Where’s Frank?

In the past few weeks, I’ve read a fascinating bunch of comments from people who collect toys from the Disney/Pixar “Cars” movie. It appears there is a rumbling of demand for a die-cast toy of Frank, the enraged harvester that chases Tow Mater and Lightning McQueen out of the pasture after they get their kicks tipping over sleeping tractors.

Mattel has seen fit to make die-casts of a slew of “Cars” characters, but for some reason it has not made a Frank die-cast. The only official Frank toy I’ve found is in the Tractor Tippin’ game, and the harvester contained inside bears little resemblance to the one in the movie. The image of Frank at right is a screen capture from the “Cars” DVD.

So no official Franks are for sale. That hasn’t stopped some folks from custom-making their own Franks and selling them on eBay. Here’s one:

Here’s another one:

Here’s another:

There are others, but you get the idea. As of Wednesday afternoon, there were at least 15 custom-made Franks for sale on eBay. The bidding for many was vigorous, and prices weren’t all that cheap, either.

One reader to Route 66 News suggested that if you do a Google Image search for “siku4251,” you’ll find a toy Massey Ferguson harvester that can be modified into a Frank. Alas, it appears that many of these toys are available only in Europe.

As someone who grew up on a farm, I thought Frank resembled a red International Harvester, and there is a swell-looking toy IH harvester for sale here about halfway down the page.

Frankly (no pun intended), it wouldn’t take a lot of effort to buy a toy Massey or IH, paint some eyes on the cab and — viola! — you have Frank.

Perhaps Mattel will eventually make an official Frank die-cast. But it looks like an opportunity is being missed now.

UPDATE 3/31/07: I’ve been made aware of small PVC versions of Frank the combine being sold on eBay. One seller even claims the toy is made by Mattel.

Here’s a picture:

I talked on the phone to Mark H. (he give me use his last name) at Mattel Customer Service. He assured me that these Franks are definitely not being made by Mattel anywhere.

Don’t be fooled.

54 thoughts on “Where’s Frank?

  1. We now have every supercharged cars model – except Frank. One collection is all boxed and in the loft and the other is in a bag which my son plays with and is beaten up badly.

    Why are they not making an official Frank?? Why do Mattel not listen to its customers??

    Why have they not made a Dinoco Helicopter – Mater had his ride in it at the end of the film – but NOOO – lets not make one.

    Have we got to wait until Cars 2 comes out before we can all finish our collections?? It is very annoying. Ok, am going back into my padded cell now.

  2. I agree they need to make frank , bessie, the sponsorers, the dinoco helicopter, fred, the pink cute little chinese news reporter, jay limo, and arnold(I’m not even gonna try to spell his last name) cars. But no they have to be MO-rons about it.

  3. Another gripe about the Cars products! They have pillows & zip toys of even Guido, but nothing bigger than a die-cast car of the mean green car! MY son is inIraq so we spend a lot of time with his three year old son The mean green car came from trying to teach him being mean is not nice. Since we gave our grandson the Cars movie for Christmas we eat, talk about & sleep the Cars characters. I have spent hours upon hours trying to find a big mean green car for him. His Daddy is his hero, and he keeps telling us his Daddy is going to find him one. HELP!! Can anybody help us find this item so his Daddy can still be his hero?

  4. My 2 1/2 year old LURVES the movie Cars. For some reason, his fav characters are the “bad guys”: Chick, the 4 Tunerz cars (Boost, Wingo, DJ and SnotRod) and Frank. He even says bye to Frank when McQueen and Mater drive off the field and back to town (he’s in the “watch the movie every day” mode atm). We’ve managed to get a hold of the first 5, but Frank is nowhere to be seen (except for the dinky one they included with the Tractor game – no point to one of those IMHO).

    If Mattel was smart, they’d add the 2nd and 3rd string characters to their toy line. Most folks I know wouldn’t hesitate to add a Frank, a Darrell Cartrip or even a Banshee (from the Ghostlight short) to their collection. I’m surprised they aren’t cashing in on this…

  5. The “say no words” characters in Cars are RED, FRANK, ELVIS RV, MATTRESS VAN, SNOTROD, BANSHEE, PISTON CUP GLIDER, JETS, DINOCO HELICOPTER (any other characters?somebody please tell me). They are forgotten. What a pity. Except RED.. where are they?

  6. SNOT ROD is available… but all of you are right, MATTEL is missing a huge opportunity… we are collecting everything CARS and are planning on turning our den into a CARS room with CARS lamps, curtains, etc etc… so we really want a good FRANK and DINOCO helicopter and Elvis RV AND – how about the freakin’ Blimp riding over the race whose only line is “OHHH YEAH!!

