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March 14, 2015

[Toy Review] Saltwater Powered Mini Eco-Marathon Toy Car from Shell


Yeah, that's the title, and it's from Shell (the gasoline company) and not "hell". I just saw this on the table and the back of this odd box says "free" written in permanent marker, so I opened it and well, here it is... a little toy car that is eco-friendly because it is powered by saltwater.

Note: For this review, I used my smartphone with 8MP camera to take photos of this toy.


PACKAGING

Front of the box with some texts on it 

The side of the box. It says: "Eco-marathon"
This is a very plain yellow box with very simple design on the sides. The box says "Your Mini Challenge" and those mini texts bellow it says the "what-if's" about improving nature-friendly cars. There are no windows in this packaging so it's a surprise to see what's inside.

I didn't know it's a mini model toy car
These are what's included in the box. To my surprise, this is a model car that needs assembly. It's been a long time since I've assembled model toys like Gundams and Tamiya mini 4WD toy cars.

The white parts of the car.
I was too excited that I already removed a piece before taking its picture

These are the car's yellow parts.
They're translucent
You gonna need a cutter and nail pile to sand out the extra plastic on the model. You also need help from your parents/older siblings if you're a kid.

Packaging includes: Plastic toy car parts, A small motor with few electronics and some strange material for the saltwater engine, Saltwater dropper, Stickers and a manual.

THE TOY

Top front and top back view of the car.

This is what the mini toy car looks like after it's assembled without any stickers. I didn't bother to use stickers (they look nice and colorful and cute, by the way) because I think it's fun to paint it instead. Anyways, it looks like an awesome prototype car from the future and it's aerodynamically designed too.

Front view of the car
The front looks nice, the yellow top part have a motor vent (not actual vent though) for design. No headlights too.

Back view of the car
The back looks simple yet so sexy looking. Like I said before it's better to paint this toy. That way, we can paint the headlights in front and the brake-lights at the back. If you want to go up a level, install LED lights in it.

The side view of the car
The wheels are disappointingly made of plastic, it looks good though. Shell didn't bother to put rubber tires (to cut costs i guess), I can't complain because it's free. Again if you want to level up this toy. Get a sandpaper, some glue and some thin rubber strips and put it around the wheels.

That little thing is a motor
Because the top part of the car is transparent, you can see the small motor and its wires.

The removable part of the car that powers the motor
This is where you put 3 drops of saltwater. Just pull it at the back of the car to remove this part and put saltwater in it again.

These are the stuff inside the removable part
I guess the square white paper-thing absorbs the saltwater and the 2 different square plates makes the motor rotate its small gears. There's science going on in this part.

CONCLUSION

This is a nice free mini toy car that is not powered by battery (but can be converted, I guess) or gasoline. This little toy teach us a lesson: to take care of our environment by reducing air pollution. I had fun assembling it (I forgot how fun it is to assemble things). The toy looks good and I can't complain. Oh yeah! This is a promotional item for those who participated on Shell's marathon, this means that this toy is limited only and you can't get this anywhere.

Cheers and Happy Collecting!

8 comments:

  1. I am getting one without participating in any marathon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know if this is still available today

      Delete
  2. Thank you for posting this special post that was good to read
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  3. This is an amazing post. These saltwater powered cars are just perfect. Kids love toy cars so much, they are one of the best things to buy for the kids. It keeps the kids entertained for a long time. These toy cars something that parents can buy for their kids and let them have lots of fun. kids pedal go kart.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Could U Pls. detail exactly the manufactured by whom & their address. or my some other
    product designed and require their assistance to manufacture.
    D. nagh
    nagh65@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for posting a clear article on kids. At this age, kids tend to learn many things and build their character based on what they have learned through family, playing, and education. Here you can check out some of the best Educational Toys for Children that can help your children to learn through playing and enhance their brain. The games are safe to play with above 3 years old kids.

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