Promotional

About Promotional

What counts as promotional

Racers, the car and racing theme that ran from 2001 to 2012, occasionally teamed up with other brands. The results are collected here: small vehicles handed out with breakfast cereals, packaged meals or children's menus. Because they were free extras rather than retail products, the builds are extremely simple. Most contain just four pieces, and only one set among the largest eight goes beyond that. They show how widely the theme was marketed during its run, reaching children well beyond the toy aisle.

The 2009 wave and an earlier cereal car

The oldest and largest model is the Nesquik Quicky Racer (4299-1) from 2002, with 18 pieces. Everything else in the top eight dates from 2009 and has four pieces each. That year saw a series of McDonald's cars, released in Europe under names such as Kurvencruiser, Monster Rad, Turbobooster and Sportpfeil, with a US counterpart called 6 x 2 Turbo. Two more cars, the Cheerios Car and the Hamburger Helper Car, were linked to food brands familiar to shoppers in the United States.

Collecting versus rebuilding

For completists, promotional sets can be the hardest part of a theme to finish, since they were available only briefly and often only in certain countries. Rebuilding them is another matter. With so few pieces, a quick look at the parts list usually tells you whether you already have everything, and Bricoria's ‘What can I build?’ tool will flag any of these cars that your collection can already cover. Each set page lists the exact elements, so you can also see which colours and wheels a particular car uses.

FAQ

Were these sets sold in shops?

Generally not. They were distributed as promotional extras with food products or restaurant meals.

Which promotional Racers set is the largest?

Nesquik Quicky Racer (4299-1) from 2002, with 18 pieces.

Why do some names include EU or US?

The McDonald's cars from 2009 came in different versions for Europe and the United States, and the set names reflect the region.