Coca-Cola has been selling small-scale die-cast trucks for a long time. It wasn’t until 1997 that they began selling these larger-scaled Holiday Caravan trucks.
Most of you remember or know of the Coke commercials with the full-size tractor trailers with Santa images and tons of bright lights traveling on snowy roads. These toy trucks began as replicas of those trucks.
I’m not sure how I first found these trucks but it was on eBay around 1998. It was probably while doing a Hess truck search. Once I saw it, I just HAD to get it. I started buying them each year. The 2001 flatbed caboose is my favorite and costs twice the price as the rest.
These trucks are collectible but not yet highly collectible, like similar trucks such as Hess trucks, as shown in my article, Hess Toy Truck Guide..
Designs
The truck designs have been pretty uniform. All have been tractor trailers so far, in the 1/43 scale, compatible with O scale. The trailers are where the changes are. The 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2005 trucks have changes. 1999, 2001, and 2005 have trailer windows on the sides to see the removable vehicles inside. 2000, 2001 flatbed, and 2003 have flatbed trailers with vehicles that lie on top. And 2004’s trailer is white with a window cutout to see the Mickey statue inside,
The boxes say some trucks have 240 lights but they’re really just one or two lights with holes around the trailer to give the illusion of 240 lights.
Most, if not all, trucks require two D batteries, which are not included.
The trucks usually come packaged in sturdy, windowless boxes. The last few have come with windows, which can be easily damaged.
The trucks have generally followed the Coca-Cola color scheme of mostly red with some black, silver, white, and gold parts. A few have a majority of white. The 2000 has an almost all white helicopter. The 2004 has a mostly white trailer.
Another standard is the Santa image that is present on most trucks. The 2001 flatbed only has Santa on the caboose. There is no Santa image on the 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 trucks.
Every truck, of course, has the Coke logo.
A few trucks stand out as being majorly different than the others. 2002 has a Nascar theme, which is an eye sore to me. 2004 is the worst because it’s mostly white with Mickey Mouse images all over it, which really stands out. If I weren’t a completist, I’d of skipped these two, especially Mickey.
Features
All trucks come with a detachable cab and trailer, working headlights, tail lights and trailer lights. Some have sounds effect features as well.
The 2000 truck comes with a 1962 helicopter with battery-powered lights and rotor.
The 2001 flat bed truck comes with an O-scale caboose.
The 2001, 2003, 2005 trucks have accessory vehicles, some with friction-powered motors that fit in or on the trailers.
The 2004 truck trailer contains a Mickey Mouse statue that spins when the wheels are rolled. Mickey can be taken out of the truck.
Specials
Occasionally, Coca-Cola creates special edition trucks that are not offered for sale everywhere. These toys are generally produced in limited quantities.
The first truck in 1997 was produced in limited quantities, probably to test the waters.
All gold edition trucks are produced in limited quantities and are usually the same as the regular truck for that year but with gold hubcaps and other accents. The gold editions are the 2000, 2001, 2003.
One of the rarest is the 2001 special edition truck with a caboose on the flatbed trailer. I believe this was only given to Coke truck salesmen. They do pop up occasionally on eBay.
Where to Buy
Good question! This isn’t a simple question because they have been sold in at least three different locations.
From 1997-2003, they were sold from the caravan trucks that travels to select cities during the holidays, which made them difficult to find.
2004 to 2006 trucks were sold at Speedway gas stations, none of which are in my area.
They pulled a new trick and sell the 2007 truck through their MyCokeRewards program for 625 points. That’s a whole lot of soda!
I don’t know whether or not the trucks are also still sold from the traveling trucks.
I’ve bought the trucks on eBay and have had good luck with quality. With eBay and other auction sites, it’s buyer beware, so always research the seller’s credibility. Also, for the best prices, wait until January or February, after all of the highest bidders have had their fill.
The 2007 MyCokeRewards truck might be the first year that the starting price will be considerably higher due to the high number of points required to buy it. Hopefully, there will be places to just buy it outright. As of now, it’s either buying 32 cases of soda or paying near $60 on eBay.
I stand by my opinion that online stores are a bad place to buy collectibles because they greatly overprice their items. Ebay offers better prices, if you shop around for good prices and legitimate sellers with good reputations.
Retail Prices
The retail prices have been under $20, except for the 2001, which wasn’t available to the public that I know of, and the current 2007, which can only be gotten through MyCokeRewards.
List of Trucks
1997 Christmas Caravan Truck
1998 Holiday Caravan Truck
1999 Holiday Classic Carrier
2000 Holiday Gold Caravan Truck
2000 Holiday Helicopter Carrier
2001 Flatbed Truck with Train Caboose
2001 Holiday Dual Classic Carrier with 1955 & 1957 Thunderbird Cars
2001 Gold Holiday Dual Classic Carrier with 1955 & 1957 Thunderbird Cars
2002 NASCAR Carrier
2003 Off-Road Carrier
2003 Gold Off-Road Carrier
2004 Mickey Truck
2005 Holiday Edition Truck
2006 75th Anniversary Limited Edition Truck
2007 Holiday Caravan Truck
Photos of the trucks can be seen on your left. The first is of 1997-2001 and the second is of 2001-2007. Not all of the gold editions are shown because they look almost exactly like the regular trucks for the same years.
