I found this beauty of a Mattel playset, which portrays Flo’s V8 Cafe from the Pixar “Cars” movie that will be released on June 9. 3000Toys.com already is taking orders on it for $24.95 (it’s about two-thirds of the way down the page), even though it won’t be delivered until June or July.

I also found that Bigbadtoystore.com has listings for a bunch of “Cars” toys, including the pricey 1:55 scale die-cast “Cars” case of 30, “Cars” Dirt Track Racing battery-powered slot car race set, and the “Cars” Tip & Toot Tractor. Bigbadtoystore also is taking orders, but delivery will be weeks away.

Dipika Mirpuri of About.com as usual as the scoop on several “Cars” toys coming our way. One intriguing listing for which I haven’t seen photos is this one:

CARS Radiator Springs Town Playset Assortment: The town of Radiator Springs is immortalized in the CARS Radiator Springs Town Playset Assortment. Detailed models like Luigi’s Casa Della Tires, Lizzie’s Curio Shop, and Ramone’s Custom House of Body Art each have their own play features, and include stunt and launching action.

UPDATE: I spoke too soon. Here’s a picture of the Radiator Springs set here, from the good folks at the Luxo blog.

It’s gonna be a fun summer for toy memorabilia freaks.

In related news, Pixar has added the character of Sally to the film’s Web site.

Bob Moore, executive editor of Route 66 Magazine, has alerted the Route 66 yahoogroup about two new books. I’m quoting him here:

“Oatman: History, Recipes and Ghost Stories,” by Jackie Rowland. Many of you know Jackie as the proprieter of Fast Fanny’s Place in Oatman, Ariz. Well, she is now an author of a great book about Oatman, the mining camps, area history and receipes (check out mine: Bob’s Wake-Up Specialty) and ghost stories about the little town that just won’t give up. …

“Route 66 Place Names,” by Paul Taylor. This one has been long needed, and Paul steps to the forefront with a book about virtually every town along all the alignments of Route 66 from Chicago to L.A. The book provides information about the history of each community, when the post office was established and the origin of the name. …

Taylor, incidentally, is co-publisher of Route 66 Magazine. I added links to the books from Amazon.com, but the books also also are available for sale at the magazine’s online gift shop.

It appears the Albuquerque Downtown Neighborhoods Association has appealed the decision to by the city’s Environmental Planning Commission to approve a proposal to redevelop and raze part of Horn Oil Co. on Central Avenue, aka Route 66.

I have little information about on what grounds the appeal is based. I’ve e-mailed one of the association’s leaders, and hopefully I’ll have more details on that soon.

Here’s a copy of the proposal. Warning: It’s a 31-page Acrobat document.

So the story now, according to this new report from the Los Angeles Times, is that the Southwest Museum of American Indian artifacts will close June 30 for major repairs to its building on the Mount Washington site near the Pasadena Freeway (Route 66).

Operators of the Southwest Museum say they will close its collections exhibition areas beginning June 30 to make way for at least 3 1/2 years of major repairs to the historic but bedraggled Mount Washington landmark, a move that has alarmed some long-time volunteers and neighbors who fear a permanent closure could follow.

But officials at the Autry National Center, which operates the Southwest, say the real message in the move is just the opposite. Not only will they keep the Southwest’s library and gift shop open, they say, they’re aiming to reopen the rehabilitated Southwest building with exhibition space in 2010, so long as they can raise enough donor money and get city approvals needed to expand their Griffith Park site.

Until then, “the collection has got to be moved out, because it’s imperiled where it is,” said John Gray, the Autry’s chief executive.

Based on what I’ve read in other reports, the Southwest Museum does need a major shore-up. A solution to sooth the fears of Southwest Museum’s supporters is to get a written contract to have the building fixed and move the museum’s contents back in once it’s done. Of course, you have to have both parties sign the pact — which may be a challenge, given the anomosity by both sides.

Rick and Jane McKinney, the evangelist couple who are walking much of Route 66 during their Walk to Reclaim America, tell the intriguing story of how rainstorms kept missing them as they strolled across the Texas Panhandle one day.

I hadn’t heard of Riley B. Thompson, who died at age 82 on Saturday. But I’m sure some of the old-timers of Route 66 in Southern California have. Check out the obituary in the Daily Press.

After serving in the Marine Corps, Thompson moved to the High Desert in 1950 and worked providing vehicles and equipment to local farmers. Some years later, he became the owner of three bars along Route 66 in Victorville — Riley B’s, the Red Rooster Cafe and the Sportsman Lounge.

For many years during the 1960s, Riley B’s was the only venue in the High Desert that provided live entertainment, and is where Thompson invented the Riley B. Twist.

“Riley B. was the only person that could take a tray of drinks and balance it on his head without spilling it,” said friend of 39 years, Terry Caldwell, a local attorney and Victorville city councilman.

Caldwell said that Thompson would perform a hula-like dance with the tray of drinks balanced on his head and never spill a drop. One evening a couple that had traveled from Canada stopped into Riley B’s because they had heard about the performance, said Thompson’s wife of 45 years, Beverly Thompson.

“He (Riley Thompson) was a business man before he became an attorney,” said friend Dennis Christy, chief deputy district attorney. “He was always giving advice to people who used to come into his bar and one day he said, ‘Maybe I can get paid for this.’ ” Christy said other attorneys were often nervous about facing Riley Thompson in the courtroom because he knew everyone in town and was so well liked and trusted.

“The legal community here has lost one of its founding fathers,” Christy said. “He was some one who has provided a lot of color and fun for many years.”

And guess what the Thompson’s Red Rooster Cafe is now? It’s the California Route 66 Museum. According to the museum’s home page, a portion of the Neil Diamond movie “The Jazz Singer” was filmed here.