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Volume 1 Issue #20 Seems that there is no new news out of either F.M. or D.M. this week, except that the GRAND Corvette from F.M. has started shipping, and is available to view at many of their Gallery stores! Contrary to popular opinion, it is no where near being SOLD OUT. What I hear is approximately 1/3 of its 1000 mintage is spoken for! I've also been lead to believe that having it custom engraved with your name on it, would run an additional $25.00, (this from some "PRP" dealers)! I imagine F.M. would throw this little goodie in GRATIS if buying from mail order or a Gallery store, but if you are foolish enough to want this done, (I believe aftermarket sales would be hurt by this unless you got one engraved for Stewart Resnick or William Jefferson Clinton). I would check it out first just to be sure! Some have reported that the doors are NOT that well done, and don't quite line up! I imagine that this may be a fairly simple fix as pewter is easily BENT if proper care is taken, but will have to withhold judgment until I have inspected one in the METAL! It has been noted that the GRAND Corvette is missing its insignia and Fuel Injection badge from the side of the model as pictured on the D4C site! 
Never fear, as I hear that some ENTERPRISING
modeler MAY have a KIT available that will include these CORRECT
pieces to make your Lil' Darling as CORRECT as possible! More on
this as I'm notified of circumstances!A little excitement on Saturday night as a few RARE F.M. prototype models were up for auction on e-Bay! A 1955 Pontiac Star Chief Custom Catalina in RED and BLACK with a matching interior, (e-Bay #468660339), and a 1970 SILVER Chevelle, (e-Bay #468664240), with NO racing stripe had more then a few collectors interested in them! When the action ended the models sold for a VERY REASONABLE $1035.01 each! 
I happen to know the
seller, and these models are legitimate test pieces that were in
the possession of a former Mint employee, (It DOES help to KNOW
your source, although, with the advent of the "HAND-BUILT MINT"
models, as long as the workmanship is of Mint quality OR BETTER,
these seem to have no trouble finding appreciative collectors).
There was another prototype available, a 1957 YELLOW Chevrolet
convertible, (e-bay #467818290), that just sold for $2230.00!
The '57 is said to have about 20 pieces known! Sure seems to
make the other 2 seem CHEAP!
I've included pictures of all three
for those who had not seen these, and hope you enjoy them as
much as I do! I consider the Mints prototypes the pinnacle of
diecast collecting as the numbers produced are exceeding small
and many of the models are BETTER looking then the regular
production model is!I've had 3 different collectors this week, ask me basically this question, that is "Just how important is it to have the original box or boxes and papers that come with each model?" Here's where we do get into a sticky situation! This is MY thought on it as I related to these customers. IF you are collecting for the JOY of collecting, and don't really care about the secondary market AT ALL, your BEST bet is to acquire just the models in excellent to Mint condition as it could save you several hundreds of dollars on SPECIFIC models! IF you have the opportunity to acquire any part of the original boxes and/or papers at a SMALL increase in value, ($5-$10), it MIGHT make it easier to sell IF you think you will later on ,(Simply put, the original BOX makes it easier and SAFER to ship then a non-original box; papers DO mean something to SOME collectors!). CERTAIN models DO command a BIG premium for the boxes, and papers i.e.. the Cutaway Corvette motor, and the 1961 P.B Lincoln, (FYI, these did NOT come with the blue Spec sheets from the factory, all with the blue sheet were added from a black Lincoln), to name just two! MY PERSONAL feelings are that the papers mean NOTHING as far as I'm concerned, just more material to get in the way of collecting, and up until recently, ALL F.M. boxes were simply MAIL CARTONS that really meant nothing! I CAN see having the styrofoam containers for the above stated reason, but believe this frenzy to own all the original packing is irrational! I'll get some GRIEF over this, but how many times do you look at that paperwork, or use the box as part of a display? I'm in the business and RARELY, if at all, ever get a call for the information therein! One man's point of view and your welcome to disagree! Jim Thwaite brought up an interesting topic on the D4C board a few weeks ago that I had wanted to elaborate on but just got tied up with other material and had to put this on hold until now. He had written...."you'll have to explain why one of the mints hasn't come up with the bright idea of offering color choices for each model, as is available at a 1:1 dealer's showroom. We've been told, time and again, that these models are hand painted and polished, so where would the difficulty be in giving the assembler a different color paint with each order? I'd even be willing to wait for my color choice to be made if it was too expensive to stock certain levels of less popular colors, and I know for a certainty that some models I'd buy in more than one color to see the contrast side-by-side. Surely the "one-timer" who is purely collecting from nostalgia, would be more likely to buy if he/she could get the model in exactly the same color as "dear old Dad's". To go along the above, L.A. Jugle wrote "I had suggested my 300C be done in all 5 colors offered in '57, but only sold in proportion as originally sold in a "First Batch" and then all others whatever color was predominantly ordered. They thought it feasible, but too radical for their ordering dept. to handle. Since the cars were built in two batches any way, and are painted in lot fashion in production, it would have been do-able. I mentioned there were quite a few nuts out there that would HAVE to have one of each. Still wish it had been done in Parade Green." As "FAR OUT" as these good suggestions sound, it MAY be getting to that point in time where this MIGHT come about! I've been lead to believe that both mints have seen the popularity of the HAND BUILT, and LIMITED EDITION models, and if we took the '57 Chrysler 300 as an example, only 5 different STOCK colors were offered that year! Certainly a L.E. run of 500 of 4 of these colors and an unlimited number of the MOST POPULAR would definitely sell an additional 2000 models! For the work involved, seems that the profits from these ADDITIONAL sales would more then make up any production problems! The C.M. series seems to have taken its lumps over the last 6 months or so! I've talked about the situation with the blue Camaro in earlier WHWN's, and the new GT-40 as well! Seems there is always something going on though, and Ric Newman, a D4C member, has just sent me the scan of a WHITE 1967 C.M. Corvette that he recently acquired from Germany! 
