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Volume 1 Issue #12 
During the week, Tony Perrone previewed a few more models
that were UNVEILED at the Pebble Beach car show. For the few who
haven't seen them, the 1955 Ford Crown Victoria L.E. in purple
and white, and the 1953 Cadillac convertible in red are pictured
here! It's about time the '53 Cadillac was brought back! A
marvelous little model, with all the style of those days of IKE
and NO BALONEY, not as it is today!
A better color could
certainly have been picked, but we'll leave final judgment until
we have the model in hand. The L.E. Crown Victoria appears to
have replaced the old pink/white Ford that has been N/A since
April! Seems not too many people, (except, perhaps, for those
forlorn FM customers who have had depsoits on them for almost a
year with promises of definite delivery), MISSED the passing of
this eye catching car! I HEAR that the GRAND CORVETTE (that's my
nickname for the 1/12th scale '57 Corvette selling for $1000.00)
sales have been fairly BRISK! I would rather spend my money on
DIECASTS, but you can bet your bottom dollar, these will be
selling for MORE once they are SOLD OUT! F.M. has NOT notified
the STRAIGHT AXLE Corvette club about this model, and they are
bound to find a group of folks here that will ante up what it
takes to procure one of these little delights!
I found this article placed on the D4C board by Kevin Gregory which is of some interest to all us F.M. collectors. "Detroit News. http://www.detnews.com/2000/metro/0008/24/d01-110347.htm TROY - Anyone who's ever seen the late night commercials for celebrity commemorative plates or the Civil War chess set knows Franklin Mint's claim to fame: It's products are part of "limited editions". But when saleswoman Kathleen Blake found out some of the model cars she was selling at the company's outlet at the Somerset Collection weren't limited, her attorney said, the 38-year-old woman had a problem. "She pretty much found out they were making as many as they could sell" said attorney Stephen Fellows, who is handling a lawsuit Blake filed against Franklin Mint after the store fired her in April. Blake claims it was because she had uncovered advertising fraud on a national scale. Franklin Mint spokeswoman Michelle Doolley and general legal counsel Howard Lucker declined to comment. Skeptical shoppers may take the Philadelphia company's claims of scarcity with a grain of salt, Fellows said, but Blake has sold lots of the company's wares to customers who believed her sales pitch. According to the suit, filed last week in Oakland Circuit Court, Blake told Franklin Mint's national sales director and other officials they should change the cornerstone. Instead, she said, they fired her. Now with a lower-paying sales job, Fellows said, it's tough for Blake to take care of her aging mother. She's suing for lost wages and emotional strain. Blake, who started working as a saleswoman at the Troy store in 1996, declined to comment. One legal observer said Franklin Mint should be more concerned about the customers than Blake. "If this turns out to be true, any customer would certainly have a claim under the Michigan Consumer Protection Act," said Paul Doherty, a Birmingham attorney. Franklin Mint bills itself as the world's premiere private mint. It has 37 full-service retail stores, a mail order service and a Web site where customers can shop online." Sounds kind of OMINOUS, doesn't it? Well, knowing that after these last 50+ years I've been on this planet, the NEWS media seldom gets anything 100% correct, (Jay Olins pointed out that the attorney's name was misspelled!), everything is SLANTED to the writer viewpoint (I should know, I WRITE this!), and the above writer was undoubtedly looking to make the most of his article for either EGO or ADVANCEMENT purposes! We F.M. collectors KNOW what the definition of a Limited Edition is as far as we are concerned! Its a NUMBERED piece that is discontinued when that number is produced! Bill Bakaleinikoff wrote a very nice bulletin board piece about what LIMITED EDITION means that I've got quoted here. Bill wrote "The word "Limited Edition" can be affixed to any product without liability unless a specific number is mentioned (especially when molds are used in the manufacturing process). If a manufacturer intends to use one set of molds for a special run, and the life of the mold is not known (before deterioration sets in), then