NEWS
Updated Friday, October 22, 2004
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Poll Gear Down Again                                            November 22, 2003

    If it is free I suppose you can't complain.  The Poll Gear is down again.  This is the second time in the past month or so.  The last time it was giving a hard disk error and not allowing my site to come up, so I removed it for a few days.  This time it just isn't responding.  They were going to take it down on Thursday and part of Friday to do some work on it so I assume that they are having more problems than expected.  Like a lot of the free stuff they are making it pop up ads unless you pay "X" amount to get the ads removed.  HTMLGEAR is a part of Lycos and has been very reliable.  I use it on 3 sites for Pass-It-On, Guest Book, Poll Gear & Event Gear.
    As soon as it comes back up I will set up a new poll.  If anybody has a good idea for a poll, please let me know.  I can always use new ideas.

New Dated Pages                                                November 15, 2003

    I am now dating each page as to when it was last updated (see top under NEWS).  This was a request from one of you.  Hope this helps you locate what you are looking for.

Batmobiles                                                           November 15, 2003

    2004 should be a wild and confusing year.  From what I've read there will be at least 4 Batmobiles in the 100 First Editions.  There will be one for each of the movies or something like that.  As you may have noticed, #1 and #31 are Batmobiles and more to come.  Also #1 has several variations already.  I have a new picture of another variation but will have to figure out if it is supposed to be #1 or #31 since the card does not say "First Edition", just Batmobile.

No Numbers On Cards                                        November 1, 2003

    I have had a couple of people ask me about cards with no numbers on them.  There are about three different answers.  First, the older international cards had no black oval or number on the front of the cards but the number was on the back of the card.  Second, the new three packs, especially the Batman 3 pack, have cars on cards with the black oval but no number in the oval.  Sometimes these get taken out of the three pack and sold as "RARE" variations.  Thirdly, some are just errors made by Mattel.  You may find that an Evil Twin from some series ends up on a Batman 3 pack card that should have been the special painted Evil Twin for that set.  These are true errors.  That is one reason I don't worry too much about the card errors or variations.  I have 3 cars on totally wrong cards.  No big deal, just something nice to add to my collection.

2004 Zamac Limiteds                                            October 26, 2003

    Well, I tried to get a straight answer to the question, "Are the Zamac painted limited cars going to be exclusive to Toys R Us?", but I never received an answer.  Another person asked three questions something like "Are they exclusive to Toys R Us", "Will there be Zamac limiteds in 2005" & "If there are Zamacs in 2005 will they be exclusive to Toys R Us again in 2005?".  At least he got a reply but it was very vague.  The reply was something like "It is what it is."  
    So all I can say is that it looks as if the Zamac cars are exclusive to Toys R Us at this time.  Why Mattel won't give a clear answer to this question is beyond me.  If anyone gets a clear answer to this question, please let me know so I can post it here.  But for the time being, I would look for the Zamacs at Toys R Us only.

2004 Zamac Limited Rumor?                                October 21, 2003

    Rumor is out that the Zamac painted 2004 First Edition cars will be limited to Toys R Us only.  I have a question in to Hot Wheels but as of today there is still no confirmation nor denial.  If anyone has any confirmed information on this issue please contact me.  Thanks.

2004 Final Runs                                                    October 21, 2003

    The 2004 Final Run series will be a 5 car segment series.  No word on what cars will be included next year but it looks as if only 5 cars will see their last days.

2004 Information                                                  October 18, 2003

2004 will have:   (to the best of my knowledge at this time)
    100 First Editions collector numbers 1-100
    12 Treasure Hunts collector numbers 101-112 (with Real Rider wheels)
    10 - 5 car series to be named
    3 - 10 car series (Wastelanders, Roll Patrol & Pride Rides)
    1 - 20 car series Track Aces (will consist of red, white & blue team cars.  The Sling Shot is being shown as collector #166 with Co-Molded wheels but on a Work Crewsers card)

   Still no mention of the Final Runs?