# J Lloyds to re-launch Marchon line in 2010



## scotty27 (Dec 5, 2005)

B]FYI
J. Lloyd International, Inc. is to re-launch the entire Marchon slot car line in 2010. [/B]


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## slotnewbie69 (Dec 3, 2008)

that's cool.they did some really nice bodies.maybe a repop of the rokar stuff while they're at it?


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Cool! Maybe an F22 fighter jet.


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## H.O. Slotrods (Jan 30, 2009)

maybe will be able to get some tune up kits again.


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## buzzinhornet (Jan 20, 2000)

Wonder what the "collectors" think about this... 

GP


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## 1scalevolvo (Feb 5, 2004)

buzzinhornet said:


> Wonder what the "collectors" think about this...
> 
> GP


 I don't give a Rats @$$ what the "collectors" think ! The HO world does not revolve around the priorities of so-called Collector/investors !Let them stick with Goldman Sach's for all I care ! 
HO is about having fun not just about making money !
If a revival of Marchon / Empire means that a few repops of old Marchon cars devalues some originals then thats just too bad !
I would love to see some new Marchon cars & remember increased competion means better HO cars for all.
Besides the old Marchons for all their many warts were real screamers around the track. They also had a great "Funk" factor !

Neal:dude:


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

buzzinhornet said:


> Wonder what the "collectors" think about this... GP


 I'm always aware that a car that seems valuable can suddenly become commonplace. A few years back a bunch of Aurora AFX Sheriff's cars showed up, which lowered the value of those that were already out there. It happens and you need to realize that.

Anyone, at any time, can reproduce anything. That's why I keep a tight reign on what I'll spend on any one car. There are very few people in this world who care about slot cars, so when you collect slot cars you better do it for yourself and not for any future gains.

The only things that have universal value are food, clothes and shelter.

Probably 99.9999999999% of the people in the world wouldn't take your slot cars if you sold them for 25 cents a piece. Just like I wouldn't offer 25 cents for most of the "art" I see that others will pay thousands to get.

We saw a couple examples recently of AFX and T-Jets going for $1,200+ each. Just how many people would spend that much for a car? It's a piece of plastic, and most people look at it that way. Anything is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it. If those "others" decide they don't want it, you're left with a $1,200 paperweight.

Of course, Marchon is a different case for me. I don't think I paid more than $20-$25 for any Marchon car; which will probably be close to the price of any new car produced. I would say most guys collect for two major reasons:

(1) You enjoy having and looking at the collection (and possibly enjoy the hunt)

(2) You can show it off to other like minded individuals who can appreciate the collection and then revel in their agony and astonishment that you have something they do not. LOL!

So if another company wants to repop the Marchon cars, go for it. I know what I have and what I went through to acquire it. If I was silly enough to believe that I was going to get rich selling the collection, well then the joke's on me.

I was discussing something along these lines with someone during one of the previous shows. We agreed that both of us have far more stuff than we need and that when we pass on, someone (to whom all this stuff is worthless)is going to have to figure out what to do with "all this crap he left behind". He was telling me how glad he was that his father sold all his trains before he passed away; otherwise, he would have had to sell it and he had no idea what any of it was worth.

So, if you have a collection it's for you to enjoy. If you're lucky enough to have someone to pass it on to, then that's great. Otherwise, when they come in to clean out your stuff, you'll be like the old lady who dies and leaves behind 100 cats.

Joe


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

Grandcheapskate said:


> (snip)
> 
> So, if you have a collection it's for you to enjoy. If you're lucky enough to have someone to pass it on to, then that's great. Otherwise, when they come in to clean out your stuff, you'll be like the old lady who dies and leaves behind 100 cats.
> 
> Joe


not true. slot cars don't smell if you don't clean their litterboxes. (or if they do smell, you're probably doing something wrong...)

good point, though. i was thinking the other day about what will eventually happen to all my slot cars...

--rick


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## oldraceral (Dec 1, 2005)

i was thinking the other day about what will eventually happen to all my slot cars...

