baltimoretrainworks posted:Not too many sold for $150 either...
Jerry
Fair enough.... I've not been searching the 'bay regularly to track them. I was basing my comment on train show observations over the years.
The ones you show were still much higher than a regular issue car though.
JC642: "The Gold Standard" MPC Chessie Geep - another SNL-worthy good one!
When released, 8470 Gold Chessie Geep could be purchased for $25 in my area. It initially shot up to $150. Today they can be had for around $75. All these prices are for mint pieces with nice, clean boxes.
To me, the interesting thing about the Gold Chessie is that it was one of the first two "limited edition" pieces Lionel offered, along with the Coke set.
I didn't buy one, electing to spend my $25 on some Postwar from Madison Hardware.
I did buy the Coke set, I am fairly certain it was $40.
I guess the folks who did pay $25 would make some money selling theirs if they kept it mint.
Not so much for the people who paid $150.
I finally got one years later for somewhere around $60-$75.
This thread has certainly been an interesting read. The one thing I vehemently disagree with is the idea that the thread should be deleted. There is no fighting or anything else I can see that is against the forum rules and the participants seem to be enjoying the discussion as I enjoyed reading it. I see no reason why it should be deleted.
I don't know Lionel's rational behind this boxcar but to me the fact that they created publicity for the meet is a good thing. Maybe that was their intent all along and they just underestimated the interest in the car? Whatever, I think it was a good idea for Lionel to do this boxcar.
johnstrains posted:... What’s the old saying?
“All publicity is good publicity.”
...
You might want to check with United Airlines on that. 
Hudson J1e posted:Maybe ... they just underestimated the interest in the car?
That may be the real reason for 50 cars. They want to gauge interest in a York car but don't want to show up with 500 of them and get stuck trying to unload 300 plus at the next show because there was no interest or the price was too high as we've seen on other "collectible" cars. Since the term "collectible" carries a bit of a stigma to it I think we need to apply the label "collectible" to those items that didn't sell very well and can be had for a blowout prices now and as a result are very easy to "collect" and call the ones that folks actually scramble for like the Natty Boh reefer "iconic" or some other term that doesn't carry the stink of "collectible".
Jerry
I enjoy special runs and commemorative pieces as a collectible honoring some event or time....not with any interest in financial returns. Keep in mind collectibles are not about investments. Collectible just means that someone likes to own it for themselves.
I enjoy special runs and commemorative pieces as a collectible honoring some event or time....not with any interest in financial returns. Keep in mind collectibles are not about investments. Collectible just means that someone likes to own it for themselves.
I hope you get one!
The museum car too.
"Collectible" is a relativistic term with different meanings for different folks.
I won't be at York until Friday so I bet they will be long gone! Maybe some other maker will have a commemorative car there. BTW Whats the best Pennsylvania Dutch Restaurant in the area? I am on the hunt for good food, maybe scrapple, and shoo-fly pie!
baltimoretrainworks posted:They want to gauge interest in a York car but don't want to show up with 500 of them and get stuck trying to unload 300 plus at the next show because there was no interest or the price was too high.
Jerry
I think there is HUGH range for hitting a "happy medium" on pre-producing these cars. As to why Lionel doesn't just take orders on them for later delivery (like the Lionel Train Day cars) doesn't make sense. It would seem to be the correct thing to do. Everyone who wants one gets one & Lionel isn't left holding the bag on anything. Producing the right number of York cars has not been an issue for MTH, which has done so twice a year for about 20 years.
Mike, You will have to go over to the Lancaster area for that.
Mike W. posted:I won't be at York until Friday so I bet they will be long gone! Maybe some other maker will have a commemorative car there. BTW Whats the best Pennsylvania Dutch Restaurant in the area? I am on the hunt for good food, maybe scrapple, and shoo-fly pie!
I would go to the Hershey Farm restaurant or Miller's Smorgasbord for the full shebang of Pennsylvania Dutch food. BigRail
So, theoretically the first run could be 1 of 50, and, if they provide a signup sheet, a second run could be "51 of 240". First batch still "special" (Say it like Dana Carvey's ChurchLady), but they also satisfy those who just like the design.
Carl Orton posted:So, theoretically the first run could be 1 of 50, and, if they provide a signup sheet, a second run could be "51 of 240". First batch still "special" (Say it like Dana Carvey's ChurchLady), but they also satisfy those who just like the design.
I'm not sure if this is what you meant, but I wouldn't imagine they are serializing them. They all most likely will say "1 of 50" on the door.
Even if it wouldn't be a huge change, they would have to change something in the manufacturing process if they did a second run, just to drop the "1 of 50".
That would not be unprecedented though, as they did something similar when they re-made the 2006 Macy's Thanksgiving boxcar as a regular catalog item in 2007. It had the same catalog number as the original car, the only difference is the year printed on the door (or possibly a "built by" date on the graphic elsewhere, memory is fuzzy at the moment).
-Dave
Guys, we need to step it up. This thread has page 13 potential. But we are 9 pages short with only 9 days until the start of York week. We can make it to page 13 if we all pull together as a team
I have concluded, regardless of manufacturer, their is NO Such thing as a collectible car, engine or train set. I am still licking my CCI and CCII wounds. If it wasn't for Mike R. and his team (when he was at Lionel) my Niagara's (have 2) would still be worthless. At least with the new gears I can run the snot out of them with the milk cars (yes, two sets) and actually enjoy one of the paper weights.
Finally got rid of them all but the Niagara's for about 15% of what I paid.
Nothing in the train world is a collectible anymore. High price upfront - worth 1/4 of what you paid in 2 years. That is unless your trying to create a nice consist of the same road name.
For me, Gold and Silver coins from 1775 to 1895, those are collectibles depending on the quality and grade.
k
Maybe we'll see an episode like the 27080 Vision boxcar. The 27080 is very similar to the 2009 Dealer Appreciation boxcar, but there are some differences. Was originally raffled off at the Lionel booth at York. The few cars that could be found we're at crazy prices. Some time goes by, and the same car now appears in the catalog. Large dealers were then blowing out the cars for $29.99.
ed h posted:Maybe we'll see an episode like the 27080 Vision boxcar. The 27080 is very similar to the 2009 Dealer Appreciation boxcar, but there are some differences. Was originally raffled off at the Lionel booth at York. The few cars that could be found we're at crazy prices. Some time goes by, and the same car now appears in the catalog. Large dealers were then blowing out the cars for $29.99.
Are we seeing the pattern yet??? 
Did anyone really think that this was an investment opportunity, or a chance to buy a souvineer?
I don't know, it's my 1st York and I'd really like one to commemorate the event. I know I'll never get one, but I can dream.
JDFonz posted:I don't know, it's my 1st York and I'd really like one to commemorate the event. I know I'll never get one, but I can dream.
Hope you get one
Any reports from those at York as to what the scene was regarding sales of this car ?
ed h posted:Any reports from those at York as to what the scene was regarding sales of this car ?
There was certainly enough demand, though the line at the back door wasn't bad before the meet.
I got there probably only 20 minutes before the open and there were less than 20 of us there (maybe another 10-15 (estimating) as we got closer to the open).
There were lines of people approaching from other doors too though (possibly they were smarter and knew the guard at the back door near Lionel was going to delay allowing the line in so that people from other lines actually got to the booth before those of us right there - oh well).
Line processing was a little slow due to the Lionel Point of Sale computer, as well as many people paying with credit cards. I was still out of the booth probably by 9:20 or 9:25.
Car came out nice!
I can't comment if the prophecy of people trying to resell it on their table for high markup has come true or not since I was at my table most of the day aside from this early morning field trip. I didn't see any for sale in the few parts of the dealer halls (mostly purple) I visited after 5 PM.
Even though I was a critic of the low quantity they made (still feel that way - wish more people who wanted one could have picked one up from Lionel), I will give Lionel proper kudos for pricing this car. I was figuring standard MSRP for a Made in USA boxcar, around 84.99 (similar to Wonder Woman Boxcar and others). I was pleasantly surprised when they said it was only $50.
-Dave
I knew they'd be gone, but I still had to ask. They said they were gone in 15 mins.
4 pages of big tears, and they were gone the first day!
I guess the Lionel guys (and ladies!) know what they are doing.
Carl Orton posted:I knew they'd be gone, but I still had to ask. They said they were gone in 15 mins.
That sounds about right. I strolled by the booth around 12:30pm (with no plans to purchase the special York boxcar) and saw no special boxcars -- only a small poster of the boxcar at the front left corner of the booth. A couple hours later, somebody was smart enough to remove the poster.
There were still PLENTY of 115th Anniversary boxcars on the shelves though. I guess those were the consolation prize. Lionel seems to be having as much trouble selling those boxcars as dealers are having trouble selling the silver, chrome-plated 115th Anniversary Berkshire locomotives... which would be all gone by now if they were produced as black Polar Express Berks. Oh well, another lesson learned (hopefully).
David
I guess the Lionel guys (and ladies!) know what they are doing.
Artificially creating a shortage?
I guess nobody is going to stop buying newly made Lionel trains over this.
BMT-Express posted:4 pages of big tears, and they were gone the first day!
!
Since these were sold right away, does anybody know the price they were sold for?
Dave45681 - Thanks for the update. Had a feeling these cars would go quick. Guess folks at the show today or general public wont be happy when they find out all were gone very quickly yesterday.
They were lining up at 11:30. I enter through these doors all the time this was the biggest crowd. Most in line for the box car.
Yes, all 50 of these cars were gone within an hour of the show 's Thursday opening. Aside from making far too few... or not taking orders for later delivery, so anyone who wanted one could buy one, Lionel also didn't even budget the cars to a certain number for each day of the meet. So, if you were not there to run into line at noon on Thursday, it was tough s---t for you. A Lionel staffer told me there was much discussion/disagreement "within Lionel" as to how many to make. When I asked why they weren't simply made available on an order-for-later-shipment basis, she said that many people get upset "when they can't take the item home right away." I explained that, while that is all well and good, their poor decision led to possible 100's of people who would have otherwise wanted one, having NO chance to get one! Which is the lesser option: not "walking away with it" at the time of the offering, or never being given a fair chance of buying one in the first place? Thanks Lionel Trains! 
RadioRon posted:Yes, all 50 of these cars were gone within an hour of the show 's Thursday opening. Aside from making far too few...
Far too few? There were 3 1/2 pages here declaring "Well! I'm not gonna buy one!"
Seems they made just the right number, and won't have to blow them out at the warehouse sale.
Look at who wants them now that they are gone!
BMT-Express posted:RadioRon posted:Yes, all 50 of these cars were gone within an hour of the show 's Thursday opening. Aside from making far too few...
Far too few? There were 3 1/2 pages here declaring "Well! I'm not gonna buy one!"
Seems they made just the right number, and won't have to blow them out at the warehouse sale.
Look at who wants them now that they are gone!
I agree... it's like anything. "first xxxx number of people get a free or get to buy a commemorative whatever". Happens at events on a daily basis forever.
Lionel made it known how many there would be.
Besides almost no one in this thread should care because they all thought this was stupid/waste of money/for the ignorant..etc... pick one.. and were not interested in it.
BMT-Express posted:Seems they made just the right number,
And how do you figure"just the right number" ? If they only made 10 they'd be gone too, would that have been "just the right number" ? A lot of the griping here came from only 50 being made, only available on first day (for all intents and purposes), no announced price, etc.. 200 of them would have sold out too (also, "just the right number"). Face it , Lionel pooched it on this one, I bet they start showing up on Ebay before Yorks over.
Jerry
baltimoretrainworks posted:BMT-Express posted:Seems they made just the right number,
And how do you figure"just the right number" ? If they only made 10 they'd be gone too, would that have been "just the right number" ? A lot of the griping here came from only 50 being made, only available on first day (for all intents and purposes), no announced price, etc.. 200 of them would have sold out too (also, "just the right number"). Face it , Lionel pooched it on this one, I bet they start showing up on Ebay before Yorks over.
Jerry
Good point, maybe Lionel will start selling off of all of their products with a limited (magic) number.
It is probably already done with pre orders and if the orders do not reach their magic number that product is not made.
Anyway I m still glad that Lionel and all of the other manufactures are around
This keeps the hobby and our forum active with a lot of discussions. 
baltimoretrainworks posted:BMT-Express posted:Seems they made just the right number,
And how do you figure"just the right number" ?
Jerry
The right number is "sold out" - Lionel is a business, not a charity. Just right means they are not packing them up and taking them back to Concord.
C W Burfle posted:When released, 8470 Gold Chessie Geep could be purchased for $25 in my area. It initially shot up to $150. Today they can be had for around $75. All these prices are for mint pieces with nice, clean boxes.
I guess the folks who did pay $25 would make some money selling theirs if they kept it mint.
Not so much for the people who paid $150.
I finally got one years later for somewhere around $60-$75.
Actually, Harry Henning has two on his table today at York for $50 each . . .
My wife and I casually strolled by around 12:15PM Thursday and saw the line.
She offered to wait in line.......after around 15 minutes, she purchased #49..
That's my girl.
Donald
Access to this requires an OGR Forum Supporting Membership
