The Wrapper Featured Article

Weird Wheels: The Rest of the Story!
The rest of the interview with Kurt Kuersteiner

If you read Kuersteiner's Wrapper article on Weird Wheels, as well as the Topps Ripped interview between him and Nando Di Fino, you probably have a pretty good overview of this series. But time and space limited many of the fun remembrances about this classic set. Here are the 5 original interview questions & answers provided about Weird Wheels. You'll find plenty of details you would have otherwise missed!

1. Can you describe your buying experience with weird wheels (for instance, I remember very clearly going to Kay-Bee and being allowed to get a rack pack of GPK every time I went. I saved the $10 allowance I had, I got a GI Joe and GPK rack pack every time, etc etc)

KK: Most of my gearhead card collecting was in the early 1970s while I was in grade school. I bought a ton of Donruss Odd Rods, and got in trouble for selling them in the schoolyard at recess for inflated prices! I loved the Halloween monsters and the mean machine mash up. So I was thrilled when I rediscovered card collecting again in 1988 with Dinosaurs Attack. That got me looking everywhere for more non-sports cards, and someone eventually introduced me to The Wrapper magazine. It was filled with all sorts of previous cards, including Weird Wheels. I couldn't’t believe another monster machine series had come and gone, and I had completely missed it. Thank goodness I got a second chance through The Wrapper. That Norm Saunders and Gary Hallgen artwork was to die for! My only regret is that they didn’t complete and release series 2!

2. Did Weird Wheels play any role in inspiring what you do now? Or were you already well on your way to Monsterwax?

KK: Once I found The Wrapper magazine around 1990, I started collecting older card sets. I got really inspired by the original art and monster related card sets Topps was producing around then. Besides Weird Wheels and Dinosaurs Attack, there was also Fright Flicks and Toxic High, both of which had really clever stories on the back. These guys looked like they were having a ton of fun, and I decided I wanted to produce an original art series myself. I found a bunch of artists over at the Ringling College of Art in Sarasota, and we created Tune In For Terror (celebrating the best science horror & sci-fi old time radio shows). We’ve been producing Halloween and monster related cards sets ever since!

3. Which cards are your favorites (both then when you were collecting them and now that you look back)?

KK: My favorites have always been the ones with the monsters on them like Grim Reaper (old old olds), the Hunchback of Notre Drag, Howlin Wolf, Screaming Demon, Fast Frank, Drag-on, and Vampire Van.

KK: I’m not sure we can say they NEVER caught on. They were only on sale for six months or so and if they didn’t sell really well then, people consider them a failure. But is that fair? Classic movies like Citizen Kane, Casablanca, and It's a Wonderful Life were box office failures, but went on to make millions with tv and video sales. Trading cards don’t usually get another chance to prove their potential, so how would we know how they might catch on if they were widely distributed today?

All the Odd Rod collectors I know think it’s a great set, it just loses points because it’s not as vintage or as valuable or doesn’t have that 1960s /70s nostalgia aspect associated with it. But from a critical standpoint, it’s just as good (or better) than any of the Odd Rod series, which were definitely smash hits in their day. I do think the Odd Rod series benefited from the popularity of Big Daddy Roth and that 1960s /70s hot rod fad, and by 1980, that had faded. But I can safely say from my experience, it was a wonderful series that I was crazy about once I (finally) saw it.

KK: I wish we saw a lot more of those original art series with original concepts, but the sad truth is they are just not as profitable as the easier photo sets based on licensed commodities. So most the corporations avoid doing them anymore. That’s one of the reasons I produce original art and original story series myself— I love collecting them and I wanna make them for other collectors as well. It may not be where most the money is, but for me, it’s where most the fun is!