Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Looney Tunes Vintage Bugs Bunny Die Cast Car


I really don't know why Matchbox didn't go with a sixth Looney tune character instead of two Bugs Bunnies. Sylvester would have been perfect, he could have been holding Tweetie in his outstretched hand while coming through the windshield of either vehicle Bugs uses. Plenty of other characters they could have gone with too if they didn't want to use him. Without the flag, this just looks like there was supposed to be another character but the deadline for design was coming up so they just used the same rabbit but without the flag. James N Sympson  Shop here

Looney Tunes Pro Racers Taz With Sprint Car



This car, Taz, is a nice yellow with blue stripe sprint car. It has TAZ OIL in big red black bordered letters on the side of the vehicles silver roof wings. Also written in black on there is Pure Tasmanian Oil. These words also appear on the front wing. The wings are very shiny and reflective so if using a camera to photograph and brag to your friends on Facebook or something you'll need to turn the flash off. There is a small Acme Safe and Co logo inside a red circle on the side, as well as the words TAZ TRANS, and Merry Melodies inside a red rectangle. On the rear sides of the vehicle is the red number 99. The prototype shown on the back of the blister card (see my images for this product) shows Taz wearing a yellow with red stripe swimming cap. He is not wearing that in the real versions. You'd think Matchbox would have at least retaken the photo with the produced cars but I guess someone got lazy in production. James N Sympson  Shop here

Looney Tunes - Pro Racers - Wile E. Coyote #99 Miniature Car




This car Wile - E Coyote is a nice car but I would have much preferred the black Nascar shown on the back where it shows all six to collect (see my images for this product). Obviously the prototype was a black car, who knows why they didn't run with that but it would have been nice when you consider how similar this looks to the white Bugs Bunny Nascar. I also like how on the prototype car Wile-E is wearing goggles, as are the other characters which don't in the real versions. You'd think Matchbox would have at least retaken the photo with the produced cars but I guess someone got lazy in production. Speaking of the card, you can also get all six vehicles on a black rather than blue blister card, the blue is a lot cheaper though. You can get the blue carded ones for well under $10 each if your patient enough on E-bay and elsewhere. This and the other Nascar one tend to go for the cheapest auction price, Road Runner and Daffy seem to be the most sought after and highest priced.--James N Sympson   Shop here

Looney Tunes - Pro Racers - Bugs Bunny - Looney Tunes Racing #1 Miniature Race Car



You can choose from two Bugs Bunny themed vehicles in the series of six Looney Tune Pro Racer vehicles. This is by far the better of the two both as a stand alone vehicle as well as in how it displays with the other five characters. Because Wile E. Coyote also comes on a white Nascar and is also coming through the windshield after failing to wear a seatbelt, the Bugs Bunny Nascar one looks very similar. Whereas this old 70s/80s Group C Racing Car looks very different to Wile E.'s one plus the figure also is holding a flag. It also looks way better with it's carrot themed paint (the white car's bonnet, roof and engine compartment are painted orange with the rear wing on the back painted green roughly resembling a carrot when viewed from above. Reinforcing this subliminal image are two actual images of carrots, one on each side with the words Bugs Bunny on them. Just in case somehow the figure was broken out of the car you've also got an image of Bugs Bunny on the bonnet (hood) with his catchphrase What's Up Doc? beside it. On the side panels are the words Looney Tunes Racing in a font you'd be familiar with if you ever watched the cartoons back in the 80s. I have uploaded some images for you but the car itself if you were a child back then is very similar to many that were around then so if you're an adult collector it will bring back some memories of your childhood. Not that kids today won't like the car either. The car's design on the base says 1984, with the new carrot paint job the Looney Tune Pro Racers came out in 1991. The figure is made of plastic and rotate slightly in the windshield. The flag and figure are obviously the most fragile, and this is the one of the six vehicles most likely to move and roll onto the floor if where they are being displayed is bumped. It is the lightest of all six pro racers by a long way.

The other three characters in the series are Daffy Duck on the roof of a green ute), Taz on a sprint car and Road Runner on another racing car. It is a shame they didn't include a different character instead of having two Bugs Bunny ones. Sylvester holding Tweetie would have been nice or any of the huge range of other characters. The Matchbox Pro Racers are a nice little set to collect, you should be able to find them for under $10 each on blue blister cards in online auctions if you're patient enough or even cheaper if you can somehow get a set. They also come on black blister cards which are rarer and more expensive. --James N Sympson  Shop here