Mattel Disney Pixar Diecast CARS: Collectibility, Present Value & Future Value
It’s a topic that everyone loves to visit and revisit … will CARS be valuable down the line?
And to that, I say yes – and forever!
🙂
Oh, wait, what was the question again?
Well, define “valuable?”
What is ‘valuable” to you? And while there are probably 8-10 buckets that most people fall into … what might be a pleasant soak to you is to another, “I’m standing knee deep in it.”
Collectibility items are hard to gauge.
For CARS, let’s take the most positive scenario. You & your kids have a fun hunt and fun family time together everytime you are out looking for CARS. Who can put a price on rounding a corner and you (jumbo sized adult) and teeny, tiny, cute version of you whoop it up in the aisle when you find three Franks on the shelf, right?
Or even for those who are collecting a set just for themselves. At the end of the day, it’s less than $5 each for rolling pieces of art. If it brings you joy and stands as a representation of something greater than us? Nothing wrong in that. As the cave paintings and other art objects can attest, man (and women) have always sought a visual representation of ourselves in art form – whether that is a direct representation or a reminder of a larger and greater piece of art – whether that’s a photograph or an art print or in this case, a 3D reminder of art as a motion picture.
So, when all is said and done – what is the value of the experience of CARS collecting? It is the human experience – joy, sadness, infuriating, redemption, satisfaction, a community and dysfunction … and people on soapboxes. 🙂
So, there is the humanity and spiritual aspect of the collecting community … I thee bless your single card and ye, verily say – it’s a 9.5 🙂
But of course, there are the cold hard numbers.
Can’t anything be a lark? Ephemeral? The lightness of being? 🙂
Or is the cold hard numbers that rule the day?
Well, what are the numbers?
Some are satisfied at the end of the day after gazing at thee singles, they are content to get back what they paid for. That the price of contentment and mirth is but a small fraction of the price of said object?
While others insist that any purchased object return at least the opportunity cost of LIBOR rates + inflation averaged over 6-month periods … sure, valid in a strictly numerical sense.
While others insist that it must match the highest return of other investment instruments in that time period. Again, valid for some.
Or is it merely the perception of return satisfying enough?
Like buying a muscle car in 1969 for $3,800 and selling it for $62,000 in 2005 … nevermind the real cost of ownership (insurance, gas, maintenance, repairs, etc …) probably was way over $60,000 over the past 40 years?
If you compare a diecast CAR to a venti latte … at the end of the day, you still have a tangible object … so in other words, is a venti late right now of equal of lesser or greater value than a Tumbleweed McQueen?
So, that’s why it’s IMPOSSIBLE to say if a Mattel Disney Pixar Diecast CAR will be “valuable” years later because it all depends on what you consider “valuable.”
Even when compared to real “investment instruments.” While people love to cite them as “real” while collectibles are not … they do have some distinct advantages … losses are generally tax deductible and there is a belief that there is a more structured marketplace (NASDAQ, NYSE, etc, etc …) but as we saw in the past few years, a collapse is a collapse whether it happens on the NYSE or on eBay. When there are more sellers than buyers, prices drop and when there are more buyers than sellers, prices go up.
What the takeaway from the last few years is that the financial market is not a game and of course, games/toys are not a financial market.
So, don’t mistake one for the other … however, CARS are not just toys. CARS IS a multi-billion dollar cottage industry and like the smaller stock exchanges, not all “penny stocks-pink sheets” are worthless. They are inherent unstable and liable to jones up and down like a banshee on fire on a trampoline on fire but if CARS were not its own (literally) stock exchange and claim its own inherent value, there would not be price swings.
There are CLEARLY supply & demand issues and like the “real” markets, we have crazies ($175 for Pitty’s? I’ll take TWO), and normalcy … but like the small exchanges, don’t bet the bank and don’t bet the farm … but there are times to buy and times to sell … (Lizzie, Wingo …) the bottom line is that it’s nice to collect a mass market line where there is collector frenzy within … it makes it interesting and exciting … that while the Chuck Manifold craze is brief, it’s good that after 2 years, ALL the CARS still garners interest because while we all have problems with distribution now, there are tons of toy lines out there that get no interest from retailers and are relegated to small runs … like some companies that do CHASE items in the low hundreds … and we complain that the CHASE CARS only number in the 20,000 range …
And what the does the future hold? Again, impossible to say …
There are 50 scenarios where the line could whither and die in a year or 2 years … there are 50 scenarios where the line runs nice and smooth or gets frenzied like it was all new. Sure, some are not so likely and not very plausible but it’s impossible to say which way the ultimate direction could be. Like you see in the scifi movies, even if it all goes smoothly, that does not mean the future path is secure and not changing … and as we all know, what seems like a good ‘action,’ might actually be the wrong path so … we’re all in the ride together – where it goes, no one can say for absolute certainty but it should be interesting …
31 August 2009
40 Comments
My husband and I have dubbed our hunting trips “Cars Day(s)” We are the “jumbo sized” adults and our son, the “miniaturized version” of us, that jump up and down in the toy car aisle at Target, (Disneyland, TRU, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Kohl’s, Big Lots, Marshalls, TJ Max, and countless pharmacies). We have even converted my sister to the collecting of Disney Pixar Cars, who screamed in the aisle at Target when she found non-lenticular Wingo! The other people in the aisle shied away from the “crazy lady” screaming at a desert-backed diecast car with a ridiculous spoiler.
