If you think Pokémon is an invincible monster capable of devouring anything in its path, that’s because you didn’t live through the late ’90s when the first generation arrived on Game Boy, the anime was on everyone’s lips (even for the infamous seizure-inducing episodes), and Pikachu became nothing short of an icon. Countless merchandise items have been created for the franchise over the past 25 years, but none quite like the one we’re showcasing today: the Pika-car.
Pika-kar
Do you have a yellow-painted Volkswagen Beetle (the classic Beetle) with Pikachu‘s ears, tail, and cheeks in your house? If you said “No,” you’re a monster. If you said “Of course,” we have bad news: there were only twenty of them in the entire world in 1998. They were primarily used for events in the United States, but as the initial craze faded, they were largely forgotten… and now fans would give anything to have one, even though most of them have vanished.
One lucky person managed to find one. Grace Klich, an avid Pokémon collector, simply had to follow the trail. Some of these cars were given away during the premiere of ‘Pokémon 3,’ so she just had to track down one of the winners who lived two hours away from her. The winner eventually passed it on to a friend, who, many years later, sold it on Facebook for a low price. The car was in poor condition, but after spending over $6,000, it can now be driven on the streets of Virginia and showcased at comic conventions to earn some extra cash. Well, to each their own with their money…
There are still 19 more cars to be located. Parts of them have been found in different places (a tail here, an engine there), but it’s challenging to determine if another complete Pikachu car exists in the world. The ones made to promote Gold/Silver, a PT Cruiser with the color and shape of Lugia, are in better condition… although only five of them were produced. By the way, Klich, the collector mentioned earlier, also has one. Why would someone want two Poke-cars? The answer is, “Why not?”
Being a Pokémon collector is more than just a hobby; they consider themselves “archivists” in the sense that there is a lot of lost material that brought joy to an entire generation but now seems to be gone forever, from chewing gum wrappers to images of specialized stores, tournaments, or first-generation plush toys. Hey, who said being a fan was an easy and inexpensive task?
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