Die Cast - Summer 2012

;e last car in the series has the coolest wheels—and an even cooler display base to roll them on.

on the front trunk lid, set into a “Pepsi-Cola” bottle return crate. Cooler still were the red steel wheels and dog-dish hub caps—with wide whitewall tires, of course —that gave the car 1950s flavor. ;e last car—the one used to leave 1885 and return to 1985, propelled to the critical 88 miles per hour by a steam locomotive for its final trip through time—is perhaps the most elaborate of the bunch, not only for the carried-over pieces taken from the prior three cars, but for the bare-rimmed steel wheels it rolls on and its included railroad track display base.

;e most remarkable thing about the models—aside from the fact that Sunstar saw the whole series through—is that the cars come across as very well done. ;e details (with the exception of an incorrect license plate on the second car) seem carefully researched and accurate, right down to the “brass” binnacle on the railroad car’s dash, and they pass most frame-by-frame comparisons with flying colors. No, they haven’t got anything in the way of noble materials, and, to be honest, not everything has been done with the utmost precision. On the flip side, these do a great job of bringing back some of the most entertaining moments we’ve ever spent in a movie theater. If you’re a movie bu;, this sweet set of memories on wheels (and rails) is still available, and about as irresistible as a bag of Pop Rocks. ;e vacuum tubes and 1950s-era electronics look like they were lifted from an old TV—and come racked in a “Pepsi-Cola” bottle tray.