Disney Pixar Cars - Trading Post Now Open!

The Alternator Valley Trading Post is now OPEN!

The rules are plain and simple...We act only as a meeting place for Disney Pixar Cars die cast toy traders. We take no role as intermediaries, brokers or ANYTHING ELSE when it comes to who you choose to trade with, and the success or failure of any and all of your trades. The responsibility to decide who to trade with, who is honest, what a fair trade is, who shipped an item, how an item was shipped, and the condition of an item, lies solely upon your due diligence and decision making. We will award "Keys to the Trading Post" to people we've had a positive experience with. This DOES NOT constitute an endorsement, but as a measurement of the trader's dealings. It is still your responsibility to check the person out thoroughly and ask questions to determine your comfort level in choosing to deal with such a trader or not. This site will NOT allow selling of any kind.

To post your trade wants/needs and what you have for trade, simply click on COMMENTS at the bottom of this entry. You will pick a screen name and then enter your trade info and contact info. We currently have no way to hide your e-mail address, and take no responsibility for spam, viruses or ANYTHING ELSE that you may receive. We reserve the right to disallow use of the site for any reason we see fit, and will ban people who are problematic, fraudulent, or conduct themselves in a manner we deem disruptive.

Enjoy! Here's hoping you make some great trades!

http://www.CarsDieCastToys.Blogspot.com

Disney Pixar Cars - Just Waiting on North Dakota

Just yesterday, a reader from Delaware visited Alternator Valley! The lone state yet to have someone visit us is...North Dakota! Come on, you folks must be Cars fans! There are 640,000 of ya getting ready to freeze yer butts off and sit in snow covered homes for six months. Don't you watch family entertainment like "Cars?!" You have a lot of small towns like Radiator Springs in your vast and beautiful state. Don't you collect the delightful little die cast toys? Look at this poor old rusted out truck. He's probably itchin' for some Rusteze Bumper Ointment! There's gotta be a Cars fan from Bismark or Fargo fer cryin' out loud?!! Someone must know someone who's a Cars fan in North Dakota? Tell 'em to drop on by for a spell! We don't bite!

http://www.CarsDieCastToys.Blogspot.com

Alternator Valley Stats Show Impressive Growth!

Whether you write about Disney Pixar's Cars, pets, politics or potatoes, your objective is to gain a strong following of readers! In marking Alternator Valley's First Anniversary, I thought it would be interesting to share our statistical growth that you helped to build!

First, let's talk about Page Loads...Page Loads are the number of times the site's pages have been visited. They are the more accurate manner to gauge a site's success. The old way of saying "Hits" was a deceptive measure. When a page loads, each and every element on that page is considered a "Hit," thus the pictures, words, etc. could easily log eighty hits for just one page and make for skewed stats. When someone said a site had a million "Hits," it made you think a million people visited the site. Page Loads mean that the page loaded one time when it was logged as loaded. Alternator Valley's Page Loads grew a very strong 56% over the last year!

Next up, Unique Visitors...Based purely on a cookie, this is the total of the returning visitors and first time visitors to the site; which equal all visitors. Unique visitors to Alternator Valley have grown steadily, and are strong around the globe. Alternator Valley's Unique Visitors increased a very healthy 59% in the past twelve months! New Readers keep finding the site and keep coming back to read the latest!

Finally, Returning Visitors...Based purely on a cookie ( I prefer freshly baked Toll House), this is a person who returns to the site for another visit an hour or more later. These are our most loyal and fervent followers! We all have sites we visit over and over again each day. Alternator Valley offers you much to do, and it shows that our readers are visiting frequently! Alternator Valley's Returning Visitors grew an impressive 300% in the last 365 days!

I want to extend my most sincere gratitude for your interest in Alternator Valley! I work very hard to bring you the most accurate and entertaining info I can. I'm staunchly commited to excellence and hope you genuinely like what I put forth. I can tell you that I always strive to do better, to innovate, and to stand out from the crowd! Let's see what the next year will bring. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading Alternator Valley!

http://www.CarsDieCastToys.Blogspot.com

Alternator Valley Celebrates First Anniversary!

Today, about this time, I launched Alternator Valley! I had run to Wal-Mart in Casselberry, Florida to buy Pixar's Cars on Blu-Ray Disk! I got my "Scoop" on the Blu-Ray Rangsberg McQueen by verifiying my detective work with the purchase (I'd suggest you read my very first article to get the whole picture). A lot of writing, running to stores, networking, and even travelling across the country to Comic-Con have happened in the last year! It has been a blast and a true passion of mine. I'm pretty pooped and going to head off to bed, but expect more later today, and in the next few days from me.

http://www.CarsDieCastToys.Blogspot.com

Disney Pixar Cars - Mater Wants YOU to "Git-R-Done!" It is Election Day! Go Vote!

Mater and I want to know if you, as an American Citizen, did your civic duty today? No, we don't want to know if you recycled your paper and plastic! Did you make your Voice Heard?! Did you cast a Vote for the future of YOUR COUNTRY? I am off to cast my vote now! We suggest you drive to your polling station and pull that lever, poke that hole, create that hanging chad, and Vote, Vote, Vote! It is Election Day in the United States of America, and you should be proud to have that privilege!!

http://www.CarsDieCastToys.Blogspot.com

Disney Pixar Cars - Three Die Cast Storylines

Did you know there are now three different storylines for Cars? That means there are technically three different directions of collecting you can take.

