I have to state that we have the best readers! On November 21, we wrote a post regarding the John Lasseter and Chip Foose signing at Disney’s Off The Page store and one of our readers (the amazing, Paulina) contacted us to say she was going to be on site. What blew our minds, even more, is that she was willing to help us out and pick up one of the limited edition John Lassetire car figures for us (limited edition of 300)! We are extremely grateful to Paulina for helping us out – thank you sincerely!
As soon as the UPS driver rang our doorbell, we ran to pluck the car off the porch like a bunch of excited children. To celebrate this great treasure, we have taken detailed unboxing photos of the car for all of our readers to enjoy as well.
We noticed right off the bat that the car is quite hefty and was packaged really well in custom-cut styrofoam. For die-cast collectors out there, it is not die-cast as other large-scale cars are – it is made of a resin (car body, tires, and base) and weighs in at 6 pounds, 15.3 ounces (the base is 3 pounds, 9.7 ounces and Lassetire is 3 pounds, 5.6 ounces). The car measures 12 inches in length, 5.25 inches wide, and 5.5. inches tall, while the base measures 12 inches in length, 6.5 inches wide and 1.5 inches tall.
The car also sits on the base and is not affixed to the base as a lot of the other D23 exclusive cars and Disney cars have been in the past.
Additionally, the car comes with a Certificate of Validation that notes the title is John Lassetire, that it is produced by Pixar Animation Studio and that it is a limited edition of 300 cars. Finally, there is also an insert that tells a little store behind John Lassetire – it says (in silver foil lettering),
“John Lassetire, the Truck with the Golden Clutch, is a legendary crew chief known around the world for his successful partnership with Jeff Gorvette. After all the excitement of the World Grand Prix, John decided it was time for a vacation, and he thought what a better place to cool your tires than Radiator Springs? Upon his arrival, Ramone gave him a fresh coat of paint and vintage wood siding, then Luigi and Guido set him up with the best set of whitewalls money could buy. Even though he was on vacation, John couldn’t steer himself away from the racing world for very long, and as luck would have it, the Radiator Springs Grand Prix came to town while he was visiting. Unsurprisingly, JL took a liking to the charming town and decided to rest his bumpers there after the races were over.
This rendition of John Lassetire was revealed at the grand opening of Cars Land in Disney California Adventure park back on June 14.
Other renditions of John Lassetire are —
ADDITIONAL PHOTOS OF JOHN LASSETIRE
I have also included a photo of John Lassetire next to the D23 exclusive chrome Lightning McQueen for a scale reference. You can also check our post from August 17, 2012, where we talk about the scale of the cars.
PURCHASING
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If you’d like to purchase a John Lassetire resin car statue, your best bet will be to check current eBay listings (click here to link through to eBay with our custom search for John Lassetire).
If you want to search for all of the available John Lassetire die-cast cars, click this link.
Overall, the car has a lot of style and we absolutely love its charm and unique design.
What are your thoughts on the John Lassetire car?
I guess it depends on what a good deal is…but relatively speaking, sure since the list price was $150, $200 isn't terrible after almost a year of being released and a limited edition of 300. Keep in mind that when Julie and I were at DisneyLand (the only place their sold) in April/May they still had a few left then as well. Crazy! I don't think people got as excited for these since they weren't die cast…if they were, I bet they'd be sold out.
So T.J…. that one that was on ebay for 200.00 was a good deal?