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Volume 2 Issue #3 One of the truly nice things that happened to me recently, was an e-mail I received from a nice lady named Molly that was sent to me! She thought that I was responsible for all those nice F.M. and D.M. cars! I hope you'll take the time to read it, and my response. "For four years, I watched my father-in-law lovingly read each, and every mailing. A mail truck, Borden's Milk Truck, A Coca-Cola delivery truck, and then the cars he personally owned....thrown in for good measure, a Woodie I happened to have admired. This is what dominated his daily life, until the day he died, asking, did the Tucker ever arrive? It, sadly to say did.....weeks after his burial. He was a real fan of your cars, trucks, etc. It started with one, and the list, well, you know how that goes. He had so much to share with others. As we were his caregivers for that 48 months, we encouraged him to buy whatever he wanted. What else to do with a little cash in his pocket. He worked hard 31 years as a Columbus Police Officer, Motorcycle Patrol. So, why not. Well, the why nots started up in a family 'discussion" over the shoddy ways the mirrors were always falling off, and downgraded from there. We finally spoke no more of the subject to a son or sister who rarely visited him anyway. As a legacy to him, we gave the cars to grandsons. But that only went so far as to do much about anything. What to do with them all? A $150.00 toy to someone lost it's meaning, not in price, but in his LOVE for each and every one! Is there some way these vehicles could be passed back, perhaps a mirror or two replaced, and then perhaps their rightful place on display somewhere be taken? I look at these cars all day, every day. What a happy reminder of a fine man. But as I reach the Winnebago mentality of life, I know that these must all find a home. I would appreciate hearing from you on this matter. BTW....he really never understood the Nascar thing, but whatever race was on, he'd say "look at that crowd!" and is Jeffy (Gordon) racing today. Busch, Winston or trucks, he really wasn't sure. He just FOR SURE loved the Dupont 24. Thank you for many years of sharing in his joy!! Sincerely, Molly D. Daughter (never daughter-in-law, just daughter...a hard concept to explain to some that wasn't sure, but I had to clarify, I wasn't, in fact, married to my brother!!!)". Molly, I do believe you may think I'm the one responsible for creating all those wonderful "TOYS" your father-in-law collected! In fact, I am, like he was, a collector that has turned his hobby into a viable business! I do not manufacture these, I only buy, and sell them on the secondary market. But, do not feel that your story has fallen on DEAF EARS! That was quite an inspiring letter, and I actually took my time, (I rarely do anymore, as this business does take 12 to 18 hours a day OUT of my life), to read, and UNDERSTAND where your FEELINGS are! As an OLD TIMER myself, (BTW, I was a NYC police officer, in a previous life, so your story has special meaning!), I remember MANY of these models as the real thing, and they ALL bring back fond memories, but that is what they are supposed to do! It is a shame that it appears that only YOU have a fondness back for them! As a dealer, I sometimes handle hundreds of these a day, but as a collector I ENJOY adding each new one to our collection which is on display at our store. I do occasionally have PARTS cars that come in, and do CANNIBALIZE them for their pieces! As you have probably found out neither Danbury, (although sometimes, if they have a record of purchase, they will replace a part or two), or Franklin Mints offer a parts program to replace fragile parts that go missing! If you care to, send me a list of what parts you might need and I'll see if we have them in stock! It truly is a shame to see such beautiful, and cherished possessions, end up not much more then broken toys for the kids, or worse yet, garbage can relics! I'd like your permission to post this letter on the, "What's Hot, What's Not", page for ALL to see, and perhaps some of my readers might even have parts that you could use also! It's a fitting and wonderful thing you are trying to do to preserve the LOVE that you had for an obviously SPECIAL human being! If and when it becomes necessary to think of selling off his treasured collection, please feel free to contact us, and we will do our best to assist you in this endeavor. With much respect, Roy P.S. As an avid collector, I have found this quote quite inspiring, "To the collector, no explanation is necessary. To the novice, no explanation is possible!" As diecast collectors, I'm sure most of us can relate and have empathy for Molly's situation. We older guys DO wonder what will happen to our precious collectibles, especially when no one else cares! There been a rush of discussion about the upcoming D4C LECCIII car, the 1930 Cadillac V-16! As you can see by the color representation of the REAL car 
it is quite an impressive model. As with last year,
the club has limited this issue to 1500 pieces, but only 2 per member, instead of the 3 each member could have
last year! Glen Swanson brought up an interesting observation of the D4C board when he wrote, " Thoughts on
D4C LEIII --- Last years LEII just sold on the auction for $125. Granted the color was not the greatest, but this
was a beautiful car despite the color. If a special edition cannot sell for issue price how special is it? I would
suggest that we give some thought to changing our purchasing policy for LEIII. Why not lower the amount to say
1,000 and limit it to one per member. The remaining cars if there were any could be made available to new
members until they were all gone. How many do we have in the club? I heard at one time that it was over 5,000.
