Take A Look Under the Hood of Greenlight Collectible Toy Diecast Cars
The hobby of collecting, buying, trading Disney Pixar Mattel CARS diecast line of cars is obviously a passion of yours and ours. The sculpts of the CARS cars have been faithfully recreated to follow the canon of the digital mastery we have all enjoyed by watching both the movie CARS and added bonus-cum-line extension Mater’s Tall Tales. These diecast cars are truly amazing works of art that happen to be toys.
Occasionally, you may have noticed that we like to also bring to light other toy lines that we like and think that you may like too. In that spirit, we will occasionally being to provide news and reviews of other lines of collectible toys as well as highlight other diecast metal cars. First up, Greenlight Collectibles.
Greenlight has a nice line of highly detailed diecast cars in several scales with most of these being in the 1:64 (analogous to Hot Wheels) scale size.
If you are tempted to believe that our beloved 1:55 line is the ‘standard’ scale for diecast cars, that is not the case. Frankly, I think one of the small factors that helps set the Disney Pixar CARS line apart is this unique scale size which is slightly larger than the 1:64 size that has previously been the industry standard. The overall brilliance of the Mattel Disney Pixar CARS line is ground well covered by Metro here on Take5 in previous posts such as here and here.
Onward! The folks at Greenlight produce several series of nicely painted, tampo‘ed, and sculpted cars. In fact, they are fanatical in their pursuit of authenticity (when you pay big bucks for licensing you want to get it right). One of the Greenlight series is called Motor World which feature cars from manufacturers around the world. Would you like to see an example? Well, here you go:
From Greenlight PR, “1:64 Motor World (r) die-cast model cars feature 100% authentic metal bodies, plastic chassis, authentic detailed wheels and are officially licensed by the respective automobile companies.” Here is a pic of the 12 cars included in Series #3 (made up of three subset classes – Classics, All American, and Speed):
Here is the line’s logo:
“…MotorWorld is an affordable, collectible die-cast line of 1:64th and 1:43rd scale authentic vehicles. This line features vehicles from global car manufacturers form around the world. Under a three different series (Classic series, All-American Series and Speed Series) MotorWorld offers well known domestic brands along side with some of the most popular global car brands such as Jaguar and Lamborghini.”
I noticed that there was at least one series in this line in the larger 1:43 scale but I have not seen those up close and personal (a follow up post is planned on those later).
MSRP for this line is $2.99 which makes it palatable on the hit to the wallet. Major retailers include: Toys R Us, Kmart, Meijer, Menards, HEB, and even Hobbytown USA (interesting), as well as plenty of online options. If you would like to purchase a case of Motor World product, here are two links over at Amazon (affiliate connection nets Take5 a few bucks too!): Motor World Release 1 Motor World Series 2
Another 1:64 series that Greenlight is making is called the Diorama Series (MSRP $10.99) and they are very cool. There are only four in this series to date I believe and one of them really caught my eye – Bullitt. Check it out:
The bands on the roof of each car are to hold them in place and can be easily removed.
Very well planned out from the use of Steve McQueen’s character on the packaging to the tire peel-out marks on the road. Very cool!
Can you hear the soundtrack?
If you have never seen the movie “Bullitt” with Steve McQueen, by all means check it out. But if you are time pressed, you can watch the seminal car chase scene right here:
There is a lot more to discover about Greenlight Collectibles. Let us know what you think about the line in the comments below. We know you won’t be shy. 😉
28 July 2010
15 Comments
i am trying to find motorworld3 i cant find it any where
(MET: It’s out there – not a lot but out there).
Just got the series 2 Bullitt crash scene diorama. Its the Green Machine chase version with the green wheels and greenbase on the Mustang. Both cars have race damage details. Windshield on the Mustang like in the movie with the bullet damage, and scrapes on the Charger and missing hubcaps.
There is another series 2 Green Machine version with the Charger having the green wheels and base.
there is a version of series 1 with the city buildings background (pictured in the blog) with a Green Machine mustang that I have not found. I want all three versions. Are there any more versions?
