Raining Cats and Dawgs

Card bloggers are good people. I mean, I think we know that's a given, because only cool people take the time to write a card blog (right?) but some go above and beyond. In the past few days I received packages from bloggers with animal themed titles, and of course I have to post about said packages...it's Cardblog etiquette.

First up was a package from Angus at Dawg Day Cards. A few days ago, he posted up that he was going to give away cards to anybody who emailed him their address. I didn't do that, but I had previously made a large trade with him on the Trading Card Database, and he must have saved my address because sure enough, I got a Christmas card packed with cards!
These were the new cards- he sent me two complete promo sets and two cards from the 2015-16 Tim Horton's hockey release (those are really nice looking cards in hand, much better than my scan shows!)

He sent along all three Sun Drop cards but I had acquired one locally earlier this year. The Mario Andretti card is so detailed it even includes the date he came to the USA and the date he became a US citizen.

The next day saw the arrival of a large package from The Prowling Cat. He has been running a "cleaning out the clutter" series of posts where if you want something he's got up for cleaning, claim it and then figure out what to send him back later. (He likes pocket schedules, of which I've got one headed his way shortly with some other stuff). I claimed three sets, which is way more than I'm going to be able to scan and get posted in anything resembling a timely order...so I'll post an example of each set, instead.
First up was Bon Air Fire Engines Series 1. The Fire Engines series is actually the largest automotive themed set ever, including racing sets, at 500 cards, 100 per 5 series. I had a couple of packs' worth that I got when they were new, but only from series 2.

Next was Series 4, which is cards #301-400. The fronts look very similar but the location of the fire engine photographed is much more prominent. On series 1 and 2 it appears on the back of the card only.

How cool is a green fire truck? Green has always been my favorite color, but I've never seen a green fire engine before. That's why I chose this example to post.

The first two series' backs are white and light yellow, like so:

  

 Speedway, Indiana is of course the home of Indianapolis Motor Speedway...which is why it's called Speedway. Neat, huh?

Series 4 has this very obviously 1990s yellow and blue flame scheme on the back of the cards. What a great decade it was. I have no idea what series 3 and 5 look like on the back. Series 5 was not produced by Bon-Air, but by another company, I can't remember which one right now. It was also issued several years later. Continued the numbering series though so to me it's the same series. I won't consider it complete until I have all 500 cards. With the package that prowled to me this week, I now have more than 200 of them, so that's a pretty good start.

 

The first set I claimed, but the last to come out of the box, was the 1994 Cardz Hanna-Barbera Classics set, which is 60 cards, and he sent along all of them. 2015 has been a down year for me completing sets, so it was extra nice to get a full one all at once. The set is a little frustrating, though, in that they did not produce cards of some of my favorite cartoons. For example, Wacky Races does not have a card, yet both it's spinoffs do. Instead, they gave multiple shows 5 cards (Yogi Bear, Flintstones, Jetsons, Scooby Doo and Jonny Quest). All of those long-running shows could probably have supported their own card set. Also, they use up 8 cards on magic tricks. Those were totally unnecessary, especially as there were so many shows that didn't get a card or even a mention. The production quality was high, and I'm glad to have them, I just wish they had been a little wiser with subject selection. I have grown up watching most of these cartoons, and if they were still on, I'd still watch them. (Wacky Races is one of only 4 TV shows I've seen every single episode of, thanks to the DVD set)
Here's a Scooby Doo card.

It's actually funny, although I was actively collecting non-sports cards when these were issued in the 1990s, I've gotten more cards from the Cardz company in 2015 than I did new. In addition to the 60 cards of this set, I also completed the Muppets set earlier this year.

And wait, there's more! The box he used to send them to me was not quite full, so to keep the cards from flopping around and getting damaged, he stuffed the remainder of the box with late 1990s NASCAR cards! Most were from 1999, which, for some reason, I got very, very few cards of. Here's a small sampling of what I received, there are more I didn't yet scan.

1999 Upper Deck Road to the Cup #85

2000 Wheels High Gear #31. I love car shots, by the way!

1998 Collector's Choice #105

1999 Wheels #61

1996 Maxx #46. Maxx's last flagship...not the best design but the one I have the least of, so this was very welcome!

1999 Upper Deck Victory Circle #4

1998 Collector's Choice CC600 #CC11

1998 Collector's Choice CC600 #CC9

1998 Collector's Choice CC600 #CC42

1995 Action Packed Winston Cup Country #16