It seems that there is not a high percentage of interest in the club car when the issue is being bought by say less
then 500 people. The LEIII promises to be the most beautiful edition FM has ever created. Limiting one to a
person would keep it out of the hands of dealers and those motivated by greed. Lets let more collectors be able
to obtain this car."Lots to discuss from Glen's remarks! The current FM/DM model car market has hit the SUMMER DOLDRUMS again, with many prices on models down from the higher Fall and Winter prices that we get used to each year! Along with this, is the overall down trend in most collectibles, because of a SOFT economy, and a stock market in a relatively stagnant state! For a few years, it seemed that anything we bought that was in a LIMITED EDITION, just naturally went up in value. MANY collectors in that period of time, besides collecting, became SPECULATORS in this hobby! It was almost a guarantee that whatever you bought, as soon as sold out, was a rocketship as far as price went. This is not happening anymore! Many people that were familiar names on the D4C auction and e-Bay have sold off what they had and have let the prices drift to the current levels. This is one reason the LECC II car is UNDER issue, AT THIS TIME! Some collectors, seeing that what they had bought for $165.00 is now being sold at $125.00, OR LESS, have PANICKED, and are DUMPING their small holdings, just trying to take what they feel is a small loss, rather then see these models under $100! I believe the Club did it correctly this year! NO more voting for a color, only to have it BASHED when it finally arrives as not being what we voted for! This STIGMA attached to the Miami Sand Packard is another reason the model has taken a down turn, (I personally like the color it adds to our display case, but MANY would have preferred a more CONSERVATIVE color after receiving their model!). I believe the D4C has a membership of approx. 1500 today, BUT not all members are interested in buying a club car! Many are muscle car , sports car, convertible or BRAND name model collectors! A Packard, Cadillac or Corvette, holds no interest to probably half the membership. As hard as it is to believe, there are WAY MORE collectors of FM/DM models that have NO IDEA what the D4C is, or have access to the Net to find out, then there are people that do! I should know, as MANY of my customers are NOT on the Net, and only find me from word of mouth from collectors I do business with. Because FM is a PROFIT making corporation, the more models they sell, the better their bottom line is! I've been told that FM issues the LECC model primarily as a FAVOR to the D4C for its continuing support, more then anything else! The more L.E's the club sells, the better FM likes it, and the more likely it is that they will continue doing this each year for our club members! You'll note that Danbury hasn't done this for us! This being said, it now becomes apparent that there really should be a limit set on how many a member could order. A mintage of 1500 is considered small, but perhaps limiting it to 2 models per member until a certain date, and if the 1500 mark hasn't been reached, (I would bet MONEY that it isn't!) let each member buy more until a secondary date is reached. If still not met, then that is the issue number instead of 1500! The "CLUB" has NO MONEY it can lay out to stock models for potential new members that join next week or next year! These models MUST be paid for IN ADVANCE before FM can produce them, (it DOES cost money to do this, and FM is NOT a CHARITY), and doing something like this would certainly diminish the secondary market price on this vehicle! With diminished prices, you'll find a diminished group of collectors wanting the models! Let's face facts here, if the models we buy on the primary market are ALWAYS going to be worth less on the secondary market, who would buy on the primary market? Prices HAVE to increase in order for a collectible of any type to hold its interest to a collector. Sure, some of you would buy the models no matter what, but that is a SMALL amount of collectors. GREED has nothing to do with a dealer buying what he can of a model, it is solely PROFIT! One isn't synonymous with the other! The market is driven by supply and demand, if the demand isn't there, who cares about supply! A dealer can't buy a model for $100 and sell it for $200 if the going rate is only $125! NO dealer or group of dealers out there has enough money or CLOUT to cause a market to do what he or they want it to do! Not in the diecast model car marketplace anyway! I have some Kudos and BOO's for Danbury this month! Their NEW 1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser has been HIGH on the D4C "WISH LIST" for years, and finally was done with details to spare! 
