MovieChat Forums > Mahha GoGoGo (1967) Discussion > Speed Racer diecast cars

Speed Racer diecast cars

posted 16 years ago by rivieran
5 replies | jump to latest

I found a set of beautifully made Speed Racer diecast cars in 1/55 scale recently at my local bigbox discount store. They are made by a company called Jada, and they had the Mach 5 and the Shooting Star, of course, plus Snake Oilers's car, Prince Kabala's car, the Black Tiger, and the GRX coupe (a stunner). There are also "F1" racing cars for Speed and Racer X, and the cool thing about them is that they are made in the style of the torpedo-bodied racing cars of the mid 1960s, very nice and not anachronistic to the TV series.

Rest assured, I have no connection to Jada nor any other diecast entity (producer nor seller). I'm just a casual collector of diecast model cars, and these are truly some of the best that I've ever seen at such a reasonable price. I'm posting the info here because I assume that some Speed Racer fans will be interested and grateful to find models of these rarely produced vehicles. Enjoy!

[–] saginaw1 16 years ago

Yep. I recently bought some myself from Wal-Mart. 1/55 scale is a perfect size for collecting, and Jada Toys did a wonderful job in recreating the vehicles from 'Speed Racer'.

When I was a kid in the '70s, I looked around for a diecast car that looked as close as I could find to the Mach Five. My best friend and I always watched 'Speed Racer' when it came on every weekday afternoon, then later we would collect our Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars, go outside, and take turns being Speed Racer, not to mention "paving" roads with our hands in my gravel driveway. It was a fun time being a kid back then.

What I need to do is e-mail Jada and let them know how much I like these diecast collectibles, and encourage them to expand their range in 1/55 scale. The cars I'd most like to see in the future would be Captain Terror's car, from the Car Acrobatic Team, and the X3/Melange. Those are the only two I can think of at the moment.

Enjoy!

[–] rivieran 16 years ago

Aren't those Jadas great? I'm glad you like them, too. They sold out really fast at our WM (in about three weeks); the plastic 1/43s next to them took a little longer to move, but they're gone now. too. I've also started collecting other Jadas, especially Corvettes. The company really has a striking way of choosing colors for their racing cars.

I agree with your choices for the next members of the Jada Speed Racer line-up. I'll send the company a note, too. The Melange is one of my favorite episodes - that robotic voice was very cool, and a little bit scary for us '60s kids (in a good, spine-tingly way, though.)

We, too, spent hours playing little cars in the vacant dirt lots behind our houses...those were pure paradise for kids to grow up next door to.

By far the coolest thing was that in our schoolyard there was a big, old hollowed-out tree stump that had some holes thru the sides. We used it as a mountain to recreate those memorable Speed Racer danger scenes. (We also mimicked Mannix, too.) I went to that school for just two years, but I considered myself lucky (for a lot of reasons.) These days that stump would have been removed immediately to protect against lawsuits.

BTW, yesterday I found some 1/87 scale Speed Racer cars at WM, too. They're made by Mattel, and although they are pricey for their size, they are also irrestible. I came home with the Mach 5, Mach 6, new GRX, and new racing Shooting Star. I left behind the desert dirt Mach 5 (the painted on dirt looked too fake.) I never really collected 1/87s before, but these are just too intriguing to pass up.

[–] bjames97 16 years ago

I emailed Jada and I got a quick response. The guy said that there are no further plans at the moment, which is a shame.

[–] director_adam 15 years ago

I love the Kabala Car, the Black Tiger has the colors off from the cartoon, but otherwise is a nice looking car. Just thought I'd chime in about the F1 racing cars. Those were featured in one of the episodes, forget the title at the moment, but it had to do with assassins and racer x. The Jada cars look like the cartoon F1's so that's neat-o!

[–] 1shado1 15 years ago

I want the MAMMOTH CAR.