Yes, International Rip Launcher was the first release of Rip. I have 2, one from Europe and the first one I traded for from Australia.

I keep a list on paper of all first releases, have been doing this since July 2006 when I started collecting.  I put a tiny post it note on the cardback with date acquired, price and where I bought each or traded for, along with the card and car stamped date code (so I can read it) for the unopened collection.

As for noteworthy, the very first releases dated from Jan 2006 when these hit the USA shores are the most important ones to me. My Wingo from 2006 is dated in January. There was a error date Sheriff with a 2003 ending date but that was a definite error in printing. 

Anyone who was collecting that summer of 2007 recalls it as the "summer of no cars". Every store you went into had those recall signs posted near the service desks, and even though it was Sarge that was recalled, most stores pulled all Cars inventory off the shelves. case after case was cancelled and by the end of summer not many people had found any new cars to add to their collections.  That was the situation when the famous last cases of Supercharged with Mario, Dale Ernhardt Jr, Darrell Cartrip, Bob Cutlass finally hit retail at the end of summer and EVERY one was out trying to find those 4 new Cars.

Dale Jr was available in both T and U cases while Mario and Cartrip were available in only U cases.

 Seems to most of us back then that Mario and Cartrip SC's had lower runs.

A breakdown of the last runs and assortment of Supercharged ;

 The T case had; Cutlass and Jr. 

The U case had Cutlass, Jr, Mario, and Cartrip

So Mario and Cartrip had the lowest production run as they were only found in U cases, whereas Dale Jr and Bob Cutlass were in both T and U cases making them roughly "double the production".

Mario and Cartrip are great looking Cars and were very popular, they went quick and are probably (along with JR) some of the most sought after Cars in Supercharged packaging.

And of course these Marios were the mustard yellow wheels. In my opinion a SC Mario is worth much more than any on the later more abundant releases (like WOC, Race O Rama, ROR chase package with the corrected red rims, lenticular, and now Radiator Springs Classic,)

Yes on that short card error Mario.  What may be a one of a kind.

The ROR chase package was the first red rim Mario release I believe.

thebreezz said:

Question about Doc Hudson with Red rims. It was released in a Vertical 3 pack that is hard to find. Is that the 1st issue of that car? What about RED, what is the 1st release of him as a single? He was with Stanley in the Desert Art 2 pack, but is the Story Tellers release his 1st as a Single?

 

 Rimmed Red Doc Hudson (name is Dirt Track Doc) in the WOC vertical 3 pack with Cactus McQueen and the Sheriff.

It was the *only* Doc Hudson with red rims ever released. So yes 1st and only release.

As for Red, ST Red was the first release  in a single package by Mattel.  But also at the same time there was a ST 3 pack release

with Guido and Luigi and Red.