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Volume 1 Issue #14 SPECIAL EDITION 
The BIG news this week was the D4C club meeting held in
conjunction with the 14th Annual Franklin Mint Automobile Fair
held on Sept.10th. This was our 4th year there and we've enjoyed
everyone of these. Before the show and meeting, a group of D4C
members and spouses met on Saturday night at the "Crier In The
Country" to have a small, informal dinner and get together. Many
old friends, and some new members showed up, and it was great to
see and hear from everyone! Besides a good meal, the talk was
concentrated on speculation and hearsay about the newest in
little cars! Mentioned here was the fact that D.M. will be
introducing a 1960 white Chevrolet convertible with removable
top and a 1968 green Corvette with retractable headlights! I
know, the very first words out of everyone's mouths was WHY? As
F.M. has had these images out for years now, and especially
since their blue '68 Corvette was just retired, ALL felt that
this was unnecessary and redundant! I can only imagine that D.M.
has had these 2 models on hold for years now, and just decided
to FINALLY get them out! If not this, the only other logical
reason was to ONE UP F.M. by producing a nicer model with modern
technology! You would have thought that they might have brought
out an ICON in a Chevrolet with perhaps a 1961 Impala SS "409",
(God, how could you miss with the very FIRST SS Impala and the
first BIG BLOCK!), or even a '59 "348" with those great slanted
taillights, and sculptured sides! I'd say the modern cliché "NO
BRAINER" certainly could apply here literally! As if the big
Chevy wasn't bad enough, the '68 Corvette makes even less sense!
The ONLY reason F.M. DELETES a model is because of lack of
sales. The '68 had seen its day, and hopefully will receive a
good reception on the secondary market. To bring out another
when you could have just as easily made it into a '70-'72 LT-1,
and filled in a GAPING hole in the Corvette series, is another
missed opportunity that D.M. seems to favor lately! All this
said, the RUMOR still persists that a Mercury Turnpike Cruiser
of '57 or '58 vintage is NOT far behind! Now THAT's a model we
would all love to see! Besides these revelations, more interest
was directed toward the D4C Packard, and what other little
goodies would be in the offing at tomorrow's show. Everyone said
their good-byes and headed to the hotels around 9:30, looking
for an EARLY rise in the morning to catch all the action.At 5:30 that DAMN alarm rang, and I almost went back to sleep until realizing that getting there early is the BEST way to see all the REAL cars coming into the F.M. grounds for their excellent car show. Sitting at a picnic table at 8 AM, and watching the 20's Packards, 30-40's Chevy and Ford Sedans and Convertibles, the inspiring 1950's cars and the '60's-70's Muscle cars and Hot Rods is PURE ENJOYMENT for my wife and myself. I get a big kick out of Irene telling me," Hey, look at that '57 Golden Hawk, or the '28 Packard convertible that is just coming down the drive now!" I hate to admit it, but she knows the cars better then I do, and better then most guys do for that matter! I'm quite lucky to have a lifelong partner that shares interests, and vocations with me for 37 years now! Just an observation here, but the potential for the F.M. show to be a PEBBLE BEACH EAST could be a reality. It would need a few changes made. Having it turned into a JUDGED show with only the best of the best being invited, and having ALL of the car clubs across America notified that the NEW F.M. show would be giving IMPRESSIVE trophies would be a start! The F.M. volunteers do a good job at running this event, but a PROFESSIONAL team could make it a WORLD CLASS event! Lots of suggestions I could make here, but perhaps someone with a little FORESIGHT and PASSION for an idea like this, with more then just a little INPUT to the powers that be, could turn a GOOD show into the PREMIERE show on the EAST COAST! The PRESTIGE this would have, making F.M. the sponsor, would be worth its weight in advertising and product recognition alone! Could you imagine 50,000 plus turning up for this event instead of 5,000! On site product sales alone would EASILY DOUBLE or better, BIG auto auctions could be held, the automotive press would do multiple page articles on an event like this! It boggles the mind! I have to start taking my pills now, I'm getting carried away! Back to the event at hand. At 11 A.M. many D4C members had an initial meeting in a large tent put up for us in the lower parking area! For the last few years we've met here, and although it was a sunny and warm day, (mid 80's at least), it was cooler under that tent, and enjoyable for approximately 100 members and friends in attendance! Our president ran over some information, (web fund progress; D4C Packard should be ready to ship in November, it will be sent a la D.M.'s current delivery with the model inside a larger box with protective pellets, and all will have to be SIGNED for when delivered, proper protocol with the F.M. staff, basically to tell us to remember we were guest here and no one likes rude and obnoxious guests, etc.), and we were free until Noon when some of the F.M. staff would have a surprise for us! With my free time, Irene and I decided to grab a bite to eat and see some of the other cars that had shown up. A word of warning here, the food was FAR from what one would expect at Pebble Beach! Oysters, caviar, and champagne were replaced by Tube steaks, (Mine