Disney Memorabilia

Have you seen the new pack of relentless collectors in the Disneyana community?  They are the Disney Cars collectors and they have created a very competitive market for their collectibles.  In fact, it is amazing what a Disney movie can do for a seemingly outdated niche.  I used to collect die cast cars as a kid (although I must admit I wrecked a few in my time), but this was before the era of remote control cars, video games, and other advances in the toy market.  It would have guessed that the advent of new toy technologies would force the die cast car market into a slow death.  This may have been true a few years ago, but the Disney Pixar collaboration with the movie “Cars” has changed that.

The release of the movie “Cars” in 2006 instilled a new energy into die cast cars.  Disney did a magnificent job of recreating the star characters into pocket toys that kids would like.  They added the playsets and accessories to compliment sales, but this is not the reason for the die cast revival.  The best move that Disney made to increase demand was to stress the collectibility of the characters.  There are the Disney Pixar Cars Series 1 models that are gaining the most value.  These Cars were issued around the time of the movie release and are no longer in production.  Then you have the Disney Pixar Supercharged Cars that are currently available in retail stores.  Despite their availability, it is still hard to find the new releases and rare characters unless you shop on eBay.  The spotty distribution of some models in the Supercharged line have led to complaints of shady deals with toy distributors.  While this may be true in some cases, we can assume that Disney has nothing to do with it.

So this is what it has come down to.  Disney Cars has created yet another great niche of Disney Collectibles.  This is a fantastic niche to start collecting with your child since most items are under $20.  You can even make a run at some of the more rare items for under $50.  Parents who enjoyed die cast cars will enjoy reminiscing about their play days, while kids will find a new toy option that doesn’t get the same exposure it used to.  Either way, Disney Pixar Cars are a great addition to the Disney Collectible Family.