    MATTEL you are NUTS not to be making EVERYTHING CARS!!!!!

  7. The small FRANK is probably from the Tractor Tippin Game. I’ve been in the advertising/marketing business for 30 years, and if I worked at Mattel, man I would make EVERY CAR in CARS – INCLUDING the little Volkswagon Flies! You would think Disney Pixzar or Mattel would monitor CARS items sales, then they would see the incredible demand for everything CARS is out there.

  8. Yes that picture of the PVC Frank with the white background and ruler in the background is indeed and official product of Disney Pixar who ever talked with the Mattel rep should call them back up and tell them they need a new Job, since it is indeed packaged by Mattel. The problem is it isn’t a 1:55 scale as it is only a toy from the Tractor Tippin game. If you look at the measurement on the ruler you will see that this toy is only about 2inches square. So Yes it is an officially made toy but not what people are really looking for and the game only costs 20 bucks.

  9. By the way there are a whole new wave of cars coming out but as far as I know no Frank as of yet. Go to 1stopdiecast.com and see the list.They tell you all the new ones coming out and in what case they are in and you can even prebuy them.

  10. If you go to the following website it will show you pictures of some of the new cars that are being released and are available for preorder. They are releasing a Dinoco Helicoptor (around June/July). There is also a link that you can click to print out a checklist. All of the new diecast cars are listed under Wave 4. I too wish there was a Frank available. My three year old loves him. I bought him a John Deer Combine (looks nothing like the movie Frank) but he knew it was a combine and loved it. We have all of the die cast that have been released. I hope this info helps!
    https://www.rpmdiecast.com

  11. Let’s remember that there was a wave 1 and then a wave 2 and wave 3 is soon to be released. Just like the different waves with starwars. Everything you are looking for will be released soon.

  12. Been collecting the CARS die cast for my son since Sept of 2006…HUGE miss on not having FRANK – it is the fav of my 3 year old. Mattel and Pixar/Disney missed the boat on this one. The little PVC Frank is from the tractor tipping game – which we got and my son only wanted to play with the Frank. The irony is that we left him in the back yard and a real life lawn-mower got a hold of him…wow. All my son has talked about since he saw Cars is Frank and it has been over a year now.

  13. I was looking for the cars everywhere and could not find them. One day, I hit the motherload at Toys R Us and started selling them on eBay ever since. It is really addicting and I am way more into “Cars” than my 3 year old son.

    The little Frank is really from Mattel but is cheap. I have been selling a custom Frank the combine on eBay that is as close to Frank as I can get. Until Mattel puts a 1/64 scale of Frank, it is a good hobby for me to make some extra cash. Get r done!

  14. Yeti and bug mouth mcqueen is available on Ebay for about £10.00 each plus postage and packing. Still no Frank tho.

  15. Thank goodness there are others out there! My two eldest sons ( 4 and 2 yrs old) love cars and who is their favorite? FRANK! Can I find one no! After reading the above I now know they don’t make one. Why not? They would make a fortune! No wonder people are making their own to sell!

  16. WHERE IS OUR POWERFULL FRANK?
    ONE OF THE BEST CHARACTERS AND IS NOT IN THE COLLECTION!!!!!
    Believe me, you should do it. Cars is the best film I’ve ever seen.

    Robert, 10 years

  17. There is a game called Tractor Tipping available @ Toys “R” Us that has a small plastic “Frank” in it. The pieces are pretty small, plastic and Frank is the one pictured above the paragraph about Mark from Mattel. This game is made by Mattel. My son loves the toy Frank, likes the game, and it cost less than $20. I hope this helps everyone out.

  18. Hi

    just to say that there is a dinoco helecopter avail from toys r us in the uk..its quite good and decent size for £14.99

  19. we need frank and bessie my three year lod loves cars but cant find frank or bessie
    PLEASE MAKE FRANK AND BESSIE AND MAKE XMAS FOR ALL THE CAR FANS.

  20. A plastic version of Bessie is available in the Mega Mack Playset available in stores as well as Amazon.com (https://www.amazon.com/Mattel-Disney-Pitcrew-Performance-Playset/dp/B000OC7UV6/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1195359962&sr=8-1). I bought the set just to get her (just like I bought the board game just to get Frank). The set has other cool features, but it sure isn’t for young children. I’m an adult & I have a hard time getting it put back into “truck-mode” without it falling apart! I couldn’t believe the “ages 4+” label on the box!!

  21. As for new cars I want to see, I’ll definitely add my vote for 1:55-scale versions of Frank, Banshee, Lightning Storm McQueen, and a Movie Moments twin-pack of Van & Mini.

