Although the 2013 D23 Expo won’t take place until August 9-11, 2013, tickets went on sale on August 9, 2012. If you have the opportunity, you need to make it to the D23 Expo – if not for the loads of presentations and amazing artwork, then for the exclusive Pixar merchandise.
At the 2011 D23 Expo, one hot commodity item was the limited edition D23 Chrome Lightning McQueen (edition of 250). As soon as this item was released at the Expo, eBay listings were popping up by the minute. Although the list price was $99.50 USD, they were quickly selling for $200.00 USD on the low side and up to $400.00 USD. Now they routinely sell between $400.00 USD and $600.00 USD – whew!
Lightning is a 1:18 scale (scale reference image below) die-cast and has a very highly detailed chrome finish with movable slick synthetic rubber tires (front tires can also turn left/right), working head/tail lights, and movable roof flaps. His eyes contain a lot of detail and the white area of the eyes are painted extremely well. His World Grand Prix badge, piston cup hood decal, and flames are all stickers — painting those details on would have been a challenge over chrome and would have cost a pretty penny (although I would have loved to have seen it).
The car itself measures about 10 inches in length by 4 inches wide and the hexagon-shaped box measures 14.5 inches by 7.25 inches. Attached to the inside of each box is a certificate of authenticity. It is also surprisingly heavier than you might think – Lightning McQueen and the box (together) weigh in at just under 4.5 pounds.
PURCHASING
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Sometimes I find it fascinating to view what they are selling for – click here to view our pre-filtered searches on eBay for the D23 Chrome McQueen.
So, what will be the hot Pixar toy at the 2013 D23 Expo – it is yet to be seen, but with Monsters University on deck in 2013 as well, I’m going to guess it will be related to Mike or Sulley.