One day, I noticed that there was a Browns card in a 1992 racing set. Now, I had seen die-cast cars with trading cards, but one that I had previously posted about had a regular Browns card in it. It wasn't a card created for the car. I wasn't sure what to expect with the one on this checklist because there were no sample pictures, just a checklist that showed there was a card for each team.
Recently, I decided that I would look for the card on eBay. I found a couple of unopened blisters from different dealers at acceptable prices and decided to buy them both. One to open, one to save. Silly, but it is what I wanted.
Here they are.
When I received both cars, I noticed there was a sticker on the one on the left. I tried to peel it off, but it tore some paper off the front of the backing cardboard. The backing cardboard of the one on the left also had a hole punched through the NFL shield, no doubt so it could be displayed on a peg in a store.
With the hole, and the little bit of paper loss on the one on the left, I knew which one I was going to open.
Here is a photo of the car.
Woo hoo! A Browns helmet on the hood!
Of course, the main reason that I picked up these up was for the card.
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| 1992 Racing Champions - NFL Racing Cleveland Browns |
As you can see, the card has the team wordmark logo in the top left of the card, and Joe Gibbs is holding a racing helmet done up as a Browns helmet while standing in front of a Dale Jarrett car.
The border of the card matches the team colors. For the Browns, it has the orange border, with the wordmark in brown.
I don't think it is possible to get mint cards from these packages. The cards come clipped in to the back of the display stand that the car sits on. You can see a little mark on the bottom of the card between the 18 and Shell logo.
This card also came with the small ding on the top of the card. You can also see it in the photo before it is opened. Perhaps it was from the person pushing the card into the display stand.
The back of the card shows the previous year's schedule and results.
Looking at the bottom of the card, you can see the two indentations where the card was clipped into the display stand.
Some information about the 6-10 season in 1991.
It was Bill Belichick's first year as head coach, and it was an improvement from the 3-13 record from 1990.
In the twenty seasons since the Browns returned to the NFL in 1999, they have had six wins or more in a season only six times. In the twenty seasons before the move, they had at least six wins in a season fifteen times, and two of those seasons were 14 game seasons.
The Browns only had one Pro Bowl player in 1990 - DT Michael Dean Perry. He had 8.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and 81 tackles for the season.
It was nice to be able to eliminate this oddball card from my wantlist.
Here's a little more info for you: these were originally sold as a complete set of all NFL teams on QVC, for $250. They were never released individually although so many sets have been broken up the the original box they came in is now pretty rare.
ReplyDeleteThe NFL was a secondary sponsor of Joe Gibbs Racing for most of the 1990s, and did have the NFL shield on the hood corners, although the actual race car only ran with interstate batteries, and the roof only ever had #18 on it.
Although 1/64 NASCAR diecast used to be my main hobby and I collected over 5000 unique cars, I have never owned any of these.
Cool! Thanks for the info about the set.
DeleteI knew that I had never seen any of the NFL cars in stores and that now makes sense given that they were sold as a set.
A couple of years later Bobby Labonte took the wheel of that car and it became my rooting interest in NASCAR. My 1/64th Interstates are among the few I didn't give away to the kids at my school when I retired.
ReplyDeleteVery cool oddball issue. I'd love to add the Seahawks and Packers cars and cards to my collection one day.
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