that limited edition could extend for the molds life. In essence, all of FM or DMs cars are limited editions. Only, when a number of units stated in a promotional venue are attached, could any legal action be taken (if any). However, it would have to be proven that the buyer was subject to excessive financial loss because of misrepresentation. I know of no existing legal cases in point that have ever been sited. At least in California. Very seldom will a point of purchase of a limited edition, reflect a higher price then its none-limited counter parts on the shelf, i.e. FM's silver & black Packard 1934 Convertible was a true limited Edition priced at the same cost that the red 1934 convertible sedan sold for. It is the secondary market that elevates the price. Therefore, it is not the manufacturer that is libel. The legal question is; Limited to what? The manufacturer is the judge of their capacity and authorization as to what is limited to their production and creation of a specific item. The word limited by itself is not a restriction nor a legal corral for it is irrelevant without boundaries. For example, the word time. Without an hour, minute, second, day, year, to set a criteria, time is abstract." We don't really know what this lawsuit consists of, but I've had correspondents that had bought models from the lady mentioned in the suit contact me. To the person, they had mentioned how nice she had been, helpful, and gone out of her way to see if she could locate or assist these collectors in any way she could! UNFORTUNATELY, this is NOT what F.M. wants from its personnel! Salespeople that show INITIATIVE are looked at with a wary eye by the higher ups! Can you imagine, that they would rather hire someone that has absolutely NO interest or knowledge of their product, instead of an F.M. collector, or ANY collector for that matter! Seems they want to TEACH them the F.M. SPEAK, (they even have a 3 day class at FMHQ to give salespeople a certain STYLE to use), and exactly WHAT they want that person to say, then someone that can relate to a customer and speak to them with knowledge and authority! A sorry state of affairs, as I'm sure most older collectors who have dealt with the Mint for years have seen many good and helpful people fade from the scene! More on this as there may be some new information as of next issue! 
HEARSAY & SCUTTLEBUTT--- One of my CORRESPONDENTS wrote a
rather interesting letter to me under this title and I liked it
so much, I think I'll keep it! More news, both speculated and
verified has arisen from the ashes of the '67 Morris Mini Rallye
car this week! Starting with a quote from Jay Olins from
information given him directly by FMHQ, Jay had posted the
following on the D4C board:"We are advised by TFMHQ that this replica is NOT withdrawn nor discontinued! Stock was pulled back from retail stores to fill orders on hand in the mail order department. Stock transfers are not unheard of, but this one apparently fostered many rumors. Please note that when the current supply of these are exhausted, there may be a temporary out-of-stock condition until the next run of cars is produced, but we are told that FM does not plan on discontinuing this version". Well talk about taking the wind out of everyones sales, (or was that sails, think SALES is proper here!)! I was all set to take this explanation as the truth until I had a CORRESPONDENT, who should know, send me the following! I QUOTE; "The boys I schmooze with at TFM tell me the Mini cooper Rallye was killed for poor sales, exhausted inventory and costing a bit more than the other variants, so there was no desire to order another run. The dramatic pulling of the showroom display, and the recall that ended this car with a bang instead of a whimper is the only curious aspect of this whole episode. Offered as an explanation was a rather Byzantine, but low cost gesture by marketing to provide speculative incentives for collectors to consider collecting obscure, and unheralded cars (because 'Hey... ya never know'). Licensing was not an issue and personally, I don't see how that would only affect one variant and not the others. I really don't see Prince Ranier asking for royalties for using the "Monte Carlo" marque. They're starting to like the overall effect that discontinuing cars, and creating rarities has on the overall sales and growing collector interest.... and this is just taking a page out of other collectible