I going to fire up the compressor before I head for work and spray a coat of black over another batch of MT Mopac hoppers I'm repainting Clinchfield, I hope they don't turn out to be rare some day.:tb-biggrin:
If you did a good job with the paint and the windows, that boxcar would be worth a lot more to me than the rarest factory-air car. I would definitely pay a premium for it being one of the first MT boxcars made. But I value custom, one-of-a-kind modeling far more.
Intersting discussion. Tony Hines, Thanks for the comeback with regards to your take on "Pre-orders". Now I have a better understanding. Honestly though I think the Midwest and East Coast find this method perhaps more to their liking then those of us in the "Wild Wild West" ah "Pacific Coast" to most of you on the eastern side of things. There are a few here in the wild, wild west who do indeed pre-order. However, in my case Jim at Busy Bee, anticipates my interest almost to a tee. He will see me come in the back door and usually give me a holler to let me in on something he ordered and quite often he has my name on it, hiding behind the counter. I've known him to test track a locomotive in advance... Now, that's my kind of hobby shop. Unless I'm having financial difficulty, it usually goes home with me or I put something down on it and he will hold it, until it's paid for. So you ask why do I shop at his hobby shop? Isn't it obvious!! Guys I'm not into grenade throwing just sharing what life's lessons at the school of hard knocks, has taught me. Like I said before, "Just my two cents, take what you want and discard the rest". I got to get going. The weekend was a lose and nothing got done. Time to play catch up. Yeh all have fun out there yeh hear? Grin!
You know its "whatever floats your boat" So if some screwball wants to pay 900 dollars for a car originally bought for say what 4 to 5 dollars 10 at most? Far be it from me to lob grenades into the foray. In fact about 5 years ago I unload some "collectables" on some 'collectors" and put away a pricely sum. Kind of reminds me of when sharks feed, they get all worked up and zoom in and out expending all kinds of energy, (instead of bucks) to get the same fish they were munching on ten minutes ago. Rob
What I would like to do is find a really rare car then have decals made for it and get fifty or so of the same car and put them on a layout siding with a sign that says "not for sale" and just watch the collectors.
Fools Rush In As I said, "Fools rush in..." and you know the rest of the phrase. No that really isn't my line but Elvis Presley, sang it well. I wonder what an original record with his song recorded on it would clear? It's a free market out there. The American Standard has always been to charge what the market will bear. The idea is to be profitable and prosper. Have fun!
I'm guilty of over payment for a car. I bought a California state car on ebay for $90 and didn't feel bad about it. I collect a state car from each state I've been stationed in while in the Navy and have them displayed sequentially on a display track with some other Navy cars and the caboose, of course the CA car is hard to find but I had to have it to continue the trend. I just hope I don't end up in Guam!
Worse yet! you could get stationed in Japan! Of course if you save enough money I'm sure Micro trains will put out a Japan state car! Rob U.S.N. (Ret.)
Well, I don't fault these guys or think them idiots. Probably some of them that don't get foolish might do pretty well even. I already had a pretty good collection of Star Wars items when I got back into model railroading and basically decided I would not be "collecting" trains as well. I did falter and buy a few things along the way but they became the first things to go when I had to sell, and now I don't even give collectible cars a second look. But I can see the alure and it can certainly be fun collecting things, no doubt. I think if I were to collect anything it would be the beer cars, but they are pretty pricey from the start so I'm probably too cheap to try that.
