Mattel, Disney team on 'Cars' display

Mattel professional Jean Gomez shows the companys rare die-cast Cars collection to children in the Petersen Automotive Museum in L.A.After parking its Hot Wheels cars at Los Angeles' Petersen Automotive Museum for any very long time, toymaker Mattel has teamed with Disney and Pixar to make a new extended-term display within the venue, this time around around turning across the "Cars" franchise. Exceeding 250 million "Cars"-designed die-cast cars offered since the first film folded into theaters in 2006, Mattel displays the majority of the latest and rarest in the toys through its "From Giant Screen to Die-cast: Disney-Pixar Cars Imagined by Mattel" exhibit until April. Over time, Mattel has produced greater than 500 unique kinds of the "Cars" character toys. Exhibit features dioramas of "Cars" moments featuring hundreds of die-cast "Cars" automobiles, rare, never-released and collectible automobiles as well as the good status for that film franchise's die-cast packaging designs. Also displayed might be the brand new Lightning McQueen Alive toy, having a realistic mouth, moving eyes and shrugging shoulders. Mattel spent yearly . 5 developing the car, project designer Scott Derman mentioned. One of the rare cars displayed might be the "Apple Vehicle," a white-colored vehicle getting a silver Mac apple on its hood, which was offered exclusively in one online-only package. It's since become most likely probably the most preferred "Cars" toys, by getting an value of nearly $700 on eBay. The exhibit also shows cars that have been available only on special occasions or at occasions, like the "John Lasseter" truck, named for Pixar's topper, which was only presented to Pixar employees who done the "Cars" movies. The "Cars" toys are 1/55 scale, larger than most die-cast cars, which are 1/46 in scale, to more precisely capture the facial expressions, personality and character particulars, mentioned Chris Lower, Mattel's V . p . of design. "That was to capture the essence of could they be all unique, that's their character -- their smile, their eyes and all of that," Lower added. Some plastic prototypes of never-released cars including Albert "Buffet Master" Hinkey, also known as McQueen's finest fan, was offered off by Bonhams to learn the Robert E. Petersen Free Chartered Bus Program, which gives free transportation for the museum for schools in underserved cities. Bonhams may also be auctioning in the 1994 Toyota Supra Custom featured in "The Short as well as the Furious" as well as the 2004 Lexus Concept Vehicle from "Minority Report." In 2003, Mattel opened up up its Hot Wheels Hall of Fame within the Petersen to celebrate the 35th anniversary in the toy line. Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com