some_guy5's Full Review: Cars and Co Disney Pixar Cars Darrell Cartrip
Being unable to find a good variety of die-cast characters from the movie "Cars" before Christmas time, I finally resorted to E-Bay. There I found a large variety for premium prices. Wanting to make sure "Santa" delivered the goods this year I bought a good sized multi-car lot and included in this lot was Darrell Cartrip. Sometimes I am surprised by what my children take a shine to, and they have really taken to Darrell Cartrip.
Item Description At only a glance I could see that Darrell Cartrip was an older model car, but I couldn't quite place him. In the interest of providing a thorough review I searched the net and I see in multiple places where he is described as being a 1977 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. He is mostly silver in color (maybe you might call that gray) but has some very prominent flames painted on the sides as well as the number 17. He also has flames reaching from his front grill up onto the front of his hood. There also appears to be a shameless plug on the toy because "DWStore.com" is painted on his back. I don't know if that is a real plug or a joke, because I refuse to try it out. Like nearly all of the other "Cars" die-cast characters Darrell Cartrip has eyes where a normal car's windshield would be and a smiling mouth integrated into the front of his bumper.
Character If you didn't guess, Darrell Cartrip is a play on the name Darrel Waltrip. I suspected but after viewing the credits I can confirm that the character is in fact voiced by Darrel Waltrip. Darrell Cartrip is a Piston Cup announcer and works alongside Bob Cutlass (voiced by Bob Costas). While his movie part is small he seems very jovial and energetic. His announcing role seems to me more color commentary than "play by play".
Play Time with Darrell Cartrip Given that he looks kind of old fashioned I wasn't sure if Darrell Cartrip would take off in popularity as well as some of the more "blingy" cars. My expectations were incorrect. I have two children and the older one likes him very much. He announces some of her play races but he just as often mixes it up with the whole gang. He is a favorite and I am at a loss to explain exactly why. My younger daughter likes him as well, but I really can’t explain that. I am not sure she really understands how to connect the toys to the characters in the show. Nevertheless, she picks him out of the pile and makes little motor noises while rolling him along. The only other thing she does consistently with our cars is make sure to constantly hand me Mario Andretti. In short, they like Darrell Cartrip but I just can't see why he is so popular.
Durability Darrell Cartrip is made from die-cast metal. We have some rather extensive experience with these cars so I can predict with a fair degree of certainty what will happen to your Darrell Cartrip should you decide to buy him. He will almost certainly be unbreakable under normal play conditions. It may be possible to bend his wheel axels slightly but I just don't see how you would actually "break" him during the normal course of play. I am just as certain that his paint will chip. It has happened on all of our dozens of die-cast cars and it happens pretty quickly. I try to get the children not to throw them, bang them together, or run them off of counters, etc. but I may as well ask them not to play with them. Darrell Cartrip's paint will chip.
Conclusion Darrell Cartrip is a good "Cars" character and a durable toy. My children really like him so I can do nothing but recommend him. I don't see what makes him much better or worse than most of the other characters, so I really recommend him if your children have a particular liking for this specific character.
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