manufacturer's strategies. (If you follow sports cards, Pokemons or beanie babies, you got the idea). The Gold GM Chevy may be dumped soon. They know they screwed up and they know that we know .... and most importantly... it ain't selling. It's selling much worse than the RR repaint did and that car had to be kicked out of the starting gate. The air is rife with talk of retooling to the correct hardtop model and losing the continental kit. We shall see, eh? Once again, I pass this stuff on to you for your pleasure and comments. I'll tell you though, from the pewter vette to the RR repaint, their info has been virtually spot on. As to the pewter vette.... if it moves, there'll be a mercedes roadster right behind it.... I've seen the paperwork on that one." Ok, it's hearsay and scuttlebutte, and take it for what you will! I had chalked it up to one of the many LEADS that I get from so many different sources. I also heard from several persons within F.M. that employees could buy the floor sample of this model for an 80% discount IF THEY WANTED TO! Nice of F.M. to let some lucky people acquire it for $15.00! Seems this same kind of PULL BACK had been done before with the 1961 black Lincoln a few years ago, and we all know where that model is priced today! Going back even further, there was a similar occurance with the 1948 Chysler Town & Country. Seems it was supposed to be coming right back out. What happened to that one? So, does this sound like a pattern? Sometimes F.M. will give us the truth, and sometimes its not quite all the truth! No matter what, it sure does stimulate all of their collectors into small frenzies, and, certainly keeps their name on everyone's lips! I forget who said that there no such thing as bad publicity. With these continued variations popping up one on top of the other, ( '29 R.R., "57 WW Corvette, and now the Rallye car), F.M. has created more publicity than they could deliberately go out and BUY in magazines and flyer ads! (OK, we're headed into September, what's next?) Being this is going to be a day or so early this week, we won't have as many sales to review but there certainly was some interesting models bought and sold. Sunday 8/20--- Boy, talk about everyone away on vacation, both E-Bay and D4C had FEW goodies to offer today. The e-Bay auction had a '57 Cadillac that had re-painted doors sell for $255.99. I looked at the pictures supplied, and the paint job had been done by a regular auto body shop. I could see the telltale WAVES at the bottom of the doors where the paint had gathered. Not a bad job but I've seen many better. A Harrod's Jag gets a $300 price, and we'll see these start to BACK OFF in price for the rest of the week! Seems Harrod's still has approximately 100 of these in stock, and SMART collectors are calling London to gather them up at ISSUE PRICE! Here's a PICK for this week and a chance for the INVESTOR to grab a few of these! Talk on the D4C board had some members complaining about the decals and lack of interest in this little model. It is NOT inspiring, but for a certain portion of our hobby, it is important! It also will have an interesting history behind it that will keep it of interest, especially to NEW collectors! For those TRULY interested, Harrod's phone # is 0044-171-730-1234! REMEMBER that England is 6 hours AHEAD of Eastern time so a 3 AM to 11 AM call is a MUST to get through! If any of you do get them, please let me know the numbers as I just had a customer get a pair of these with 380 something numbers! Back to business, a Millennium Beetle goes for $103.49 as these are SLOWLY disappearing off the secondary market, and are now marked as DISCONTINUED, and a '57 WW Corvette sells for $404.90! The '57 WW Corvette has now STARTED on a downward spiral, and watch sales for the rest of this week! D4C had only 2 sales of any interest this night, a D.M. 1953 Blue Buick at a steady, higher price of $143.00 and a '56 L.E. Pontiac at $326.00.A private sale of an Airstream trailer for a confirmed $675.00 was also reported! Monday 8/21--- As slow as Sunday was, Monday was just the opposite! A blue Tucker is sold for $121.00, and appears to be strengthening in price each time offered! A '29 Bentley Blower car draws a $122.50 price, and was a nice surprise for the seller. A 1955 red/white Chevy sells strongly at $133.01, ( I hear that approx. 