There's the "Mainline" that consists of the Cars that hail from the 2006 film. There are approximately 100 Cars that have been released to date. They are the great die cast toys we've been chasing down for two and a half years! Cars like this just released Sally With Cone. The Over Sized line, and the soon to be released Haulers! This line of die cast toys shows no sign of slowing down. To date, this line has generated over two billion in sales!

The second group are the Cars that consist of the "Storytellers" which are basically a prequel to the first film. These are the Target Exclusives that have been in circulation for just a few weeks. They consist of some characters already released but now packaged to look like a booklet. Additionally, there are four New Characters for us to add to our collections. There's Sponsorless Lightning McQueen, Smell Swell Lightning McQueen, Retro Ramone and Wedding Day Ramone. For the first time, we also see Red, the Tractor, Rusty and Dusty Rusteze in single packs.

Finally, the recently debuted "Cars Toons" are based on the stories from the new "World of Cars" book just released at Target. These stories focus on "Mater's Tall Tails!" I've been told that the sculpts for Mater the Fire Engine and others look fantastic at Mattel's Design Studio! So, we can expect some cool Cars from these stories to be released next year! How about Mia and Tia as Fire Dogs?!! Sounds a little Ren & Stimpyish to me!

So, do you think you can keep up?! Are you building shelves to hold them all? How about commandearing the guest bedroom? What will your house look like by 2012? Last one standing wins!

http://www.CarsDieCastToys.Blogspot.com

Disney Pixar Cars - Mack the Hauler Pulls In

"Mack the Hauler" pulled into my office recently! Lightning and Guido stopped by to greet Mack. He is smaller in size than you'd think. His package is 10-1/4 inches long by 5 inches tall. Mack is approximately 3-1/2 inches long, while his trailer is about 6 inches long. He is full of detail, a great size, and just plain cool. You are going to love Mack and the other haulers! I can't wait to get more of them! The price point will be around $13.00, and they should show up in Wal-Mart some time soon.


http://www.CarsDieCastToys.Blogspot.com

Disney Pixar Cars - Alternator Valley's Buffet of Features

I was talking to a friend who reads Alternator Valley, and she didn't realize the wonderful buffet of features we give you! So, sit back and I'm going to lay it all out for you. You may find something you've been looking for right here under your nose! I'm going to work from the top of the blog to the bottom.

1. Once you arrive to Alternator Valley, the most recently published article will be at the top of the page with the published date.
2. At the absolute top left of the page you'll see a Search Blog bar. Here you can type in your topic, I.E. Blu-Ray McQueen and any article containing that topic will appear.
3. As you move down the left side, you'll see where you can Subscribe to RSS feeds.
4. I put a Countdown to San Diego Comic-Con 2009 clock.
5. I've assembled "Important Collector Websites" as a resource for our readers.
6. I've also assembled "Phone Numbers You Need" as they are tough to find.
7. I put up a daily news feed for "Disney Pixar Cars News" so you can read the latest and greatest beyond Alternator Valley!
8. Our Video Bar is a cool item! You can watch Disney Pixar clips for FREE!
9. A number of weeks ago, I was analyzing our traffic and was amazed at how many states and countries readers of Alternator Valley hail from. Thus, our listing of the States and Countries you all come from!
10. The Blog Archive is listed by month for your exploration of past articles.
11. A quick About Me with a picture of myself and John Lasseter is listed.
12. All of Alternator Valley's Polls have been listed for your info gathering.
13. Finally, our Checklist of Singles, Pairs, Triple Packs, Play Sets and Accessories round things out. I decided not to cover Minis as they are not Die Cast Toys. Additionally, I ONLY add to our Checklist when I am satisfied a Car has been officially put into circulation.
    

There you have a "Baker's Dozen" of goodies to inform, entertain and assist you in the collecting of Cars die cast toys! I hope you enjoy Alternator Valley and appreciate my passion, as I am a collector just like you!

http://www.CarsDieCastToys.Blogspot.com

Disney Pixar Cars - Oversized Seen In Small Quantities

I called a Wal-Mart yesterday that I suspected may have gotten in some Oversized Cars and talked to the Toy Department manager Linda. She told me that she got in a couple of cases a week or two ago, and that they sold out in a day. One of my Kmart Collectors Day reporters was in a Wal-Mart today. I asked her to check the toy department while I was on the phone and she came across the Oversized Dinoco Helicopter. So, I was lucky to get that because of her. Nothing else was in site. They are showing up, but being snatched up faster than Mater can whip his tow hook onto Lightning! Searching for these toys is a pain in the #$$! How have your searches gone of late?

I also came to understand that Wal-Mart orders high quantities of Cars from Mattel. They then warehouse their inventory in a big dark cave distributing it in slow drips to the stores. This is why they are so far behind the Newest releases. I'm still seeing cases from months ago showing up in the Orlando stores. Maybe this explains why I see so much Batman stuff in their stores. Ya know, bats like caves! ;-)

http://www.CarsDieCastToys.Blogspot.com