I have a 1/64 Route 66 Ford Thunderbolt car that is shiny chrome. Is it a chase car?

Yes. I do believe the "chase" cars in the Route 66 line are the chrome cars.

What are the Route 66 cars? Who makes them?

Blister Pack says Route66 Original toy company. They were made for K-Mart. I still find some there every once in a while. Nice cars. The 69 Camaro's engine shows a dual quad setup.

Two websites listed on packaging
www.bluelight.com takes you to K-mart website
www.route66collection.com didnt work when I tried it.

On the back of the blister pack I have it doesn't even list the Thunderbolt. Has a lot of cool cars listed. Wish I could find more of them.

Just got the chrome 1970 Buick GSX in a trade.
Sweet car,I'd like to find more.

I have a 1/64 Route 66 Ford Thunderbolt car that is shiny chrome. Is it a chase car?

yup, its a chase car, they did the cougar too and the buick gsx and a few others

Anyone know if they did either Oldsmobile in chase form?

RT66 was made from late '01 - '04 . I believe only 4 chase cars were done in 1/64 . I dont think any were done in the 1/18 line . I have seen the 64 Thunderbolt , 69 Cougar , 66 Nova & 70 GSX .
These were made by Ertl from Mint Edition tooling for Kmart .
I bought lots of them over the run ...
Since the line is discontinued , the website is too .. There were lots of them on ebay while they were current . Now only a few are there . Just type in RT66 under diecast & it'll bring them up .

That's too bad that they were discontinued, although I will admit that they were a little on the pricey side. I bought a few regular run cars on clearance at K-mart.


Does anyone know how many of a given type of car were made and how many chase cars?

Was the "Get your kicks" a different Route66 series? All the cars you guys have listed don't show up on the series list on the back of my blister pack.

Interesting comment about the tooling Dave.
I have a black 69 Cougar Eliminator that says Ertl on the plate and a black 69 Cougar Eliminator from the Route 66 series. At first glance the cars look similar but they are in fact very different. Would Ertl have made cars for various series using different molds?

Before the RT66 website was closed , I copied it & have lists of all the models they made ( in WORD format) . There are 2 different 69 Cougars because one used the Mint Edition tooling - which was the black one & chrome chase car . The dk blue RT66 69 Cougar used the 1/64 American Muscle tooling which is newer than the Mint Edition tooling & much better detailed . Just like Johnny Lightnings updated tooling on the 70 Super Bee & 70 Superbird . Ertl made new tooling on the Cougar ..

There were only the 4 chase cars made that I mentioned in my previous post ..
Over its 3+ year run there were many variations or series made . They came out quarterly which is why any one package wont have a complete list on it . They only listed what was current at the time . There was 4 or 6 cars per release . Some came in display cases & others on blister cards . Some came with license plates & others with magnets . There was also a police series near the end which also had tow trucks . The tow trucks were considered chase cars too . I think there were only 4 of those too .

Dave,
Both of my Cougars are black
The one with the Ertl baseplate has a detailed chassis, opening trunk, gold air cleaner, front spoiler, blackened in grill, wood colored steering wheel, and realistic rear spoiler. I would say this one was the American Muscle version. Also have a yellow Cougar that is the same

The Route66 car has a Racing Champion baseplate. The trunk does not open on it, has no front spoiler, rear spoiler that blends into trunk so that it looks like a one piece spoiler, no chassis detail, and totally chrome grill.

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/500/medium/cougar.jpg

The RT66 AM Muscle tooling '69 Cougar was dark blue , released in the first batch in Dec '01 . Your black one is from the American Muscle release . Im pretty sure it was part of a 3 car box set from early '01.
I have yellow , orange , white & med blue ones ...
The other black Cougar ( Mint Edition tooling) was released in '04 .

Dave,
Both my Cougars are black, not dark Blue. The black Ertl might have come in a 3 car set(Cougar, 69 Mustang, and something else? seems vaguely familar, 69GTO Judge maybe?) but the Racing Champions Cougar (one in back of picture) came in the Route66 package because I just opened it so I could take a picture of it and see what was on the baseplate for this thread. Most confusing

The other car in the 3 car set was a Dodge Daytona . The R.C. Mint Edition car is now Ertl , because Ertl bought them out & used it in the RT66 series . The better Ertl Cougar is their Am Muscle tooling . The RC tooling Cougar is now in a TRU 5 pack of Muscle cars , its yellow .

Thx for the info Dave. Was the Daytona a ugly pukey-green color with an orange wing?

Yes , I believe it was . I think the Daytona was supposed to be pewter w red stripes ... & the 69 Mustang might of been yellow ?