The cars are valuable, because of the fun we have finding them, the joy our son has opening and playing with them, and the time we get to spend together. We haven’t purchased any cars with the intent to sell for profit, our profit is knowing that our child is learning to “imagine” and playing with them while he still enjoys the movie and calls Lightning “Ka-chow.” Mind you, we are collecting some cars and not opening them, such as the confetti blister pack car which my husband found at a Big Lots. We’re not sure of its value, but he’s proud of it. My favorite finds are Elvis RV and The Dinoco Showgirls with Agro McQueen – talk about works of art! And we only started collecting in January ’09 at my sons second birthday! His first Car was Spin-out McQueen, most recent Dinoco Lightning with Piston Cup.
(MET: Glad you joined us ‘normals.’ It’s the non CARS people … there’s something crazy about them 🙂 ).
When I find the good stuff, I tend to the routine John Belushi did in the Church of the Rock in “The Blues Brothers” movie. You know, I take a running start and do multiple flips and cartwheels down the aisle.
Love the visual! 😆
🙂
Keep up the good work, collect cuz you LOVE it…make it fun, and you will always enjoy it…now send me that confetti car and I will appraise it for you!!!!
Welcome Sweet Bug…..
i saw with ebay, everything has a value. i saw strawberry shortcake dolls i played with when i was a kid for sale for $50 on ebay. wish my mom didnt throw everything out.
I collect purely for fun. I have no expectation of them ever being worth anything more in $$ than the day I bought them, but they will always be worth more to me because I enjoy them and enjoy collecting them with my boys.
Same here — the tubs and bins full of Cars is wonderful!
I have commented on this before but I wiil not any longer. What is the point? If life has taught me anything, is that most
people will believe what they want. Weather it be religon, Politics and just about anything for that matter. Most peoples views and opinions do not have to be backed by scientific reasoning or logic. Most find a comfortable belief system and stick with that. Throughout history it has been stated that only 5-10% of all people are able to break through the conditioning and whatever beliefs they have that were instiiled in them but never based on facts or truths. Most dont even want to know anything that might undermine their reasoning. So I say collect them, enjoy with your children and there is no need to speculate. Everyone who is still around wiil find out for themselves what they are worth in the future. In 20 years from now it will be fact what they are worth or not for now is just speculation.
Always nice to hear your POV Dude-Met-Dude…
I think this thing cannot be ignored and it will do well for years to come – What with cars 2, Nascar…
Plus with Mattel and sort of Hot Wheels behind the machine, the numbers are more than less accounted for which makes them great for collecting and so forth.
I just can’t wait to win the lottery so we can build a room just for them lil’ critters to be on display!
the only other thing is mattel keeps re-releasing these piston cup cars and i noticed the value dropping on the originals from the msos set.
im not saying the set will be worth original sale value, but see for your self. once a car is put back out in a launcher or 4 pack the cost of the original car from the set goes for much much less–i have seen rev-n-go sell for almost 200. from the set..i watched 2 go in the last month for less than 50.–YES BOTH FROM THE SET!!!– tach is already moving down, because of the promo talk and the pic of him as a launcher–hey i may still be able to get a factory set after all if this keeps up.. as of now it looks like the case will be worth more than the actual cars. THE CASE STILL SELLS FOR CLOSE TO 200 DOLLARS
yeah i know ebay sells em for 3000, but watch, really watch, its always the same sellers playing games with the bidding.. i have seen more than a few of these sets for 1900 or best offer sitting right next to the set selling for 3 grand.. A TIME TO BUY AND A TIME TO SELL.
Yeah but where did RPM go? So much for him! Hope ya’ll have an extra tucked away for that rainy day when Jr loses him in the sandbox at the park!
Octain Gain too!!!
… Remeber when Cars 2 comes out – Those ol’ Piston Cup racers will be a thing of the past!
