Monster of the Day #3139

Updated on January 1, 2021 By Ken Begg 16 Comments

So way back in the day, ten or twenty (or more) years ago, Ertl put out this 1/18 scale model of The Car, as featured in the film of the same name. It’s a flick I’ve always had a fondness for, having seen it during it’s original theatrical run at the Pickwick Theatre in Park Ridge. It’s not the greatest thing ever, but it nicely hits that ’70s sweet spot between goofy and pretty good (as exemplified by The Manitou). The gorgeous, evil-looking Car was designed and built by the legendary George Barris, who also designed the Adam West Batmobile. The word ‘iconic’ gets thrown around a lot these days, but that thing was truly iconic.

I’ve lazily kept track of the original toy on eBay over the years. However, I never quite bit the bullet due to price, which was always a little high for me. Recently, however, Auto World reissued the…figure? Model? (You don’t put it together, so I don’t know.) It’s currently priced at Amazon at $100, which is actually pretty reasonable given that it’s over a foot long and is nice and heavy and sturdy. And look at it! Neat!

I wavered again, keeping it in my Amazon Wish List (which I basically use to keep track of stuff). Finally I was like, look, if you fail to buy this now and the price jumps way the hell up, or it sells out, you’re going to feel like a jackass. So I ordered it, and it has arrived at my friends’ house (where I have boxes sent), and I’ll pick it up today. One item off my long time general wish list.

When I was investigating it to make sure the reissue was as good as the old Ertl model, I started naturally with the Amazon reviews. With about a 100 reviews, I was reassured by the 89% five star ratings, the 8% four star ratings, with only two three stars ratings. However…warning! There’s a single one star rating. What’s that about.

Here’s what the lone one star (no two stars) item review says:

Swell!
Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2019
 I’ve been sitting on my NIB 2 for decades then somebody does this!

Look, I don’t mean to be a jerk. But I’ll tell you as someone who again has been watching the original model on eBay on and off for probably at least ten years now. The price of ones that actually sell has never really gone up that much. What was the guy waiting for? Did he think the $200 and change he could have gotten for it was going to fund his retirement. Was he hoping to get another $50 if he waited another ten years?

I get it. Many of us have speculated on stuff like this, and yes, it’s easy to feel a bit burned in this kind of situation. However, them’s the dice you roll when you speculate. Too bad, so sad. Also, you have to be rather self-absorbed to go to a merchant site and give the new, apparently quite nice, product made by another company (which I assume the guy didn’t buy, given that he owns an original one) a one-star rating for such a stupid reason. News flash: That’s not a product review.

Happy New Year, everyone!

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  • Gamera977

    I’ve heard the terms ‘display model’, ‘completed model’, and ‘pre-assembled model’ all used. It’s pretty friggin’ awesome looking whatever you call it.

    I guess I don’t quite ‘get’ the whole buy something like that as an investment concept. I want to pull it out of the box and play with it. At least put it on a desk and display it. It’s like buying an expensive car and keeping her in the garage all the time and never driving her.

  • I too have a soft spot in my heart for The Car. My mother would shake her head if she knew that I could identify the double bumpers and lack of door handles without scrolling down.

    Congratulations on an excellent purchase!

  • Marsden

    That looks great! I’m not big into collecting things but that looks like a great display item.

  • Beckoning Chasm

    That looks really well-made, very detailed, but I have a question: why would you need the doors, trunk and engine lid to open? I mean, it’s obvious that a car model should have those, but wasn’t the car just evil by itself? It didn’t have a driver you could put inside it, did it?

  • Eric Hinkle

    The Car is one of those oddball movies that I saw as a kid and still love, along with such ‘gems’ as Day of the Animals, The Crazies (original Romero version), Gargoyles, and Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell.

    For some weird reason part of me keeps wanting to see intelligently-written remakes of all four of those films, though I know it’ll never happen.

    And that model looks amazing.

  • Eric Hinkle

    I like to think there’s a little red horned devil figure you can in the driver’s seat.

  • I have this model!
    Glad I got one when it came out. People asking crazy prices for one now.

  • This movie was why I hated Bob Hope as a kid.

    Odd comment, that. See, I saw that The Car was supposed to be on TV one night and got excited about it. Only to have a Bob Hope Special pop up in its place.

    Now I might have read an old TV Guide and got the times confused. Or the parents might have changed the channel on me. Doesn’t matter. I was a kid, I wanted to watch what I wanted to watch and what I got was Bob Hope.

    Took me years to get over that.

    Well into my adulthood.

    When I hold a grudge, I. Hold. A. Grudge.

    Still haven’t spoken to The Bad News Bears after it had the temerity to do the same thing with Flight of Dragons. The jerks.

    Anyways, the movie was worth the wait for. Not sure I would have paid $100 for a model, but as my desk is littered with Godzilla figures that cost a pretty penny (as well as a couple of He Man) I understand the desire all too well.

  • Oh, opening the car doors is a necessity. You need to be able to reenact the scene where the demonic jalopy knocks an all too inquisitive James Brolin to the ground. You can do it over and over again, sometimes shouting “You were safe! You had your wife and kids and you were safe why in the name of the wide, wide world of Sports would you go into that house AGAIN FOR THAT FREAKING DOG! HOW STUPID CAN YOU BE!”

    Of course, I might be the only one to have lingering issues with The Amityville Horror.

    Still.

    Even with it been a couple of decades since I last saw it.

  • Ken_Begg

    I will take mine out of the box, but probably keep the box stored in a closet. I guess it’s just wanting to keep everything as original as possible. Obviously that guy just bought it to sell. Again, though, he had two decades to do it and didn’t, so it’s hard to feel too sorry for him. And if he did just store it to sell it, then no, I guess he didn’t get much enjoyment/satisfaction from owning it.

  • Ken_Begg

    I picked it up yesterday, although I haven’t removed it from the box yet. I have to find a place to display it. It’s pretty bitching looking, though.

  • Ken_Begg

    All ’70s films. They really had a vibe going then.

  • Ken_Begg

    Man, I blew so much money these last several months that that was nothing. Well, not nothing, but again, it was there, and the price is definitely something I would have snapped up immediately on eBay. Also, I got burned not buying that super-elaborate K-On! Blu Ray set when it was available. I had no idea that they how limited editions like that were. I was hoping it would come down another $20 bucks ($250 list price, Amazon was selling it for $130). Instead it jumped up in price, then sold out. Lesson learned. I immediately pre-ordered that Gamera set, and thank goodness, because it sold out before it even hit market. Same thing here. Maybe they have a million of them, but if it’s 2000 units or something and then I missed my chance again I would have been epically chumped.

  • thunderclancat

    Sweet looking car. I’ve seen the movie and it’s a neat flick, the car
    is effectively menacing and I have a soft spot for James Brolin. Congratulations on your purchase, enjoy.

  • Marsden

    You should build a little cemetery to put it in so it doesn’t roll of the shelf and attack you.

  • Ken_Begg

    Ah, but it can’t enter cemeteries. It’s canon!