# The Mother Lode !!!!



## plymouth71 (Dec 14, 2009)

*The Mother Lode !!!! (Update 11/08)*

Look what I found...













He just wants too much...


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## fordcowboy (Dec 27, 1999)

How much is to much? Maybe two or three people could go in on it ? fcb


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## plymouth71 (Dec 14, 2009)

$3500.00


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## resinmonger (Mar 5, 2008)

By a very rough count, there are 160 cars. So that's about $22 per car. I guess it's not worth selling a kidney for them. :freak:


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## DesertSlot (May 8, 2009)

That is quite a load! It looks like about 170 cars for $20 a pop.


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## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

For about $500 more I could get you a mean sounding 1:1 Firebird Formula, with T-tops.


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## plymouth71 (Dec 14, 2009)

There's a #3 Candy Tyrell F1 car, A Ligier, A Saudia Williams F1, An RCMP Copcar, 2 Rebel Chargers, An Alitalia Capri, and much more.


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## resinmonger (Mar 5, 2008)

plymouth71 said:


> There's a #3 Candy Tyrell F1 car, A Ligier, A Saudia Williams F1, An RCMP Copcar, 2 Rebel Chargers, An Alitalia Capri, and much more.


That gets back to Wendall's question about a group buy.


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## plymouth71 (Dec 14, 2009)

Yeah... But I have yet to determine the condition of all the cars. Could be a bunch of worthless junk too. He's got a bunch od cheapos there too, how about the 10 White & Blue Blazin Brakes Fire Birds? and the 4 chrome Dodge Chargers,


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## smokinHOs (May 30, 2006)

*Mother load...*

Pretty sweet to see that many cars together in a pile.. LOL

Truth is that unless the cars are mint or near mint, the value drops so significantly that a group by would be more realistic in the $10-15 a car range. The seller would be better off parting out the high dollar cars and blowing out the rest for $8-10 a pop. Cool stuff though.

Condition is to slot cars what location is to real estate.

-Marc and Marcus


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

smokinHOs said:


> Pretty sweet to see that many cars together in a pile.. LOL
> 
> Truth is that unless the cars are mint or near mint, the value drops so significantly that a group by would be more realistic in the $10-15 a car range. The seller would be better off parting out the high dollar cars and blowing out the rest for $8-10 a pop. Cool stuff though.
> 
> ...


Wow man, lots of great advice here. :thumbsup:


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## Xence (Oct 2, 2007)

I would agree with that last sentiment. He's looking for top dollar for these cars. Totally understandable but that's simply too much for that lot of cars considering most of us would just break the collection up & keep a small handful of those.

Cheers,
Xence


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

I have never bought a collection, so this is just my thoughts on the matter.

At the shows I attend, there are a number of guys selling used cars for $10 and 3/$25. Most times, the bodies and chassis have been quite used, but not always. Obviously, the cleaner the car and the more uncommon the car, the higher the price.

So when looking at a collection, you need to see which cars fall into the "higher dollar value" category because it's very probable you are going to turn around and sell all the cars you do not want. And when you sell them, you are only going to get $10 at most. I sell my used (Tyco) cars at $10 or 3/$25 and I clean them up before I sell them.

So if this collection is $20-$22 per car, it does depend on the condition. If they are all new (and they look like Aurora cars), it's a no brainer - they are worth that much assuming you want to keep them. However, if you resell the common cars, you won't make any money. If they are used, that seems to me a bit on the high side, depending on condition. For me, if I were buying that many used cars (assuming they are used), I don't think I'd pay more than $10 per car. 

Joe


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## Rolls (Jan 1, 2010)

If it were worth it, a group buy would make it attainable for all who wanted "in." Splitting it up might be a little tricky, but I'm sure it could be managed.

As far as "worth it," unless there are more than a few mint rarities in the mix and the rest are in C9+ condition, it does seem like he's asking more like a full retail price rather than offering a great or even reasonable bargain. It just doesn't seem to this admitted non-expert like there's any room left for the buyer to make much money, so maybe it'd be better to pursue "keepers" in the lot individually and probably somewhere else.