  22. I have to say some of you have not done a search. There is a Bessie with the Mack Playset, There is a Dinoco Helicopter and there is anouncers out there. I found them all for my son but I am not ordering them. I want Frank. He wants ONLY Frank. He has an uncle Frank and LOVES that part of the movie. He even uses his John Deare Tractor to tip and uses whatever toy car is in reach and says its Frank. I got him the Tractor Tippin Set iwith Mator, McQueen and the tractor for Christmas But I know the first thing he is gonna say is Where’s Frank. LOL. Take a look. You can get all the Cars toys if you search for them. I found them. They are not cheap. Just no Frank. I hope one comes soon. For now we are just gonna buy a red combine. He does not care if it has Eyes he says.

  23. I want the train locomotive, too! I love the expression on his face when he sees Lightning is going to try and beat him, and he gets mad and BLOWS his horns…and then his expression when he thinks he IS going to hit him… 🙁
    He reminds me of the Santa Fe locomotives…

  24. My son and myself love collecting all the Cars characters. He has over 50 and we just can’t stop. (i think I love them more than him!) I have been looking constantly for Frank and also Bessie. But I think the only ones available are the ones included in sets. Like Bessie is in a Mack pull out track and Frank in a game. But these are plastic and don’t look as good. I hope they bring official die cast ones out soon. I would of love to of kept them in the boxes but my son loves to play with them.
    Please let me know when they are released.

  25. Hi from Sydney. Got on ebay today to see if I could find a Frank for my 5 year old son…as I have never seen one in the shop. I am very surprised..thanks to this website…..to find out Mattel have never made one…its UNBELIEVEABLE.

    How can they justify putting out toys from the movie and miss out on one.

  26. i am not that talented to create my own…someone PLEASE make some and put them on EBAY…my 4 year old keeps insisting that Frank is in the toy store…lol…his logic was, mommy…they have EVERYBODY (from Cars) in the toystore…and pretty much darnit they DO…they KNOW that the kids would love that crazy tractor and when my son does his “reinactment” of tractor tipping on the living room floor who the heck is gonna chase Mater and McQueen…i need to calm down now…lol

  27. thank you james! i was searching under “frank the tractor” on ebay…and of course nothing was coming up…my son saw it on the screen and of course i had to get it…i pray it was worth the 50 bucks… kids have a great imagination thank God so it should be OK….again thanks!!

  28. well…i got FRANK in the mail…the one James suggested and I couldn’t be happier…my son is THRILLED and I can now sleep at night knowing FRANK is protecting the house…lol…THANKS AGAIN JAMES!

  29. Just to add to the Frank annoyance I was in Toys R Us the other day looking for Frank for the umteenth time and saw a very large Bannshee If they can make that why not Frank.

  30. James, I can’t find the site that you refer to re: Frank the Combine. My 3-year old grandson would really like Frank, but I can’t find it anywhere. He is convinced that when he goes to heaven, God will have one up there for him — because God is the only one that has one! If you can help me, let me know. Thanks!

  31. Here’s a call from Denmark to Mattel:
    Please give us Frank as a die-cast or then maybe just a poster-format!
    Cheers

  32. Uh, James, your link to frank the combine on ebay doesn’t exsist anymore. I think matel has now made every major carecter except frank. My son is beging me for one! They are loosing money every day without frank on the market!

  33. toywiz.com sells the mini Frank that they say is made my mattel. They need to make a real one if that one isnt. One of the kids i nanny wont stop talking about Frank and how they dont make one..etc. etc. PLEASE GET ONE MADE!!

  34. Do an ebay search using the words “frank the combine” not frank the tractor….thats how i found mine…now my son wants a remote control one…he also said (when we were in traffic) that he wished we had a real Frank….i couldnt agree more…sure would get me to where i wanted to go with no hassle…lol

  35. by the way….buy one of the CUSTOM made ones…not one of the “loose” ones that they say are made by mattel…those are about the size of my thumb…they come from maters tractor tiping game…your son would be VERY dissapointed…

  36. ERTL appears to have the license to produce the model Case/IH combine. that may be the reason that there’s no “Frank” toy made by Mattel.

  37. weve just done our sons bedroom with one of them new bedroom makeover kits .hes got disney cars on his wall and is asking where the helicopter is coz he loves it.weve painted a full raditor springs scenery round his room and its not complete without the dinoco helicopter in the sky ive searched high and low but cant find one ill even settle for a picture i can cut out can anyone suggest anywhere well find one

  38. All you Frank fans just need to go to the Disney official website; they have a die-cast Frank for sale for $19.50.

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