Cards autographed by Baywatch stars are issued in one in 432 packs These are worth pounds 25- pounds 40 each. One in every 36 nine-card packs of Baywatch trading cards includes a telephone card (or, more precisely, a pre-paid international "remote memory" card that deducts the cost of calls from the user's account). Mr Roness reported that wholesale Star Wars prices had risen 25 per cent in three weeks.American publishers of trading cards have started issuing their own telephone cards as premium trading cards. It has a holographic design that gives the illusion of motion (hence "motion card") and is issued in only one in 720 packs of eight cards costing pounds 1.50 a pack.Wholesale prices of trading cards can fluctuate from week to week, according to demand and supply Wholesalers do bulk deals between themselves. One premium card, in Britain's most popular trading- card series, the American Star Trek Voyager, has a street value of pounds 50. To find one, collectors have to keep buying new packs over the counter until they strike lucky - or buy second-hand at street value from another collector.

Watch your corner shop for his imports of Disney Lion King trading cards towards Christmas.He describes trading cards as an "instant lottery" because publishers insert rare, valuable "premium" cards in as few as one in several hundred packs. "Think of any major film that's been popular," says Mr Roness, "and there will be a trading card for it." His container shipments arrive within 24 hours of a new issue's release in the United States. These, the flashiest of the card collectables, have great street-appeal. A non-smoker, he forced Piedmont to withdraw the card, but this one survives.Sales of trading cards are rising by 20 per cent a month, according to Barrie Roness, the 28-year-old founder of Palan Distribution, one of the biggest trading-card importers. But the most expensive card of any sort, bought for an astonishing $451,000 (pounds 250,000) at Sotheby's New York four years ago, is an American card for Piedmont cigarettes of 1910, showing the baseball ace Honus Wagner. They are the ultimate in "instant collectables", fancy goods mass-produced for a few pence and retailed at premium prices, just for collectors.

PRINTING cards is like printing money. Only four million households will have an annual income of more than pounds 3,000 by the turn of the century - coincidentally the lowest price they could be expected to pay for the car. "They will need some kind of financing to start with," says Lee Tak-chi, "but soon some families will be able to buy a car outright." !. Called the Tint Dragonfly, it is not among the 20 contenders for the major prize. Lee is negotiating with the government of Wuxian province, to make and sell his car there, earlier and more cheaply than the alternative chosen by central government.Price of the family car will be as crucial as design. Each bidder has employed consultants to help anticipate the tastes of Chinese consumers.

"The Chinese expect a pretty good-looking car," says Lee Tak-chi, a Hong Kong designer who has worked with Porsche and Fiat in the race. "They are well educated, watch television and are very aware of different cars around the world. They won't accept second best."Lee, a former student of the Central School of Art and Design in London, has produced his own family car for China. Regardless of the decision over the Family Car contract, they will expand their factories to meet the increased demand.For the newcomers, this project is an all-or-nothing exercise.