While I was at my local Walmart today I thought I would check and see if any new cars came in. To my surprise all what was left had red stickers on them and selling for $1.00. If you didn’t buy any when they were $1.87, now might be a good time to check out your area’s store and stock up.
Jellybean
Haven’t seen them in our walmart. What era are they? Are they plastic or diecast? THANKS Jerry
They are metal diecast. The years vary, 50’s, 60’s and up. There are Dodge Vipers, Chevy Camaros, Shelby Cobras, Pontiac Firebirds, Porsche Carreras, Ford t-Birds, Chevy BelAirs, Mercedes Benzs, VW Bus, and mant more just to give you an idea of the selection. They are made by Malibu.
Jellybean
They are the Model Power Minis under another name. They appeared following a dispute between Model Power and High Speed, the Chinese company that actually makes the cars.
The American vehicles available in the series are: 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air sedan, 1965 Shelby Cobra, 1969 Chevrolet Camaro convertible, 2002 Pontiac Firebird convertible, 2003 Dodge Viper RT10 roadster, 2003 Ford Thunderbird roadster.
The red tag and dollar price likely mean these models are being cleared out. They’ve been on the shelf at Wal-Mart for over a year, so it’s not surprising. The colors have been changed several times, but there haven’t been any significant models added to the assortment.
I’ve been stocking up. So far I’ve bought about a hundred of them.
Stan.
I’ve also picked up some of the 1/87 autos at Deal$ for $1.00. There they were under the Cararama name. Cararama seems to be a Die Cast vehicle company out of the UK.
They are nice cars but you can only have so many of the same cars . i wish there were more assorted cars.
Wow, I’m bummed, I’ve been watching since Christmas and haven’t found any in any of the three stores within reasonable distance from our house.
Well, you can’t expect convenience at that price. I had to go all the way to Huntsville, Alabama on a corporate boondoggle so I could go to that Wal-Mart and buy some. Supplies are limited and sporadic. I found some of the VW’s at a train show, 3/$10 but still a good deal.
I got the handful of transition era cars that I could find at my local WM, but haven’t seen any additional stock ever since that first time. I actually checked yesterday and was dismayed to see the red tag clearance stickers on them, because it clearly signaled the end of this run.
However, I did see in the same section some 1:87 Ford and Dodge vans made by a different company for the same original price ($1.97, or whatever it was). I don’t have them in front of me right now, but they were 60’s/70’s model vans, and there seemed to be only two models - one Ford, and one Dodge. Unfortunately, they all had some kind of pimp-daddy gangsta logos painted on the sides and back, but nothing a few squirts with an airbrush can’t fix [:D]
If it’s the genuine Cararama, it’s made in China by Hongwell. Check the scale, too. Most of the small Hongwell vehicles are 1:72. Hongwell does make some 1:87 vehicles; we know them as Boley.