Post edited 7:57 am – November 22, 2011 by B2Cobra
Post edited 7:58 am – November 22, 2011 by B2Cobra
Post edited 7:59 am – November 22, 2011 by B2Cobra
Post edited 8:02 am – November 22, 2011 by B2Cobra

While going through boxes of cars so I can thin the collection down, I came across the piece in the pics below. First off, I received this long before the backdoor of the factory was ever known about.  With that being said, I don’t remember if it came from a Mattel employee or not. It appears to be some sort of sample/prototype of a Ransburg finish Lightning McQueen. The paint looks nearly identical to that of Radiator Springs McQueen but with regular McQueen graphics. This McQueen does not have the “Medicated Bumper Ointment” logo on the rear bumper. This car does not have a date code on the chassis either. The paint is not perfect on this car as it has a few chips/dings in the paint, a few nicks in the graphics, the gas cap area is not painted silver although the casting detail can be seen through the graphic, and it appears the passenger taillight either has a double line at the top or was a doubled up decal.

After more searching, I found three more of these cars. Two of the cars are complete with all graphics, while the other one is quite rough looking. The rough looking one appears that it was being toyed with. It has side graphics, roof number, and headlights, but it is missing the hood logo, rear graphics, Lightning McQueen nameplate, and the rear paint under the taillights looks horrible. It looks like the paint was scraped off, but this is how I received it. The two complete ones do have a paint chip or two. None of the 4 cars are perfect.

1^st pic: The two on the right are the complete LMQs, far left is the LMQ missing graphics, and second from left is the one in the photos above.

2^nd pic: Close up of the LMQ missing graphics.

3^rd pic: Close up of two complete LMQs.

4^th pic: Close up of the rear area on the LMQ missing graphics. You can see how bad the paint is around where the bottom of the taillights would be.

5^th pic: Overall group shot.

6^th pic: Another group shot.

7^th pic: These are the two complete LMQs and the best looking of the bunch.

Nope it's not that one. My son has one of those and they are quite a bit different. This is a Mattel LMQ and not what was in the Disney Store Mack.