I believe that mattel is not a fool, they know more than half of the cars they put out will fly off the shelf at first..as far as the redundant peg warmers go–i have no clue..guess they need to send them in order to send the new cars..what ever..
right now it is a money maker for them, so as long as we buy– they will sell, once the numbers drop so will production. they also understand the fools like us with the got to have it attitude and know if they give it all to us, we will loose interest much faster. im not saying they will release all the cars we want, but they know how to keep us hanging on..
it is easier for them to keep remaking these cars into other cars by changing the paint or moving eyes..not much change made on the mold so why not..same car just different. again keeps us on our toes and feeds our cars jones. im sticking to my guns on this, i said from the start, piston cup cars and main characters only–no pitty’s , chiefs or haulers, the only thing i fell for was the new mater stuff–thats really cool so yes, i will get it.. STUPID MATTEL–
now when the new movie comes out, we already know about the world race crap so guess what..not a motor speedway of the south –but world cup or something like that.. released in a set for a ton of money, yes its already sold out, yes its tripple on ebay..yes we all gotta have it.
my only question– so whos the new apple, or will apple still be apple..
Our Asian eBayer “friends” are offering unpackaged 2009 K Mart 2 racers with “real” synthetic rubber tires. I wonder if K Mart will order less cases since there were so many left overs for the last event. Still can find K Mart exclusives at all K Marts and Sears in the Pierce County (WA) area. So much for making a killing on speculation.
Interesting. Which ones are you finding? In the Miami area, the only exclusives that could be found after the event were the ones that had doubles in the case (Shifty, Todd, Patti, Mood Springs, Bumper Save). Maybe it’s not so much the number of cases, but more the fact that they should try to avoid putting doubles in the case assortment next time?
One thing Met hasn’t taken into account is who will do the re-buying when the Cars are sold to make a profit. If you are selling a whole set way into the future, then I would say most people would not buy it if you are trying to make any profit or sell it at any decent price. Reason being that I think people will be collecting other toys and Cars will just be an old movie, like maybe TMNT or something. These are people who may be looking to start a collection from fresh. Who would want to buy (ball park figure) a $2000 collection of Cars just top start and knowing production has since ceased. Also, Cars collectors who may be looking for Cars will probably have close to whole sets anyway. Perhaps then it will be best to sell individual Cars? Well again who would want TrunkFresh pitty in 20 odd years time or even better, one of the many different McQueens around? If it is hard to sell peg-warmers now, imagine in 20 years time trying to get rid of your collection and realising not everyone wants a Tarhead McQueen. What about a hard to find car, say Rollin’ Bowlin’ Mater? Well IMHO once the hype dies down I think his value will decline as less people keep wanting to stay in the collection hunt. I wouldn’t be surprised that if, and when I do sell mine, I only get what I paid for it, 1 dollar.
And finally let’s look at what a complete set may look like. At this point it is hard to think it will have a full set of 36 racers, thier crew cheifs, pitties and haulers. (I can see it now, “selling complete set of 12 Haulers” Mattel buggerised things again and made Lenticular colour changing ones halfway through and forgot about the rest). Or what about a complete set that does have all of these Cars? Again I ask in 20-30 years who will want it and how much will it be worth. Kids will probably be into cars that have mini-engines,brakes, rubber wheels, Lenticular eyes and colour change. Think Hot Wheels 20-30 years ago and people with massive collections that are now woth little. Now I know some rare (and carded versions) are worth a mint, but generally who would buy these now as an investment? It would be wiser to invest elsewhere surely. I have even seen StarWars figures from 1977 sell for only $1 each on ebay.
To quote the HotWheels site itself, “Simply put, a collector will pay anything for something that he is really interested to acquire”. StarWars is partly successful and what everyone looks up to as the ideal toy investment because of this. What people forget is it was the first to take film and toy merchandising and take it to extraordinary successful levels. Noone knew the film or toys would be so successful, but now strangely, because of that, now some people horde film merchandising on the chance history repeats itself. I just can’t see the ‘interest’ holding on for long enough into the future to make these a worthy investment. That is why Wingo, Sheriff etc are worthy of selling at the now, because there is lots of interest. Same case with news Cars when they are released like Chuck Manifold. When it dies off and everyone has added it to their collection, there value lowers.
I am quite happy knowing that I am collecting them because I love them as mini works of art and are cool for my son to play with. I will gladly pass my collection on to him and hope he can keep it pristine and admire it too. I would hate to sell and actually don’t like the idea of people selling these to make vast profits.
