What's odd about this year's book is that the three cars it comes with are mounted on 2/3 height cards. I have never seen these cards before, and I wonder if I should keep the cars on the cards since they will be presumably rarer. I doubt I will, since two cars are cool ones that need to be played with.

Overall the book is better than last years. The only text on the picture pages are the names of the cars, and more of them are photos of the actual cars or prototypes. While the concept art is interesting to look at, I prefer the photos.

Also gone are the names of the segment series -- last year, the only place you could find the names of the series was in the book. The names are replaced by a symbol, for example the Corvette series has the Corvette emblem. These are the same symbols you will find on the bubble cards, which to me makes more sense (although not as much sense as just printing the names of the series on the cards would have).

Flipping through, I get the impression that there is a new designer or concept at work for many of the First Editions -- the angular, harsh lines of cars like the Nomadder What are echoed in the Honda Sproket and Jester, and similar suggestions are in the Overbored 454 and Pontiac Rageous. I think that the design is a little monotonous -- individually they are striking designs, but one is unfortunately left with the thought of not another one when you see them.

With that exception, I think that the new cars are neat looking, with a good mix of pure concept cars, hot-rodded real cars, and introductions of classics from the past (I'm already looking for my Lancia Stratos).

It's going to be a good year.