fell apart in my hand from SOAKING too long. Good thing I put plenty of mustard and ketchup on to KILL the flavor.), Hockey pukes, (Freudian slip, drag strip burgers were better), and bottled water (safe!). Good thing I remembered the Crab Imperial I was going to have for dinner! At Noon we were treated to, "Do You Want to Be a Modelaire" with Lewis Checcia in the role of Regis. The format was well done, and turned out to be a lot of fun, especially when Sheila Kelly and Jay Engel each wound up in the contestant's chair. The premise was that you were asked five questions, with each one increasing in value from $10.00 to $100.00 in the form of an F.M. Gift Certificate. A total of five contestants played the game, with each realizing the $100.00 mark with the help a boisterous crowd volunteering its knowledge. Some questions were quite easy, while others had most in attendance scratching their heads. F.M really put on an enjoyable and imaginative presentation along with a generous $500.00 worth of gift certificates. I tip my hat to them. A class move. The next hour was spent conducting a formal D4C club meeting including introductions of all present, and new club members signing the "Traveling T-Shirt", (currently over 130 member have signed it). The hour passed quickly with us anticipating the question and answer session with the F.M. staff which began at 2:00 P.M. With Lewis introducing seven of the members of the F.M. Diecast Team, Jay Olins acted as moderator. His first order of business was to present the year 2000 Zonee Award, (in the $75.00-$125.00 category), to the F.M. 1924 Bugatti Type 35. The award was a magnificent cut crystal spinning orb suspended within a crystal ring on a black base. The orb itself was cut to resemble the D4C logo as used on the D4C website home page. All in all, quite an impressive presentation, and one that the F.M. team seemed to truly appreciate. Next Jay presented questions which had been sent to him via the net. Among the more interesting ones were: What was the difference between "Not Available and Retired" which received the reply that once a model is retired it is never to be produced again in that color, but a not available model may or may not be brought back depending upon customer demand. We were told that F.M. would probably be producing some type of newsletter in 2001 which would be sent to all collectors. No further information concerning this was divulged, but it could be surmised that it could contain new model releases and retirement plans. George Bojaciuk handled the question of smoke damage to a diecast model. His valuable information was to use a basic F.M. single car display case, and put a bowl of baking soda in with the car. He said after a few weeks, most of the smell should be gone. Here's one for all of us to try on that next e-Bay "GOOD DEAL". If it works in your refrigerator, it should work on your model. Other notable replies were, to watch for possible news of an Indy Pace Car Model along with a Chrysler product or two. Many folks wanted to know if the D4C Wish List was ever consulted when considering the production of a new model, and the answer was a definite "yes". Many of them of the design team do peruse the D4C website for information as to the desires of our collectors. The need for spare parts was brought up, and the reply was that they have been looking into it, but no effective system has been perfected as of yet. Guess I'll keep my junkyard! More model specific questions such as "vent window" will now have clear plastic instead of empty space, and they are definitely considering the productions of more Hot Rods and Customs. When asked about making a series of the Pebble Beach winning cars, we were informed that it takes at least eighteen months lead time to produce a model from the drawing board to the finished product, and is simply not feasible. From this we went to, how can I get F.M. to produce a car I would like them to do? Roger Hardnock suggested that a model that was to be produced would have to have a good history, be an icon image, and BRIBES wouldn't hurt! Questioned as to why a 1:43 scale car could not be easily changed into a 1:24 scale model, it was brought up that there is so much less detail in the smaller scale car, that they would have to start from scratch. It was surmised that in the last eighteen months some of the FM personnel have worked on as many as 75 different projects at one time. This could include anything from minor changes on existing model to complete new images. Other tidbits of information included the fact that Frisco, Texas will be getting a new Gallery Store, and that they are always looking for better sites for more retail locations. 
Lewis unveiled the prototype of the D4C Packard Darin and
as most have heard by now, the color Miami Sand definitely has a
green tint to it, (photos courtesy of Tony Perrone, and Rich
Vasallo), and the hood ornament will be the Goddess of Speed,
giving our club car an even more exclusive identity. By the
way, the part number is B11XN58. As they did last year, the
F.M. staff signed the prototype car, and presented it to Jay
Olins, and it will undoubtedly be placed in the Museum of
Miniatures in Los Angeles. That basically concluded the formal
meeting of the D4C and just left the Sunday dinner at the Olde
Concordeville Inn as our final HAPPENING for the show! Good
drink, food and friends really set off the closing of our annual
meeting! One of the highlights of the evening was when I sprung
a SURPRISE F.M. PROTOTYPE on everyone!