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## plymouth71 (Dec 14, 2009)

I tried, He wants to sell it as a lot. I almost cried. There is likely no way he'll find someone to but the whole lot for that price


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## plymouth71 (Dec 14, 2009)

I tried, He wants to sell it as a lot. I almost cried. There is likely no way he'll find someone to but the whole lot for that price.


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## resinmonger (Mar 5, 2008)

He could put them on ebay with the tag line that they are _all awesome slot cars to race or collect._ That should help him score top dollar. It works for our ebay BFF... :freak:


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## plymouth71 (Dec 14, 2009)

I'm not about to give him any Ideas... I just told him I could offer him a couple hundred dollars. He said he'd like to see if he could sell it as a lot, and to contact him in 1 month.... Might consider otherwise at that point...


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

Did you actually see the cars? Are they new, used, mixed condition? That, along with rarity, would be the major determining factor as to price.

As I said earlier, asking more than $10 a car for used cars in such a large quantity is pushing it --- in my opinion. Unless they are in really good condition, then all bets are off.

Joe


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## tomhocars (Oct 19, 2005)

I have been traveling to shows for over 20 years.What Joe says is right.They are $10 cars.Rare cars will bring good money,maybe not these days,but common cars are $7 to $10 . If he wants that kind of money,he will have to sell them 1 at a time.This is the main reason I tell fellow slot nuts ,collect them because you like them,not for an investment.See you at the shows. Tom Stumpf


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## bobwoodly (Aug 25, 2008)

I buy lot's frequently but not this size. I usually figure $5-$10 a car on average because you will get some junk that may not be worth anything and you may get some top end cars. Unless you closely inspect every car individually you may miss missing parts, cut wheel wells, etc. I've really only found one collection where everything was in pristine condition. Most collections are a combo of nice stuff and low end dirty/broken garage sale flea market stuff. Often the diamonds are what you look at and miss the lumps of coal. Most common comment I hear "I seen some of these goin' on ebay for $50". I often recommend selling individually to get top dollar, there has to be a sizable discount for buying a lot this large.


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## Xence (Oct 2, 2007)

I bought a small collection a bit ago because it had a couple of cars I was just dyin' to have but I got the whole thing for exactly what we're all saying ... approx. $5-6/car. I kept what I was really wanting to & sold everything else. I didn't make tons of money or anything like that but I was able to break even while keeping the few that I wanted to. I agree with this whole post though, you want to sell a huge lot like that as one big lot ... expect to be disappointed if you're trying to get top dollar. Just not happening. With something like that if you turned around & sold each one on the bay or here or ... well wherever you'd be lucky to sell each one for enough dough to break even with what the person is asking for it. Whoever is selling that lot needs to realize this. We're slotcar junkies for a reason ... most of us are broke & we can afford these. lol

Well hopefully plymouth that person will come to their senses & realize this. Oh & of course there's always the fun fact that our economy really ain't doin' so hot right now.

Cheers,
Xence


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

There is one caveat. In the following situation, I could see where someone could easily get $20-$30 per car in a large collection.

Let's assume someone has a large collection of a brand of slot car which you also collect. Let's assume you want to add them to your collection and you will keep a large majority of the cars. Let's further assume all the cars are new and mint, either packaged or in a display case.

Now, in this case, I could easily see paying $20-$30 a car. If it was your intention to collect these cars and you want/need most of them, and they are new, just the time you will save in trying to locate them is worth a couple dollars per car --- easily. To buy any car new is at least $15 (Tomy and Lifelike MSRP is over $30) and once a car becomes harder to find in mint condition, the price increases. So if you were to find a collection of mint cars, averaging over $20 a car is well within reason.

The cars in my collection must average over $20 each when I bought them, some much higher. If they are still new/mint, they have either stayed the same or, in some cases, increased significantly. And if there are a lot of set only cars, the cost of the entire set must be considered.

However, when dealing with used cars, I think the $5-$10 range is accurate.

Joe


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## plymouth71 (Dec 14, 2009)

Well I haven't seen the cars in person, but the Hi-Res pics show there are more than a few missing grilles and or very dirty (cobwebs etc.), so I still think on the lower end of the spectrum. Who knows... I made him an offer and he told me to check in within a month.


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## resinmonger (Mar 5, 2008)

OMG! The collection_ is _worth the asking price after all. Did you see that *VHTF #3 Dale Earnhart Shadow*! Those _*are*_ truely awesome slot cars to race or collect!!!! :freak: :freak: :freak::freak:


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## plymouth71 (Dec 14, 2009)

*SIGH...* :drunk:


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## Hilltop Raceway (Feb 12, 2006)

I did see a rare orange & blue Nomad combo plus a couple of VW's, I forget what you call those "things", some Rebel Chargers, maybe a flamed 55??? RM


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## resinmonger (Mar 5, 2008)

OK, I'll behave.

I see several cars that are above average price-wise:

3 G-Plus Lola T330 (one looks to be missing rear wing)
1 G-Plus Tyrrell F1
1 G-Plus Renault F-1
1 G-Plus Essex Lotus 79
1 AFX Datsun 240Z in the red/yellow/white scheme

Several various G-Plus Lotus F1, Ferrari F1, McLaren F1 plus a 312PB and a Daytona are lurking in there. I think the Daytona's mirrors are gone. 

You'd still need to see idividual shots to assess the value as stuff could be missing on the bodies or the chassis.


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

Well since these are obviously not new, I'm thinking it now depends on your interest level. Remember that you don't know how any of them run, and how much each may cost in terms of money (new shoes, spring, brushes,tires) and time to get running fairly well. All you see are bodies.

My offer if I were to buy it - $5 a car at most.

Personally, I don't need more runners. So if I were to buy that collection, I'd need to know I could turn around and sell enough of it to at least get my money back. But remember, selling a large number of cars takes time and effort (especially in a bad economy) - it's not free. Plus I always clean and get my used cars running (maybe not great, but running) before I sell them. That takes a lot of time.

The more I think about it, the more $5 even seems high.

I look at it this way. If this were someone's mint collection, you are paying not just for the cars, but for someone taking years to find and buy all those cars. If they are used, someone has gotten their fun out of them and needs to take what they can get relative to what a new car costs.

Joe


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## plymouth71 (Dec 14, 2009)

up in the corner near the semis is a rcmp missing the lights


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

I know they're common, but I like the blazin brakes firebird and the blazer

--rick


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## krazcustoms (Nov 20, 2003)

plymouth71 said:


> up in the corner near the semis is a rcmp missing the lights


That's not an RCMP. The AFX RCMP is molded in blue and has white painted front doors - this one was white and someone painted it blue - you can see the overspray.


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## plymouth71 (Dec 14, 2009)

Good Eye !!! :thumbsup:


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## plymouth71 (Dec 14, 2009)

Well, I contacted him... He states he's been offered $1300.00, but he will accept $1500.00. Still too rich for my blood... Ahh well, it was nice to dream


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

At $1500, he just might find a buyer. Didn't we start at $3500? On the first page, someone estimated 170 cars. If that's right, it's down to just under $9/car. Not a screamin' deal or anything, but at least realistic...

--rick


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## Xence (Oct 2, 2007)

Yeah I was thinking the same thing as ParkRNDL ... I thought this thing started @ lik $3500 ... I had to go back to the first page to recheck that I wasn't losing my marbles, well anymore than normal. hehe.

I do agree though, $1500 might be worth it. I wonder what the change of heart was concerning the price???

Cheers,
Xence


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## Pomfish (Oct 25, 2003)

I do agree though, $1500 might be worth it. I wonder what the change of heart was concerning the price???

Cheers,
Xence[/QUOTE]


Reality maybe?
This ain't the Clinton economy we are in now 

Thanks,
Keith


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## Xence (Oct 2, 2007)

lol ... right ... I hear ya pomfish


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