This PROTOTYPE is
supposedly one of 2 known, and this one needed some restoration,
(the other sold months ago on e-Bay, and received a $1500.00
winning bid!)! By the photo, it seems that Ric did an excellent
job! I would imagine that C.M. prototypes are MUCH harder to
find then F.M., (although, I have only seen 2 D.M. models, and
they are now both produced, the red and silver 1931 M-B SSK that
Creative Master has released under its house name), as they were
out of production since 1997. Other C.M. prototypes known are a
blue STREET Cobra, (pictured in an early catalog), an orange
1969 Camaro, (supposedly to be produced sometime in 2001), and a
yellow 1969 Camaro with NO STRIPES, (currently 4 known, but more
probably exist!). I still feel that this series is underpriced
in respect to the rarity of some of the models produced, i.e.
the '69 yellow Camaro, (a reported 188 were made, but I feel
that is just a guess, and would put the mintage slightly higher
due to 2 small hoards of these, one in the Midwest, the other in
Arizona!), the #9 GT-40, and the BLACK motored Shelby GT-350!
The addition of the 2 Jouef/Danbury Mint/Creative Masters
Ferrari's, (the 1964 250 GTO and 1967 330 P4), in 1/24 scale,
and in standard C.M. boxes, (all others are in 1/20th scale),
add a little SPICE to collecting the series! Although "out of
scale" for many FM/DM collector's, the quality and craftsmanship
are on a par with the Mints products, and deserve a place in the
precision diecast collector's showcase!
The F.M. 1941 Lincoln was a BIG topic of discussion this
week as F.M. is re-issuing it in BLUE! All collectors who had
paid BIG money for the blue FOMOCO version were more then a
little upset that F.M. was going to bring out this car in the
identical color scheme. I believe that F.M. has finally realized
that doing something like that would cause a great many of their
customers to just STOP COLLECTING! I know I was apprehensive as
I just purchased a few from South America, and thought my royal
goose was cooked! I can now PLEASANTLY state that F.M. did us
right by NOT making the re-issue IDENTICAL to the FOMOCO
release! There are already flyers available showing the new blue
color to be a much lighter, (metallic), looking car then the
dark blue one! Also noted, the steering wheel is BLUE instead of
tan in the new model, it has a COMPLETE darker tan interior,
(not 2-tone as the FOMOCO has), and the hub caps now have
Lincoln V12 in red engraved on them compared to the PLAIN ones
on the older version! The NEW issue is a LIMITED EDITION of
9900, and is SURE to be a BIG seller as this model is definitely
one of the better looking F.M. pieces, and that 9900 should be
sold out within 9 months! Let's just sit back and MAKE sure of
the details before we make a snap judgment as to its possible,
(read that as definite), secondary market impact! A lovely car,
that would have been just a bit better if done in BLACK and
perhaps a removable top??!!!The "Hand-Built Mint" 1998 F.M. Corvette did indeed draw much attention from last weeks column! Quite a few Corvette "NUTS" have expressed their desire to get one of these if possible! This BETTER then Mint quality model is now on display at our store, and has already been admired by more then a few customers! To a person, the remarks were quite positive. I do believe F.M. really missed the boat on this particular model, but there is still time for them to produce this much desired car. It would be a terrific addition to their Corvette line, and if made into a Limited Edition, it would be a SURE winner! This, of course, will be falling on DEAF EARS! The auctions had more then their share of better material this week, and prices were scattered across the board! Quite a bit of bargains were to be had with a little patience and a LOT of time to devote to your computer screen! Some days both e-Bay and D4C had a very sparse amount, and others seemed like the list of goodies would never end! Due to this being a late issue again, I will be posting just this currently, and if time permits, I'll be updating the auction action later! If I can't get to it, I will try to highlight the most important in the next issue! Keep well everyone! Regards, Roy Return To www.franklindanbury.com The "WHAT'S HOT, WHAT'S NOT!" Archive |
roy@franklindanbury.com |
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