Of course
there are always problems, such as the REAL car was NOT issued as a POST car, but only a 2, or 4 door
Hardtop, or Convertible, (Jay Engel has a solution to this, I quote " A little nipper will alter the offending door
frame, quickly, imperceptibly, and accurately. Simply take a small
cuticle clipper to the the front door frame at the windwing upper and the trailing edge lower and carefully, snip,
snip! Voila, the door becomes frameless and you have your 2 door hardtop. Upon examining my friend's TPC,
I've determined that the rear quarter windows may be as clean and easy to remove also. Do that, and you have
that "pillerless" hardtop look the TPC is famous for. The model is a beauty, especially without the skirts
mounted. The skirts, themselves, are extremely well made and are excellent replicas of the originals."). I also
wish that they had not issued it with a Continental kit, and why another red and white car? Surely a more
attractive and less plentiful color combination was available! Expert modeler Paul Hettick has said he will be
REPAINTING and perhaps removing the Continental kit from a small group of these he is planning to
RE-MANUFACTURE, and I can hardly wait! Besides these few observations, it is a dandy of a model, and
everyone that has received it has RAVES about it! Now to the BOO's! Danbury has FINALLY seen the light of
producing a LIMITED EDITION model! Hooray for that, BUT WHY issue the OLD and TIRED 1966 Mustang
convertible in RED as an L.E. of 5000? Hasn't this image been used TO DEATH for all the TEAM cars they
have been promoting? The long discontinued white convertible hasn't gone anywhere since it demise, probably
because it was first introduced in June, 1990 and FINALLY ran its course! A real COUP would have been
making the 1966 Mustang FASTBACK such as this car,
EVEN IN RED! I guess I shouldn't complain,
as DM is definitely starting to see the light!
There's been a lot of secrecy and mystery concerning the FM issue of the State Farm Model T as to the
why's and wherefores concerned! I've heard 3 or 4 conflicting reports from various sources that should know
about this, so what I have here is a compilation of supposition and hearsay from folks who should know! In a
prior D4C Newsletter Raffia Mansion, definitely in a position to know, wrote the following "The original order for
a special version of the T came from a corporate account placed by State Farm. The company wanted the car
to commemorate great sales to the team of people at SF and since the original founder of the company sold
insurance in a Model T, they thought this would be a great premium.
FM had issued their standard version of the T, but had to make a few modifications in order to make it look
more like the founder's car. To do this would require a run change and at that time, the factory required
minimums of 10,000 pieces. State Farm agreed to pay the premium for what they needed which was roughly
5,000, and the balance of the run was simply stored in one of FM's facilities.
The State farm version came with a special license plate, a fabric windscreen, and a resin sculpted figure of
the founder himself alongside the car. Included was a handsome wood display case. All told, it was a very nice
model and an expensive premium. The remaining T's were in storage at FM for a few years before Luis Check
and I came up with the idea to try and reduce inventory by making a special premium. Luis and I always
believed that the limited edition market was a good one to be in, but we didn't have total buy in on a fully new
program. The left over T's were perfect to use. The Collector's Edition T included new features like the coin and
decals as part of the reworked remainder of State Farm cars, less returns back up and damaged %'s of left
over stock. The program sold out faster than anyone expected and launched a whole series on limited editions
models. It also became one f FM's most sought after limited edition cars as it is really the first of its kind."
Most of what I'm telling you now comes from insiders at State Farm that were involved at their end of this
promotion! Seems State Farm back in 1993 contacted F.M. to produce a reported 6500 or so, Model T Fords
that were to be used as incentives to their many sales representatives. These models were delivered in 1994
and differ from the REGULAR 1913 Model T that F.M. already had in stock, by having a front windscreen added
so that there was NO GLASS in the front windshield frame, a State Farm emblem inserted into the grill where
the regular issue had the FORD script, the elimination of both front coach lights and the wood grain engine cowl
treatment that was replaced by a black body colored treatment. Interior treatments are identical, but at the rear,
where the Regular production model has a single coachlight and a gold plated license plate frame (NO PLATE),
the State Farm has NO coachlight and has a BLACK license plate frame with a 1922 Illinois plate # 18-752! No
one seems to know the reason for that particular plate # but one State Farm source thought it was the original
plate # of State Farm founder George J. Mecherle's (pronounced Ma-herl) Ford Model T! Seems State Farm
was begun in 1922 as a mutual automobile insurance company owned by its policyholders. Here the story gets
a little fuzzy as State Farm sources state that only approx. 2500 of the 6500 or so models ordered were ever
delivered to them! No reason given as to why, but supposition here is rampant. State Farm went ahead and had
about 700 of these models mounted on wood bases and had a standing figure of their founder, Mr. Mecherle
also mounted with the Model T.
