The CARS singles are known as the “mainline.”

It is borrowed from the Hot Wheels line connoting that the single CARS on the blister pack is the mother trunk line of CARS, the diecast.

But for new collectors or those who for some unfathomable reason were not collecting these in 2006 🙂  , it can be a bit confusing to sort through the entire line of name changes, card changes and even name changes to the same or real similar looking CARS …

So, let’s go to the wayback machine so you can see what’s been released and where we stand. The 2006 Desert Art series 1.0 & 1.5 were covered last week.

The quick summary is that to this point there were now 16 CARS on the single blister packs at the end of the Desert Art series. The first posts also covers error cards, variants and repeats which alters that count for completist collectors but for most collectors, it’s 16.

And now the Supercharged Series – CARS series 2.0

This was the placeholder series … where Disney  & Mattel realized that there was life in this line and it was clearly going to run over the holiday season …

In hindsight, if we look closely at the first wave (series 2.0) with the Supercharged card design – there really are only 5 TRULY NEW CARS … and even of this few – 1, Yellow Ramone was merely a straight repaint.

But because people were still scrambling to complete their collection, no one really noticed – they were just happy to find any CAR on the shelf – even though at this point, there were only 20+ odd CARS out, hardly anyone knew what the complete list was and unbeknownest to all, long time collectors were sure there were CHASE CARS or SECRET VARIANT versions out there. Information was finally starting to get formalized and on the interwebs thing.

There were several factors that contributed to the PERFECT STORM of CARS Confusion and CARS, like gold during troubled times, when no one knows what’s going on – hey BUY BUY BUY.

As CARS would bring in thousands of new adults who started collecting for their kids but soon realized these were rolling pieces of art, they were confused by the two different card designs and the three+ different cardback designs – and to add to the confusion, the Supercharged cardbacks featured CARS that would not be out for months! Did they have this Doc or this Sarge? Better buy it to be safe.

So, when the stores shelves are empty -EBAY!

Long time collectors and Mattel-philes were convinced there must be secret chase CARS and no one knew if this line was even going to continue so it was one crazy time.

EBAY!

What also didn’t help was that most retailers thought CARS & its merchandise would be done by December 2006 so they didn’t really place many orders for early 2007 – adding to the shortage and Bay frenzy – maybe the retailers have stopped carrying this line?

How crazy did it get? People were convinced that CRUSIN’ McQUEEN on a single card was a chase card – even though you could buy him paired with Sally as a Movie Moment, people were paying up to $80 dollars for one of the singles – sure that we would not see him gain … same with the Flo’s V8 Cafe which had come and presumed gone forever … people were paying up to $150 for one …

It wasn’t until late January and the realization this line was continuing (Toyfair 2007 photos) that things began to calm down and when CRUSIN’ McQUEEN was found on the store shelves when the 2007 cases finally starting shipping, prices of Crusin’ McQueen dropped like a stone in cement … plummenting from $70-$80 in hours to about $8 and then to less than a dollar 5 months later …

Crowd power.

The 5 “NEW” CARS to the CARS line 2.0? Brand New Mater, Fabulous Hudson Hornet, Hamm, Yellow Ramone & Radiator Springs McQueen.

There were 4 CARS available elsewhere but the first time as a single – creating the illusion of ‘newness.’ : Boost (prior as a MM), Crusin’ McQueen (also released just prior as a Movie Moment 2-pack with Sally), Dirt Track McQueen (formerly the ‘exclusive’ Willy Butte’s McQueen from the track set) and Purple Ramone (formerly ONLY a MM 2-pack with Flo).

So, technically at this this point, your CARS singles mainline collection would’ve been 24 CARS … plus the corrected rim color on the Fabulous Hudson Hornet, the first official variant so 25 CARS by early 2007 which makes it official versus the typical ‘collector-interest’ variant.

For variant collectors, as Mattel switched production from Thailand to China, there were some paint, tampo decals and even a mold change for Doc, Sally, Boost & The King. Along with the packaging variants of the Desert Art, this raises the total of what is considered in the line but I’ll let you keep track of what you consider complete.

But as you can see from the first batch of SC cards (as is the short-hand description), 25 is already a “big batch” of CARS – plus the fact that after the craziness of Crusin’ McQueen in late 2006 and early 2007, most if not all of these were repeatedly released over & over again through 2007 – making them not particularly rare and for some, the THIRD release already … so valuing them is more difficult as they are already a huge handful plus they can be considered “common.”

Basically, when this card design was available, everyone who was collecting CARS could collect since these were much easier to find plus unlike the Desert Art days of 2006 where people not only had trouble finding them – and/or simply more people opening them – thinking their value would be fleeting, by now, collecting CARS was a profession. After seeing Crusin’ at $80 and Flo’s V8 at $150 … that mean PROFESSIONAL collectors were coming in so complete sets of this version 2.0 and the forthcoming 3.0 are much more ‘common’ and easy to find.

Especially since all of these CARS were to be re-released as WOC cards – their current value is not particularly high as a complete set … certainly, as we’ll see below with certain forthcoming SC releases, you will still get top value but as a complete set, not as desired as others …

In February 2007, everything looked great – we got a glimpse at ToyFair 2007 all the great CARS coming out. For newbies and jaded old-time collectors, it was a wonder to behold. Figures.com LINK.

Of course, the CARS they showed off at Toyfair 2007 were for the most part just about to begin production … so the 8 new singles above had to tide us over but more importantly – people were starting to finally get all caught up …

It was to be a great finish to 2007 … FOURTEEN NEW CARS!

TRULY NEW: Bling Bling McQueen, Bob Cutlass, Bug Mouth McQueen, Crusin Ramone, Dale Jr., Darrell Cartrip, Dinoco Chick Hicks, Ferrari F430, Hydraulic Ramone, Mario Andretti, RPM, Tex Dinoco Tongue McQueen & Yeti.

(forgot RPM – got in confused it with Leak Less there for a few hours 🙂  Thanks for the reminders – now corrected)

The only NEW to Singles was: Snot Rod  (from MM’s) and the return from Desert Art cards – Fillmore.

Later, Crusin’ Ramone was changed to Old School Ramone and Yeti was changed to Yeti, the Abominable Snowplow, this is their only appearance under this name. So card-name completists might want to add these.

BUT a giant wrench fell into the works called the SARGE RECALL – hence why these SC releases are considered a “new” series since of the giant gap between August & late September-October AND of course, because of these circumstances, the relative rarity of Bob Cutlass, Dale Jr. & Darrell Cartrip (DETAILS covered in this post).

So, if you have a Sarge on SC card, you were supposed to have returned him (some SC Sarge’s are okay but hard to tell until you open him) – thus making the set legally difficult to sell.

And since every CAR to this point (except Sarge) was re-released on the next WOC card – for the most part – other than the set of three (& Sarge) above, this series is not as sought after unlike the Desert Art series.

So, if you’re just collecting, first on a singles card – then at the end of October 2007, you would/will have 40 total “mainline” general releases on single blister cards without any repeats other than the official Fab Hudson Hornet rim color change.

Also note, there were a total number of 41 CARS released on Supercharged cards – from March to August, all the Supercharged CARS contained a mini poster showing most of the CARS release or those about to be released tucked underneath the “road” namplate under the CAR. It is believed that every Supercharged released featured a mini poster folded underneath EXCEPT Sarge which was recalled before the posters were inserted.

As the poster versions are packaging variants, it has not greatly affected pricing.

The new “exclusives” will be counted in a separate post.