Mattel, Disney team on 'Cars' display

Mattel professional Jean Gomez shows the companys rare die-cast Cars collection to children at the Petersen Automotive Museum in L.A.After parking its Hot Wheels cars at Los Angeles' Petersen Automotive Museum for a long time, toymaker Mattel has teamed with Disney and Pixar to produce a new lengthy-term display in the venue, this time around turning round the "Cars" franchise. Using more than 250 million "Cars"-designed die-cast cars offered because the first film folded into theaters in 2006, Mattel will display most of the latest and rarest from the toys through its "From Big Screen to Die-cast: Disney-Pixar Cars Imagined by Mattel" exhibit until April. Through the years, Mattel has created a lot more than 500 unique types of the "Cars" character toys. Exhibit features dioramas of "Cars" moments featuring 100s of die-cast "Cars" automobiles, rare, never-launched and collectible automobiles and also the good reputation for the film franchise's die-cast packaging designs. Also displayed may be the new Lightning McQueen Alive toy, featuring a realistic mouth, moving eyes and shrugging shoulders. Mattel spent annually . 5 developing the automobile, project designer Scott Derman stated. Among the rare cars displayed may be the "Apple Vehicle," a whitened vehicle having a silver Mac apple on its hood, that was offered solely in a single online-only package. It's since become probably the most desired "Cars" toys, by having an selling price of just about $700 on eBay. The exhibit also shows cars which were available only on special events or at occasions, such as the "John Lasseter" truck, named for Pixar's topper, that was only provided to Pixar employees who done the "Cars" movies. The "Cars" toys are 1/55 scale, bigger than most die-cast cars, that are 1/46 in scale, to more precisely capture the facial expressions, personality and character particulars, stated Chris Lower, Mattel's Vice president of design. "Which was to capture the essence of are they all unique, that is their character -- their smile, their eyes and every one of that," Lower added. Some plastic prototypes of never-launched cars including Albert "Buffet Master" Hinkey, also called McQueen's greatest fan, was sold off by Bonhams to profit the Robert E. Petersen Free Chartered Bus Program, which supplies free transportation towards the museum for schools in underserved towns. Bonhams can also be auctioning from the 1994 Toyota Supra Custom featured in "The Short and also the Furious" and also the 2004 Lexus Concept Vehicle from "Minority Report." In 2003, Mattel opened up its Hot Wheels Hall of Fame in the Petersen to celebrate the 35th anniversary from the toy line. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com