I am beginning to dislike MTL more and more

So I started collecting the president series cars way back when they were announce. I though this would be a cool series to have. So I now have all of the current releases and have pre-ordered the engine.

Then I see this CR*P posted on their website.

1. They are mixing up the release order of the cars - no longer will they be in order of when that particular president was elected. Hmmm. Lemme guess. Next car: OBAMA.

2. They announce a special "Oath of Office" car that will only go to 5 lucky people a month as winners of a contest and will NOT be available as part of the whole series. (per MTL e-mail I just received.)

What is wrong with MTL? Some jack*$$ will surely get this Oath car and it'll be up on e-sham for $20,000 the next day and us poor shlubs that are just interested in having a neat set of train cars, will get screwed.

I am so disappointed in MTL right now, I am considering dumping the president cars I have now and going back to other manufacturers for my rolling stock.

Greg

 

What are these "President" cars selling for these days?

 

Greg:

Please send your post to Micro-Trains.
The only way they will recognize your displeasure is if you tell them directly.

 

I haven't been following the President cars at all. Did they say they were only going to do them in order of when each President served before the latest announcement?

If you're interested in the President cars still I would guess they'll still do them all, knowing that they have a strong collector base and that there are a lot of collectors who are going to want all of the Presidents. There will also be some who pick up their favorite Presidents and then take a pass on the rest. Still, others will say, "Hmm, how am I going to work in a Calvin Coolidge car on my operating scheme?" and will decide to give them a pass.

 

this is the main reason I don't buy into the "limited edition" or "collector series" anything. Any and all manufacturers don't give a rats butt about any collector value, simply because they never see any of that revenue anyway, only the collectors trading between themselves do. Manufacturers are only concerned with their production costs vs their profit, and sales of any item they offer. They will release, or offer any part of any series that is going to sell at that time. If something changes, it will change with it.

Point and case: I also collect die cast cars & aircraft. I don't collect them because of their "investment", even tho I do have some vintage ones that have an impressive value. But, in the early 1980s, I liked a series that Matchbox came out with, "Models Of Yesteryear". These were vintage turn of the century automobiles, some delivery trucks with nice graphics. I started collecting this "limited edition series" cars. I still have them today. but, guess what, their value is pretty much a buck or two each just as they were when I bought them over 20 years ago. Why? Because even tho this series was supposed to be available for a limited time, and in limited number, Matchbox soon realized that this was a very popular and good selling series, and they continued offering these cars long after they were supposed to have stopped production. In fact, I think they STILL have this series today (not positive about that, but it did run for many years after if not still), and many other models offered under this series umbrella since then. Anyway, my cars, I still like, and display them, but, they are no more valuable than any of my kids cars burried in the sand box. So, I just buy what I like, regaurdless of "collector" status.

 

Probably a good philosophy. Almost anything sold as a collector edition is not likely to gain tons of value unless the original manufacturer did indeed hold the numbers low.

 

If someone would give me $20000 for an $15.00 MT car on E-bay I would be extremely happy.

 

The only problem with this is that MTL is the only one offering this series of car.

 

I collected the MTL Pepsi line of cars because it was fun. I did not have to worry about that last car to complete my set, but would cost me 300 dollars on ebay. Now my set is complete, and at MSRP. The value of my set today is about MSRP + 3 bucks. Would the state cars be fun to have, sure. But when you're looking at $600+ just to get your hands on the California, New York and Illinois car, forget it!

I think the president line is the least popular of the "collectors" lines from MTL. And honestly, I agree with you about the "Oath of Office" car. 5 a month? Whats the FUN in that?

I will not be collecting the president cars, but where is the MTL comment link? I feel the need to help you out here because this gimmick does not make our hobby FUN like it should be.

Edit: I don't want to imply I'm upset with MTL over this, I'm sure they had good intentions. But this "whatever they're trying to do" just doesn't apply to our hobby that way.

 

The crowd is going to go WILD for the Chester A. Arthur Presidential car!!

 

this just is not right. if you are going to offer a series for people to collect, then you need to offer it to everybody. i personally am not collecting the series, but for MTL to decide who gets this special car is wrong. i will be writing MTL also, and letting them know my feelings on the matter. maybe if enough people let them know how they feel something might change, doubtful, but you never know.

 

It's a gimmic. Maybe it will work. Maybe not.

One sollution is to make your own presidential (or what ever) series. Not easy but could be interesting. If decals aren't your thing how about flat cars with billboards?

 

That's pretty lame that MTL is doing that! Like others have said, email them with your discontent about this.
I gave up on them a long time ago. One road number per car? Get with the times.

-Mike

 

Well, gee. I'm sorry. Oh...it's not my fault? Then why did you put it here for ME to read?

1. What difference does it make to you what order they release the cars in?

2. Since you didn't know there would be a special car, why are you so upset about there being one for some contest-winners?

3. I didn't appreciate the intrusion of politics into your post, and I didn't appreciate the frequent use of "pretend cussing"--as if the kids reading posts here couldn't tell exactly what you were saying.

<sigh>

 

I usually pick up cars from MTL when it would help to diversify what I already have. For example, I am going to pick up one of those MILW centerbeams, I think, since it will help flesh out my collection of centerbeams. Most of the centerbeams that run in this area do NOT run in unit train consists, and it's rare to find more than about three in a row on a train that have the same markings.

I'd love to see some more multi-packs, kind of like what Deluxe Innovations does, or multiple road numbers of some of the prototypical offerings like pretty much everyone else does, but MTL seems to be mostly focused on making great couplers and trucks and making collector items. It's their niche, and they do it very well.

 

I did. It was a response to their response to my question about availability of the oath of office cars. I told them I thought it sucked.

 

What I meant was dumping the president cars (forgetting about collecting them at all) and NO LONGER BUYING ANYTHING MADE BY MTL.

My Atlas and Athearn stuff runs very well. If I need something special, I'll have the decals made. A fellow club member owns an Alps. I could design my own presidents series and put them on Atlas undecs.

 

1. It's stupid.
2. If you're going to offer a collection, make it something that everyone has a chance at. Not just 5 select people PER MONTH.
3. Um. It's a series of POLITICIANS. I didn't mention politics. It was more about the popularity of our current president. You improperly inferred politics. I was referring to sales figures.
3a. Well, darn. Those dag-nab folks at MTL have me smokin' angry. Was just expressing myself. Didn't mean to offend you.

I didn't force you to read anything.

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