If you were at the show
last year, Ric Newman asked Lewis Checcia when the Roy Rauch
Commemorative Doll was going to be produced! His answer was ONLY
if it were a VooDoo doll! Well folk, looks like F.M. is about to
release the COMMEMORATIVE ROY RAUCH VOODOO DOLL for 5 easy
payments of $39.00 per month! One of my inside contacts happened
to purloin it, and presented it to me at the close of the show!
I UNVEILED this work of art, (see the photos), to the club
members present and to say it caused a sensation is an
UNDERSTATEMENT! At Jay's suggestion, I even had all present SIGN
the back so we can MAKE SURE this was the very first one
produced! Jay Olins asked if I'd donate it to him for the Museum
of Miniatures collection, but I felt it would be a true
INCENTIVE to me when displayed with its proper respect behind
one of our enclosed cases, (Wouldn't want this little beauty to
be LIFTED from me!). I'm now able to TAKE orders on this, and
can offer it to you at a 30% discount off the LIST PRICE! (Hell,
if IRP dealers can do this on e-Bay, I should be able to also!)
NOW, I do hope you got a small chuckle out of this! All done
with tongue in cheek and my quirky brand of levity! BUT, I did
present this at the dinner and we all had a good laugh over it!
Thought it would be a good way to say good-bye to all my old and
new diecast friends.Now that I've given you a BRIEF rundown of all the club activities, I would really like to commend F.M. for an outstanding job of HOSTING this event. Seems they get this up and running without too many hitches, and the only complaint I heard was 2 owners of invited cars NOT wanting to be near the BAND! If that was all the problems the F.M. staff had, many KUDOS to them! If at all possible, try to make this annual pilgrimage next year. It's just great to meet all the folks you talk to on the Forum, and in my case buy and sell models with. 
Reporting on some of the new F.M. models that I have now
seen, and held for the first time has been quite exciting. I
must say that the Pewter GRAND CORVETTE was quite impressive
when viewed close up. FYI, F.M. presented the NUMBER 1 model to
the National Corvette Museum on the Labor Day Weekend Corvette
event at that Bowling Green facility on Sept. 3! Talked to a
CORVETTE fanatic that visited the museum that week, and he said
he had a hard time finding it as its hidden away in the bottom
of one of their showcases! So if visiting, make a point of
looking for it. From some personnel at the F.M. tent, seems that
over 700 have been pre ordered already, and should be completely
SOLD OUT way before Christmas! Although technically NOT a
diecast, I'm SURE it will be included within the halls of our
fraternity. Because of the price, I doubt that it will be
hoarded as many of the diecast L.E.'s are, so the aftermarket
should see these increase in value in a very short time!
Another NEW piece offered and previewed here for the first time was the
Pewter 1960 Mercedes Benz convertible, also a L.E., and of the
same price and mintage. Apparently a 1967 Corvette will follow
before Christmas, and this is probably the beginning of a LONG
and VERY EXPENSIVE series of impressive models! The 1/12 scale
1907 Rolls Royce was MAGNIFICENT in form and features. The model
has over 750 parts with such things as working levers and gear
shift, opening tool boxes, of course, the lighted headlights,
and even arm rests that work! As neat as all these features
were, the MOTOR was a standout! The 1/12 scale can really let
those models builders have some fun SUPER DETAILING it, and
would be a wonderful addition to ones collection by itself! The
red '53 Cadillac L.E. was one I had reservations about, but
holding it reminded me of the red '54 Chevrolet and that's one
of my favorites! Nice to see this icon car back in F.M.'s
lineup. The new L.E. '55 Crown Victoria I'm still going to have
to get used to. I like the color, but am undecided as to the
overall look. I remember the pink and white C.V. but never saw
one in this color when they were prowling the streets. I've been
assured that it WAS a factory color scheme, so will take the
experts opinions here, but just doesn't feel quite right to me
yet. The trio of Corvette were also on display and what can you
say about the C5 body style. I do think though that F.M. could
have made a much more effective display stand for it! I think
I'll display my trio without it.I won't be doing my usual week in review as the time spent covering the annual meeting left me little time to record prices on the many models offered last week. Be assured I will be doing it for this week coming up, and will be going back to our regular schedule. I hope you got a good idea of all the happenings, although I didn't cover all the nice REAL cars present. Please keep those questions and comments coming in, remember, your best investment is current, correct information! See you all next week. Regards, Roy Return To www.franklindanbury.com The "WHAT'S HOT, WHAT'S NOT!" Archive |
roy@franklindanbury.com |
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