for KM 9998’s case?

The next question is of course, how rare is “rare?”

Because there are two components to “rare,” – interest and production quantity.

So, as the chart below shows, you can see how many CARS made it into of the 17 shipments so while it’s fairly safe to presume the CARS that only made it into one shipment and only one in that case are the lowest production runs of the year as singles – of those 8 – only TWO are ONLY available as singles – Lightning McQueen with Bumper Stickers and Edwin Kranks. We know that at one point LM with Bumper Stickers was only going to be a production run of 20,000 but did Mattel stick to that? If they did, then we can be pretty certain that LM with Bumper Stickers is probably the lowest production run on a single WOC card.

Beyond that, we can probably lump 4 CARS that we are reasonable certain are around that number – maybe also at 20,000 but we can’t confirm because we don’t have access to all the numbers so let’s just say in the neighborhood of 20-25k …

We can put Edwin Kranks on that list since we can only guess how many KM M1054-9998 cases were produced? Maybe closer to 25k?

Two of the WM Case W CARS might be in this neighborhood even though they came pack in multiples (Sally with Cone & Dexter Hoover) but they probably belong on the “lower run” list because it seems clear that not every WM received the full shipment of CASE W.

On the list of one shipment but available in other formats include: Bob Cutlass, Boost
Fred (Re-Scaled), Leak Less, Nitroade & Tex Dinoco. While these are of interest to WOC compleists, clearly demand will be weaker for these since they are available elsewhere. So, yes, Tex Dinoco probably only also numbers in the 20,000 range if you’re just counting WOC single cards, but overall – it was not all that difficult to find him on a Movie Moment card.

That is also the case with Spinout McQueen, he was produced in the same range on WOC as Sally with Cone & Dexter Hoover, but since he is already available on the Race O Rama card, he is more of interest only to WOC card completists.

People also ask about the production numbers of the CARS with the NEW snipe.

There is also no accurate verification as it’s not very logical. Logically, they should only ship in the first CASE that particular CAR appears in … but that is and is not the case. In nearly all cases, the first shipments did not include a NEW snipe and often times, it was the 2nd or even third shipment of a CAR before the NEW snipe started to appear. You can presume the first 10 CARS of WOC that offered a NEW snipe version probably ended up with a 50-50 run (also keep in mind, if a CAR ships 4-5 times, that’s around 100,000 for a production run) … but for the last 3 cards featuring the new SNIPE (in CASE P), they did become much more difficult to find … but again, it’s something only ultra completists care about so even if we’re only talking a few thousand with the NEW snipe, I’m not sure 99% of CARS collectors even care. So while the NEW snipe numbers towards the end might not be very high, the interest is just not that great.

It does look like with all the elements going on with the WOC: Race O Rama cards, the NEW snipe has gone away until the new/next re-design of the cards but of course, with CARS – it was not really necessarily – collectors didn’t need any additional help in making a buying decision 🙂

So, the rundown …

THE ONE SHOT OF GLORY BOYS

Bob Cutlass, Boost, Edwin Kranks, Fred (Re-Scaled), Leak Less, Lightning McQueen (“Stickers” – CHASE), Nitroade & Tex Dinoco.

For the rest, it’s the final total of the 306 for the year – in some cases (such as the Kmart Piston Cup racers), the number encompasses just multiples in one box but in other cases, they are spread out over many shipments …

TWO FOR THE ROAD

Shiny Wax, Al Oft the Lightyear Blimp, DJ, Fred (Re-Scaled ‘Stickers’ CHASE), Hamm
King, Lizzie, Old School Ramone, Ramone – Yellow, Sally, Sheriff, Snot Rod, Sparemint
Transberry Juice & View Zeen.

THREE MIGHT BE A MAGIC NUMBER?

Darrell Cartrip, Darrell Cartrip  [Revised – Mouth], Fabulous Hudson Hornet, Fillmore
Hydraulic Ramone, Luke Pettlework (Dinoco Pitty), Mater, Ramone – Purple, Sally with Cone, Sputter Stop, Van & Wingo.

FOUR SQUARE IS NOT ENOUGH FOR SOME BUT SOME, TOO MANY?

Cactus Lightning McQueen, Chuki, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Dexter Hoover, Leroy Traffik, Lightning Ramone, Roman Dunes (Chief No Stall), RPM #64, Spinout Lightning McQueen, Stacy (Leakless Pitty) & Tow (Piston Cup Tow Truck).

FIVE APPEARANCES

Axle Accelerator, Brand New Mater, Crusin’ Lightning McQueen, Ferrari 430, Fred (original), Ghostlight Ramone, Kathy Copter, Mario Andretti, My Name is Not Chuck, Petrol Pulaski (RPM #64 Pitty), Ramone – Green & Tar Lighting McQueen.

SIX

Dinoco Chick Hicks, Doc Hudson, Pit Crew Member Guido & Tongue Lightning McQueen.

SEVEN

Dinoco Lightning McQueen, Dudley Spare (Octane Gain Pitty), Race Official Tom
& Radiator Springs Lightning McQueen.

EIGHT in 2008

Bling-Bling Lightning McQueen, Charlie Checker, Dinoco Helicopter, Dirt Track Lightning McQueen, Lightning McQueen, Pit Crew Member Fabulous Hudson Hornet & Pit Crew Member Fillmore.

NINE – Most Loved by Mattel?

Bug Mouth Lightning McQueen & Chick Hicks

Did you check your over & under?