Met, Thanks for sharing the word on Greenlight. I’ve acquired quite a few of their cars during some of the lulls in Mattel’s Cars supply line. When things got very slow a couple of years ago, I started a “year” set (1 car for each year) of Corvettes in 1/64 scale. Many of the ones I have found were Greelights and detailed very nicely. I still, however, have quite a few gaps in the Corvette collection; miles to go! I also found a green 1954 Chevrolet which had some special meaning to me since the second car I ever owned was a green ’54 Chevy. I also continued the Chevrolet line (from 1954) as a year set and have gotten Impalas up to 1967, so far with the exception of 1966. While only the ’54 and ’57 in that set are Greenlights (I apparently missed the ’55 pictured above), they served as a benchmark when I was looking for and choosing the rest. In the rest of my collection, I also have nice Greenlight models of a ’55 and ’57 DeSoto, ’57 Ford and a beautiful red ’59 Caddie convertible (all cars I grew up with). Greenlight, while they do not have all models in all price ranges, have the “Drivers” series with no no frills or fancy stuff (other than fine scale and detailing)at $2.99; the M2 1/64 series usually priced between $4.99 and $5.49 with opening hood and doors; dioramas like the ones pictured above and a few larger 1/24 scale cars priced around $15.00. It’s often said that “the devil’s in the details”; these are loaded with nice little devils!
danrio(at)sbcglobal(dot)net
You got a nice little collection of cars going on there, Danrio! I was going to say that I will pass along your comments to Greenlight but know that they are aware of this post and are actively reading the comments section and discussing the points readers are making internally.
This is one of the things that Metro and I love to help make happen: connecting real world collectors with manufacturers and retailers to help make the hobby of all kinds of toy collecting more fun and enjoyable. Thanks for commenting and keep ’em coming!
Can someone explain to me how to tell the difference or how to determine what is a hard to find or chase car in the world of Greenlight cars? I heard the chase cars were once green…is this true?
some of the Green Machines are still green. I have a ’68 Chevy pickup with camper in the regular blue version and the “GM” green version. Lots of times the rims and the base will be green. Do a search on ebay OR The Toy Peddler for Greenlight Green Machine and there should be a lot of them show up.
If you want to see some pics of the Green Machine pickup versus the regular version; send your email address to me at redfirebird@suddenlink.net and I’ll email them to you. My above post should say ’70 instead of ’68.
Thanks for covering the cars from Greenlight. I have a small collection of these as well as some of their competitor’s products. I am amazed at the scale fidelity. In my early years of collecting I concentrated on 1/43rd scale metal and resin collectors pieces. I spent incredible amounts of money on models that are not worthy of being displayed on the same shelf as these $3.00 1/64th miniatures (and they truly ARE miniatures!)
I was reading recently that one of the Mustangs used in that scene is sitting in a barn in the Ohio River Valley. The car driven by Steve McQueen was too badly damaged to repair and was crushed. The chase car was an identical Mustang with holes cut into the body to accommodate cameras in the truck and grill. The current owner hasn’t restored it and even refused to sell it to McQueen. What a waste.
I love all of the Greenlight line….my son get the Pixar cars..I get the greenlight.
Loved seeing the Wisconsin state Trooper cars
Thanks for the scene. The all time best.
ALso thanks Hollywood for now adding a car chase scene to every action movie.
one of the movie errors is the black charger looses the hubcaps more than once.
If you decide to do the “California Kid” and or Bullitt Danbury Mint cars Met, let me know, I have them.
The movie-themed dioramas have been out for a while and are cool. But I am not a fan of the plastic bases used on the 1/64th scale cars. A few of the Johnny Lightnings are still made with metal bases and that’s where my money goes.
only the Motor World uses the plastic base and tires. all other greenlight uses the metal base and rubber tires on all other series
johnny lightning just started remaking the (2.0) toys with metal bases as there 40th Anniversary and forever 64
uses the plastic base
Thanks for the series of 67-72 Chevrolet pickups, with and without the camper tops and toolbox in bed. I’ve got all the regular versions. I got the UTH blue with camper through the UTH club and bought a “Green Machine” version of it also. Great quality. Make more.