400 NOW remain in stock). A '49 Ford Surfer model is a good deal at $144.01, and a Morris Mini Rallye is hammered sold for $205.05 with much interest! Funny, VERY FEW have been offered on e-Bay and D4C! You've read about it above, this could be a real sleeper! A '69 L.E. Camaro number 7 sells for a very reasonable $306.50 as I wasn't available to bid it higher! A GREAT buy for the new owner. LOVE the number! A pair of Edsels, pink and turquoise brings $122.50 and $111.00 respectively. A '53 Cadillac sells for a very reasonable $152.50, (your getting quicker on the clicker Rich!). The disc. '57 Caddy is a NO SALE at $250.00 (I e-mailed the owner, and received no answer, he, in turn, received no bid!) Another '57 WW Corvette sells at $305.00 (paying attention?). The last e-Bay auction worth noting was some NEWBIE offering a NEW Christmas Harley L.E. for $500.00! Of course, a NO SALE as his dreams of getting rich quick were trampled with NO INTEREST! After reading his description, I was surprised that he didn't label it UNIQUE! D4C had an unusual night as a D.M. 1/16 scale '55 Chevy sold at $114.00, rather low for this model. and a regular issue '55 Pontiac brought a strong $110.02. A large lot of NO SALES were on the board with a '92 white Rolls Royce being ignored at $750.00, a black '61 Lincoln did the same at a more reasonable $500.00, a '41 Lincoln was passed on at $175.00 and a D.M. '33 Pierce Arrow with slightly yellowed tires stayed home with a $125.00 reserve. The F.M. 1997 Christmas truck brought $200.00 and a B&C Bullet Hole car sold for $330.00, these seem to have firmed up in the $320-$350 range! Another private sale of a 1924 Tulipwood, mint but no box or papers for $295.00 is also worthy of reporting! Tuesday 8/22--- E-Bay started the day with a '47 Bentley Franay selling at $133.50, (think you better check with F.M. about availability). A Jouef/Universal Hobbies 330 P4 Ferrari #23, 1 of 500 was STOLEN at $212.50! Perhaps the best deal of the week for the new owner. The F.M. '57 Caddy was only bid to a sale of $182.50 from a seller that had no box or papers, and didn't know much about it! Could have been a GREAT deal for you gamblers! The '57 WW Corvette changes hands at $300.00 (are you watching?). The '70 L.E. Chevelle sells for $345.00, and a '59 L.E. Caddy and a '49 P.B. Ford are NO SALES at $275.00 and $350.00 respectively. A Brawner Hawk was sold at $300.00 on Da Bay, IF you knew where to look! The D4C auction had some better models up for sale. A '55 red/white Chevy sells for $117.25 at a very steady price range. A Morris Mini Rallye gets a stronger $226.50, while a '69 L.E. Camaro is stronger at $240.00! The '39 Maybach gets a bargain price of $250.00 for the lucky buyer, and a 1973 Mercedes Benz L.E. is a NO SALE at $550.00! I'm at a quandary here as these should be very strong, (they were a month ago with almost a fever pitch), and now go begging at a seriously cheap prices! Perhaps just the wrong time to sell them! Wednesday 8/23--- Today we had few bidders showing up for either auction! Many NO SALES showed tonight at what were formerly CHEAP prices! If your interested in some good deals, the next 2 weeks should be the BEST time to buy all year! Seems many players will be away for the last weeks of the summer! Watch out guys, I'm still watching and buying! The hard to find 1955 Rolls Royce is sold for $144.00 as the owner stated it had very bad paint from the factory! An honest man, and a good buy for the new owner! The F.M. '53 Caddy gets sold for $165.00, and a nice 1957 Caddy sells for a more in line $355.00 with box only. A group of NO SALES follows as a 1949 Cadillac L.E. is only bid to $113.50. A CMI Red '31 SSKL received no bid at $150.00 reserve. The '69 L.E. Camaro is also kept at only $200 reserve! The '57 WW Corvette couldn't muster the $250.00 reserve ( How LOW can they go?). A '70 Mach I L.E. is bid to $325.00 without reaching the reserve, and the final auction on e-Bay was a $700.00 sale of the 1986 Mid-America Corvette with a paint flaw on the headlight cover! A VERY happy Corvette collector got this one. With box and papers, this is a very much in demand model that will keep it's place in the hierarchy of F.M. models. Some of the highlights from D4C were an '85 Lambo styrofoam box only bringing $130.00. Both '53 and a '59 Caddy convertibles get a winning bid of $190.00 each, and a Harrod's Jag is a NO SALE at the $300 reserve, and I would presume for the above stated reasoning, (see Sunday 8/20 if you forgot!). The ever faithful D4C