All,

I've seen a few Mach 5's on eBay recently with a tag that says Ertl Collectibles 8+ on it. Its the top car pictured here:

http://wwwmwww.com/Speed/Mystery.png

The second car is the MIT Mach 5 that is about 1/55 scale.
The third car is the 1/64 scale Johnny Lightning Mach 5.
The fourth car is the 1/64 scale Hot Wheels Mach 5 that was released only in Japan.

Comparing cars it looks like this Ertl Collectibles version is using the exact same mold as the Johnny Lightning. If I had only seen one of these on eBay I would say someone stuck an Ertl tag on a loose Johnny Lightning car but I've now seen a couple of them from different sellers and I'm not sure what to make of it.

Did Johnny Lightning have to sell their Speed Racer license at the end of 2007 when Hot Wheels starting puting out their line? And if so is it at all possible that Ertl could have bought their molds? Any ideas?

Thanks,
Carl

OK, those cars are sold at Tractor Supply Co and probably other stores (some hobby shops that carry Ertl). Ertl is made by RC2, which is who makes Johnny Lightning. This is why the johnny lightning and this Ertl are the same casting.

I was browsing the net and saw that there is an American Muscle / ERTL 1/18 scale mach 5 available. It looks just like the ERTL mach 5 that was realeased several years back except it has a sign on the front of the box that says "New Tooling". What's up with that? Is there really a difference between the 2 versions?

Linke to what I'm talking about is below


http://www.ediecast.com/cgi-bin/edlist.cgi?pmode=VLARGE&item=EDAM390&alt=a

I was browsing the net and saw that there is an American Muscle / ERTL 1/18 scale mach 5 available. It looks just like the ERTL mach 5 that was realeased several years back except it has a sign on the front of the box that says "New Tooling". What's up with that? Is there really a difference between the 2 versions?

Linke to what I'm talking about is below


http://www.ediecast.com/cgi-bin/edlist.cgi?pmode=VLARGE&item=EDAM390&alt=a


LOL !! Not for $40.00 i aint , but thanks for the link :wave:

I've seen them cheaper. I already have the original issue....I was just wondering if anyone was actually in the know of the difference in tooling.

I've seen them cheaper. I already have the original issue....I was just wondering if anyone was actually in the know of the difference in tooling.

I'm not in the know but I'd like to be. If you find out please share.

Thanks,
Carl

OK, those cars are sold at Tractor Supply Co and probably other stores (some hobby shops that carry Ertl). Ertl is made by RC2, which is who makes Johnny Lightning. This is why the johnny lightning and this Ertl are the same casting.

Thanks for the lead on Tractor Supply Co. I just ordered two of these for less than one would have set me back on ebay. :thumbsup:

Chris :wave: