@turtle7 posted:Stu A great discussion-that's why this forum is so much fun/educational. We are still left with no definite answer as to whether Lionel can / would ( example-do they still have functional dies) produce true 6464 cars again. Clearly neither Lionel nor any clubs have had such cars for the last 2 ( ? more) years-so I had been thinking that the info I received was likely correct. Thoughts? Thanks, turtle7
PS As far as what constitutes a true 6464-I dont think there is unanimous opinion. Remember that the different Types of PW 6464 body types had different rivet distribution, some 9200 ( and even a few rare 9700s) had metal door guides-and post 1970 modern Lionel clearly did lots of additional /different numbered 6464s like the 6464 197, 291, etc. So I guess we could just talk about the PW 6464s and the modern 6464s..
Hey Turtle, some excellent thoughts and questions there.
Buried somewhere in one of my many responses above (one of the earlier ones I think), it says yes, the tooling is available and the body style (with double metal door guides and full rivet detail) can be made at any time; all a club would have to do is ask.
Regarding the "why haven't we seen this body style used recently", one of my other post mentions this: "The car with full rivet detail and double metal door guides has a minimum production quantity of 500 units from the factory in China. The Made in USA car with smooth sides and single plastic door guide has a minimum production quantity of 100 units from the factory. With anticipated sales of 200 units, there's only one choice to make." So if the demand was there to meet the supply of 500 units of any given car, I'd use that body style in a heartbeat. But when the demand is only half of the required minimum run, it doesn't make financial sense to use the detailed car. The smart business decision is to use the less detailed car where you won't get stuck with hundreds of unsold units.
Regarding your PS, I'm 100% on board with that thinking.
Stu