Corvette sells at a slightly higher $565.00, and a MINT Airstream is a NO SALE at its $600.00 reserve! (This model is one to watch in the fall as these were not made in a large number and will NOT be re-issued). Thursday 8/24---Some e-bay sales of interest were a '46 SKI PATROL wagon at a strong $103.00, followed by a surprisingly strong '67 PETTY Plymouth at $105.00 with no box! I can't remember the last time one of these sold for a decent amount, perhaps something to investigate here as NONE of the Petty's have been retired or N/A as long as I can remember.An '11 Mercedes Benz only sells for $102.50, perhaps because the seller would NOT accept checks! A beautiful '56 Aqua T-Bird, no box or papers snuck by me for a cheap $150.75, and the closing e-bay auction was a '57 WW Corvette at a then new LOW of $266.00! Seems the SILVER LINING is beginning to tarnish on this little model! D4C had some interesting lots available with a good deal being a D.M. '38 GMC Car Carrier at $117.00 and a C.M. OVERSPRAY '67 Corvette getting $125.00, (should have read my list where I have them at $90!). The FIRST 2000 Pebble Beach Ford was on auction and went for a nice bid of $225.00! Someone just couldn't wait on this one! The '57 WW Corvette sells for $275.00, (are you watching?), and a '70 Mach I with the scarcer 14" tires is a NO SALE at $425.00! Some confirmed private sales today are a vitually perfect '57 Caddy at $450.00, a beautiful 1940 Duesenberg at $475.00 and an ORIGINAL C.M. GT-40 #9 at $550.00! Seems the new issue didn't affect that sale! Friday 8/25--- LOTS of good models on e-Bay today, and it was a BUYERS market with few exceptions. Both a '58 Pink Edsel and a '48 Gold Tucker each brought $100.00. A disc. '57 red/white Ford retractable sold for $105.50 without knowing which variety. The 1998 Bentley was won with a very strong bid of $122.50 against $135.00 LIST! The N/A 1949 Buick Roadmaster is picking up steam when this one sold for $142.50 to a savvy D4C member. A nice group of models from one seller were offered, all complete only missing the outer cardboard boxes. The STEAL of the group might have been the '53 Caddy for $130.50, BUT had a slightly LAZY door (as MANY do). The '55 L.E. Pontiac, '40 Duesenberg, and '57 Caddy went for $300.00, $325.00, and $375.00 respectively, all were excellent buys for the new owners. A '15 Stutz was within current pricing with a winning bid of $242.49, and a '48 red MG/TC brought $325.00.A Pair of the CMI 1931 RED & SILVER Mercedes SSKL's were NO SALES at the offered $120.00! Wait a year and watch those prices on models with a reported mintage of just 160 pieces each! Last on e-Bay was the INFAMOUS '57 WW Corvette selling at a new record LOW of $227.50! Getting it FIRST isn't always the way to go! Our closing D4C auction was uninspiring with a 1998 Rolls Royce bringing a VERY good $130.00 on a $135.00 LIST! This is a model that ALWAYS sells OVER our retail in Europe and Asia! They just LOVE them over there! The long disc. '35 white Auburn sells for $145.00. I remember 3 years ago buying this model off one of the very first D4C auctions at $760.00, and thinking it was a great deal! They just were NOT available and then the DAM broke, and these were all over the place! Seems to have finally slowed down to a small stream! A D.M./Brokfield Red Viper sounds a new record high with a bid of $176.00, (Guess the 1 of 6 known Black ones I bought off e-Bay isn't so much anymore!), and the final for this edition of the WHWN is a lovely Saoutchik Cadillac that was a NO SALE at an offered $450.00! Well there you have this weeks Newsletter, sorry I didn't get to the many topics I wanted to (Must get this in NOW or you won't have it for an extra week!) but look forward to next weeks discussion on SMOKE, dirt and distressed models along with some verbiage on the TAPED OVER parts numbers on a group of F.M. models! Seems many collectors know little of this, and perhaps this insight will eliminate the "cries of fowl" heard by some collectors when they get these! (tape put over an existing parts number and a new number stenciled on!) I hope it will help a few of my bewildered customers. As always your comments and questions are solicited and hopefully we'll even have further information on the current stories reported! Have a great week! Regards, Roy Return To www.franklindanbury.com The "WHAT'S HOT, WHAT'S NOT!" Archive |
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