People need to think not only is it wise to invest in a toy line, but you may be taking a child’s play toy away that gives them intangible fun just so you might make a lousy dollar or two back one day.
that’s my thesis done! I tried to hold back too.
squirrels all over that one. lots of spelling and grammar errors. Second last line should say ‘unwise’. grr.
No need to worry about the spelling mistakes….It’s not your blog:)
Nice comment though. You raised some interesting points.
The Turtles were never numbered though…
To know that Rollin Bowler is out there on a blister card from desert backs with only 500 made in the factory set 2006 – Two of them given away and some of the opened and played with – How many are still in an unsealed box? Who has one Loose, but mint on card?
Those are the questions and statistics that make for GREAT toys to collect.
Besides: How may people have turtles as pets? Or watch the nature channel when they have a special on Turtles?
No one!!!
They are all busy drivin’ their CARS, and watchin’ NasCAR!!!
Probably a poor example. You’re correct on limited numbers and the MSOS is one thing that should hold value rather nicely too.
As for turtles we had applied for a license and even checked out setting up an aquarium as our son wanted one. Then we were heavily swayed by reports about salmonella poisoning. That anda a certain Cars obsession!
Interesting thesis. One thing I think you are forgetting is exactly who is going to be interested in buying these in the future, it’s not children, that is for sure. Vintage Star Wars toys are bought by the adults that loved the movies and wanted the toys so badly as children and remember having some and playing with them and now they can buy whatever they want/can afford for themselves and their own children. It takes them back to their childhood and allows them to experience again the joy/contentment they felt then. I don’t know if Cars will have the same pull in this regard since the kids that love these are younger, so the memories may not be as strong. On the other hand, Cars are much better crafted and executed toys than the old Star Wars stuff so the difference could be made up there. Only time will tell.
Nice use of the word ephemeral. And no, I do not believe these will be short lived. These will prove to be our childrens Hotwheels forty years from now. A mint original redline will fetch hundreds of dollars on evilBay today. As will a mint original Cars toy tommorrow. I only wish my parents would have bought one and saved one when I was a kid. :o:
I have a offer to sell my Blu-Ray McQueen for $95.00. Should I sell it or hang on to it?
Average eBay selling price over the past 2 weeks is about $83, so if you are being offered $95 I would take it.
Thanks for the info PitStop! You have to wonder though, will it ever be worth more? I am going to let it go. 😀
SOLD!! Instant payment too! Pretty good return on that investment! 😀
Yeah I have the collector bug, but it is not so much for the slim possibility that they will be worth something, but because of the design quality and the joy it brings to my son and I. As Met stated that is the true value for me.
I love the hunt and enjoy sharing the spoils of victory with those who can’t find them or just missed them. Would I like to see the entire set of DB 12, DB16, SC, WOC lines at some point be worth something, sure. Would I be able to part with them, No way, but it would be nice to see that others appreciate them to the extent that they would be worth more then the initial investment.
Hear hear!!
I am an opener and I buy them all. Originally I bought the desert back, than bought them again in the next series now I just buy one of each car.
Great pondering Metro Xing….I say “Collect the all” (Patent pending)
Love it! Of course we all want these things to be worth gazillions in the future, but there is no telling. Are these like Transformers… or like Beanie Babies? Time will tell. I personally just collect them because I love them and am a collector at heart (is it genetic??).
Wonderful post MET. I love how you can step back and see reality as well as both sides or all three/four/five sides of an issue! The comparisons are very appropriate 🙂 Thanks for the read
Disney is buying Marvel, WOW!!
It may take a while but there will be a Lightning McQueen/Wolverine crossover.
I am not sure about the Tow Mater Vs. Punisher.
Sally meets Catwoman!!!
Yeah!
I you’re buying these with the sole intent of turning a profit on them, you’re taking the fun of it for yourself, and the rest of us whom just want to collect them because they’re neat.
*If*
I think there will be certain Cars that go up in value over time but I don’t think anyone is going to get crazy rich selling their collection in 20 years. This is not the Star Wars of our childhood; even though some models are hard to find for the most part they’re all easy to find (store, eBay, etc).
That said I buy 2 of what I can because I have 2 boys. Right now it’s one to open one for later. They can figure out who gets what when they’re adults; including the Speedway of the South set. Maybe I should have gotten 2 of those?
Thanks for the thought-provoking post! I’m in the “I just have to have every single one of them because they are totally cool!!!” camp. The Cars call to me…like the siren’s song…causing me to stop by TRU or Target every time I’m near one; to spend hours of time and way too much money and gas driving around town; to check out TFAD and even eBay constantly…if loving them is wrong, I don’t want to be right!!!
Just wait ’til Cars 2 comes out!
…and then Cars 3…egads!!