I'm not certain if F.M. did this, or they had someone else do it, BUT
seems fairly reasonable to say someone else did this as State Farm is only selling off these models WITHOUT
base or figure! These were given out and the 1800 or so remainder, were put into storage at the State Farm
central office! Very few people knew about this issue until about a year and a half ago when State Farm
REDISCOVERED these, and let many of their employees BUY these for a small price! When the first ones
showed up on e-bay, they immediately brought around $200, but as with anything that is too good to believe,
MANY State Farm employees bought these and inundated e-Bay with them, (I remember seeing over 30 at one
time for sale), and the price dropped to around $50! Today, it seems that the hoard that was at State Farm has
dwindled to a MUCH smaller supply and has a good chance of being completely dispersed within a year or
less! I had TRIED to buy up a good amount of these BUT was turned down flat! ONLY State Farm personal can
get them! No matter which story is more correct, this is a scarce issue and one with a great story behind it!
As most know by now, F.M. and D.M. have a few NEW pieces in the works. D.M. is about to release the 1956 Desoto Adventurer! F.M. has a Elliot Ness Cadillac, 1907 Thomas Flyer, a 1937 Alfa Romeo, and a 1964 RED GTO! Also RUMOR of a PEWTER Shelby Cobra, (why not, the 1/24 scale model just out is HOT), and F.M. MAY be re-issuing the pewter Model T Ford Assembly Line that has been out of production now for MANY YEARS! If true, it is supposed to be the start of a series of production line pieces! I stated last issue that I was checking on some VARIANT models made by the mints, and here is the description of one of them taken from an e-Bay ad! I quote "Franklin Mint Easy Rider chopper with extremely rare "EZ RIDER" license plate. 
Shortly after production these bikes were recalled, and the license
plates changed as they were a copy right infringement. Very few got out to the public. Last year at Daytona Bike
Week I was told by a Franklin Mint employee that less than 100 got out. He also told me they were bringing
close to a $1000.00 on the secondary market. So let's see what the market really is." It didn't sell as his
RESERVE wasn't met with the piece only drawing a $200+ bid. Nevertheless, an interesting variant, and one
you may be able to Cherry pick at a GOOD price!
Some current Not Availables from F.M. are the 1899 Packard, 1950 Chevy Conv., 1954 M-B W-196, 1955 Packard Pink/White, 1939 Peterbuilts, both varieties, 1988 Porsche Cabriolet, and the 1911 Stanley Steamer! IF you hear of any others, please let me know as I will run a listing here and give credit where credit is due to the INFORMERS! I've noticed that some really NICE hand-Built models are coming out from men like Paul Hettick, (Paul had a dandy 1951 Hudson in a factory Hudson color combination of Riviera Blue over Bali Blue, e-Bay item # 1623722074), which sold for a VERY reasonable $735.00, along with a 1959 F.M. repainted Cadillac in Persian Sand Metallic, (Not for sale-YET!) Both beautiful renditions of great models. Paul Kravchak did a SUPERB F.M. 1967 Corvette in Elkhart blue metallic for Tony Perrone. Tony had Paul put on a set of Corvette Rallye wheels from a 1968 FM Corvette to give it that truly classic stance! 
More of these
HAND-BUILT MINT models are showing up as they are selling for $500 and up, depending on the work
involved! I expect to see many more of these custom pieces as they are BETTER in fit and finish then any
regular production mint model is!
F.M. has definitely SEEN THE LIGHT, (make that DOLLARS), as they AUCTIONED OFF 2 of their RARE trial pieces on Saturday Aug. 18. at the South Coast F.M. Gallery store in California. On the block was a RED 1939 "World's Fair" Ford, and a BLUE 1932 Chevrolet Confederate! I'm not going into details except to tell you that both models sold for $1050.00, BUT they had HIGHER bids waiting, but did NOT notify a bidder as requested! I guess F.M. can't get instructions straight! Anyway, this is certainly a RARE set of models, and with these prices, I would imagine that F.M. will be EMPTYING their diecast storeroom of ALL these much sort after models! It's been awhile since I wrote this WHWN again, with computer replacements and problems, new pricing on our listings pages and 3 LARGE collections purchased, amongst other pressing matters, I'm hoping to have many things finally put into place and write this more often. Next issue will be devoted to the Mints Corvette models, and some of the BEST HAND-BUILTS you'll ever see, including a F.M. 1996 GRAND SPORT, a F.M. 1995 Indy Pace Car, and a F.M. 2001 Z06 in Millennium yellow! Be sure to watch for it within a few weeks! Keep well and keep those RUMORS and HEARSAY'S coming in! Regards, Roy P.S. On a personal note, we have a new addition to our family. I'll let the picture tell the story!  Return To www.franklindanbury.com The "WHAT'S HOT, WHAT'S NOT!" Archive |
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