Tuesday, December 15, 2015

1991 and 1992 Racing Champions Sears Set Cars

    Starting in 1991, Racing Champions put out special sets of 1/64 cars, that included 13 cars in the 1991 set, and 11 in the 1992 version~ Most of these cars were common drivers, while one car was a special car that was only included in these sets~ These sets are called Sears sets, because they were sold exclusively at Sears stores~ In today's post, I'm gonna be looking back on the old Sears sets, and the included cars~

                                                              The first set from 1991~
1991 Sears Racing Champions #91 Set NASCAR diecast blog


    Each set came with specific cars, and in the 1991 set shown above, we can see A.J. Foyt #14, Sterling Marlin #22, Cale Yarborough #66, Jim Sauter #89, Rusty Wallace #2, 1991 Sears Set car #91, Rick Mast #1, Bobby Hamilton #68, Kenny Wallace #36, Bill Elliott #9, Hut Stricklin #12, Kyle Petty #42, and Richard Petty #43~

    The reason these specific cars were put into this set is no coincidence~ They were selected for this set due to low sales compared to some of the other drivers Racing Champions was producing at the time~ A lot of you may remember 1991 wasn't the best year for Bill Elliott, and the Wallace car didn't sell well due to the dullness of it~ The A.J. Foyt car had been recycled for a couple years at this point, so it made sense to stick the lesser selling cars into one big set~

                                                              The final set from 1992~
1992 Sears Racing Champions #92 Set NASCAR diecast blog

     In the final Sears set to be produced, the first thing you'll notice is, you got shafted out of 2 cars, versus the 1991 set~ Once again we see poor ol' Richard Petty, Rusty Wallace, and Bill Elliott.. but we are welcomed with newcomers J.D. McDuffie #70, Darrell Walrip #17, the 1992 Sears set car #92, Morgan Shepherd #21, Michael Walrtip #30, Ricky Rudd #5, Davey Allison #28, Ernie Irvan #4, and Mark Martin #6~

    J.D.'s car was added due to having a boat load of them left over from making too many after he died~ The same goes for Richard, as far as they just made too many getting ready for his retirement~ This is the first time we see Darrell Waltrip's car in the Racing Champions stable, and I think they figured they'd sell more of them than they did~ It always boggled me that they never produced his #17 Tide car, and then here's Ricky Rudd in the #5 Tide.. what's with that Racing Champions?~

    They tried to fancy up Rusty's car for 1992, but it still flopped~ People don't want to buy a car that doesn't have the accurate sponsorship on it, they just don't.. and I don't blame them~ Michael Waltrip's car, which was one of the coolest looking cars on the track at the time, just wasn't the seller Racing Champions thought it would be, and Davey Allison's car had the same problem as J.D. and Darrell's, it was just too overproduced~

    I really liked these sets for what they were, and if you can find them at a flea market, or yard sale, at a decent price, they're worth picking up still, just for the extra stands you can get out of them~ I buy them, and give the cars to my daughter, and keep the stands for my cars that weren't produced with stands, and buy custom cards for them sometimes~ The last sets I bought, I paid 5 dollars each for, so 5 dollars for 24 stands isn't bad, considering you just can't find the stands for sale anywhere~


                                                        1991 Sears Set Exclusive Ford~
1991 Sears Racing Champions #91 Set NASCAR diecast blog
                                                        Click pics to enlarge~
1991 Sears Racing Champions #91 Set NASCAR diecast blog
                                                                  Rear of the car~
1991 Sears Racing Champions #91 Set NASCAR diecast blog

                                                  1992 Sears Set Exclusive Pontiac~
1992 Sears Racing Champions #92 Set NASCAR diecast blog
                                                             Click pics to enlarge~
1992 Sears Racing Champions #92 Set NASCAR diecast blog
                                                          Rear of the car~
1992 Sears Racing Champions #92 Set NASCAR diecast blog


    The cars basically look the same, with the 1992 car getting Sears logo's on it, whereas the 1991 car doesn't say Sears anywhere on it~ I use the 1991 car's card a lot for cars I have that don't have cards, it works out great for that purpose, whereas the 1992 card says 1992 on it, rendering it useless for such things, unless the car you use it with was from 1992~

    If you like collecting Racing Champions cars from this era, these are neat little cars, nothing special, but cool to have in the collection~ Sometimes you can find a good deal on them on Ebay, but most people try to get 30 out of them, and it's not really worth that for 2 cars, if you have all the others~ Besides, Ebay takes the fun out of finally finding that car you've been looking for for so long~ I do it sometimes, but the cars I buy on there, I would never find around where I live in a million years~

    Thanks for stopping by the blog, I hope y'all enjoyed this post on the Sears cars.. it was kinda hard to write about a fictitious car, but it was fun to do in the end, for me~ Since there was no driver, or track featured on this car, I'm just gonna leave you with some random videos~ Enjoy~ :)

                                                            What racing was all about~

                                                            1987 Busch 500 Finish~

                                   Sears Dynaglass Tires & DieHard Batteries commercials~

                                                           Bill Elliott interview- 1994~ 
                                                                                          

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