Its hard to pass up a free marketing vehicle that caters to over 50 million people, even if it is a giant bloated mess of some of the most poorly designed websites on the planet - otherwise known as MySpace. Yes, its true. I’ve broken down and created a page for diecastAUDIO. For those of you who are already MySpace users, please take a moment to visit the page and add yourself as a friend.

Once the ability to add embedded objects is allowed again, I will be mirroring the blog postings over to the new page in addition to allowing people to listen to shows from there as well. The goal of this new MySpace presence will never replace the core site here at www.diecastaudio.com and is only serving to spread the word about the blog and podcast.

http://www.myspace.com/diecastaudio

The DCA Family Grows Again!

More great announcements, best-of highlights from the last week and an upcoming event from Pope Designs!

“Literally. Jada has applied an automotive spin and its distinctive Dub City styling theme to a cool new computer accessory. Whether for home, the office or at school, most PC users know the usefulness of flash drives. Work documents, photos, homework assignments, music files — whatever you use, you can quickly and easily store and transport a Gig’s worth of data in a device that is the size of a 1:64 car. JADA wraps it in a Dub City car body to add style and protection to the drive. You need a flash drive anyway — why not use one that demonstrates your passion for automobiles?”

- Quoted from DiecastX Magazine

[via diecastxmagazine.com]

Head on over to the photo gallery section at JADATOYS.COM to check out shots from their recent appearance at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. This year Jada debuted their new Toy Electronics line along with several other products. As one might expect, the new lines were very well received and helped push the great Chub City products further into the public eye.

[via jadatoys.com]

Poster GeraldE61 on the JL forum over at HOBBYTALK.COM shares an update from Lightningfest organizer Mark Hosaflook about the status of this years event. Apparently, RC2 has pulled out of backing the popular convention which Johnny Lightning collectors have enjoyed for the last seven years. Hosaflook indicates that he and the many sponsors of Lightningfest have “other coals in the fire” and might have a Plan-B type idea in the works.

Since much of the planning of an event the size of Lightningfest has to take place well in advance, arrangements for the 2007 PSR, Charity ET Racing, Rocket 500 and Custom Car Contest castings where actually made during the 2006 fest. Any independent event that happens in place of Lightningfest would not make use of these castings, so they are being offered up for sale in order to get back some of the costs. Details about the cars and how to get involved can be found on a sticky thread in the JL forum on HOBBYTALK.COM.

Meanwhile, RC2/Johnny Lightning has hinted that there there is something in the works and will be announced in February.

[via hobbytalk.com]

Collectors who are also fans of 70’s television classics will be pleased to see Johnny Lightning’s new Dukes of Hazzard series. Poster MACS_LITTLE_CARS over on JLTALK.COM not only shares some great pictures of each casting in Release 1, but also the quantities of each found in a case. Castings will include the 1969 Dodge Charger - General Lee (in both clean and dirty variations), the ‘72 Plymouth Road Runner, the ‘70 Chevy Camaro, the Jeep CJ-5 and the ‘77 Dodge Monaco Police Car. Quantities found in a case are as follows:

(3) General Lees

(2) Dirty General Lees

(2) Road Runners

(2) Camaros

(2) Jeeps

(1) Police Car

Each car also comes with a collectible cast photo magnet. diecastAUDIO thinks this is a release that even Boss Hog would be proud of..!

[via jltalk.com]

Keen eyes will notice a slight change to the 2006 Hot Wheels “Collector’s Kit” set being found in Toys ‘R’ Us stores. This set traditionally contains 20 carded Hot Wheels vehicles, a 2006 Collector’s guide and $10 in coupons good towards Hot Wheels products, but now features an exclusive Blings Chrysler 300C with Faster Than Ever wheels! This version of the Blings Chrysler 300C can only be found in this set and it is replacing the ’69 Camaro Z28 which also featured Faster Than Ever Wheels and was previously available in the HotWheelsCollectors.com version of this set.

[via leestoyreview.com]