Your grandkids will sell them at their garage sale for $.25 each and boosa14's grandkids will make a fortune on ebay.


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## Pomfish (Oct 25, 2003)

oldraceral said:


> i was thinking the other day about what will eventually happen to all my slot cars...
> 
> Your grandkids will sell them at their garage sale for $.25 each and boosa14's grandkids will make a fortune on ebay.



Now THAT'S Funny!

Thanks, I needed a laugh today.
Later,
Keith


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## noddaz (Aug 6, 1999)

*Ummm...*



scotty27 said:


> B]FYI
> J. Lloyd International, Inc. is to re-launch the entire Marchon slot car line in 2010. [/b]


Why?

I guess the proper response would be... Why not?


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## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

Are they the M-5 cars that eventually were Rokars and then Life Likes?


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

1976Cordoba said:


> Are they the M-5 cars that eventually were Rokars and then Life Likes?


No. The Lifelike family tree is Amrac to Rokar to Lifelike. I believe Cox may have preceeded Amrac. The M-5 was a Rokar design, continuing on in the Lifelike M chassis.

Marchon was the MR-1 car. It was purchased by Scalextric and the earliest MicroScalextric cars were based on the last Marchon chassis (and labeled as MR-1). Marchon had a couple chassis designs, including one that looked a lot like the HP-7. All the chassis use a can motor.

The biggest issue I believe anyone has with Marchon was the lack of quality control. The bodies could look like something out of a rudimentary art class and the chassis could be all over the map. But when you get a good one, it can be really smooth.

Joe


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## 22tall (Jul 28, 2002)

buzzinhornet said:


> Wonder what the "collectors" think about this...
> 
> GP


I have been racing and collecting since 1962 so I have a point of view here. The repop will not hurt the value of the originals at all. If AW or Dash repops an Aurora tjet it doesn't effect the price of an original Aurora. If that was the case the Mona Lisa would go for about $5 on the bay. 

I am willing to bet that the new cars will be easy to spot. The tampo work on many of the originals left something to be desired. I would like to see them do some jets and Merc GTP cars.


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## 1976Cordoba (Sep 20, 2000)

Grandcheapskate said:


> No. The Lifelike family tree is Amrac to Rokar to Lifelike. I believe Cox may have preceeded Amrac. The M-5 was a Rokar design, continuing on in the Lifelike M chassis.
> 
> Marchon was the MR-1 car. It was purchased by Scalextric and the earliest MicroScalextric cars were based on the last Marchon chassis (and labeled as MR-1). Marchon had a couple chassis designs, including one that looked a lot like the HP-7. All the chassis use a can motor.
> 
> ...


 
Good info. We might need a Slot History-101 thread somewhere on here :thumbsup:


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## Montoya1 (May 14, 2004)

There are a couple of other threads kicking around here on this, with early catalogue 'art'.


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## Omega (Jan 14, 2000)

*Got this reply from them.*

Hi Dave
We are still in the product development stages and do not yet have literature printed.Do not expect to be releasing merchandise till at least mid year 2010.

Ernie Petit 
President 
Hawk/Lindberg Model 
517 3rd Ave SW Suite C 
Cedar Rapids, Ia. 52404 
Tel (319) 390-8888 
Fax (319) 390-8896 

At least we have some what of a time frame. 

Dave


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## noddaz (Aug 6, 1999)

*Is this going to include track?*

Or is it just the cars?

I only ask because there is plenty of track on the market now...
Development money may be spent more wisely in other areas...

Scott


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

I would love to see a 12 & 15 turn for marchon, to go with my huge box of track.


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## slotnewbie69 (Dec 3, 2008)

:freak:my apologies for asociating marchon with rokar,thanks for the education on the family tree...i would like a couple marchon chassis though,they look cool,and i have a trans am body thats pretty nice,so it would be nice to run it...


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## grungerockjeepe (Jan 8, 2007)

Grandcheapskate said:


> No. The Lifelike family tree is Amrac to Rokar to Lifelike. I believe Cox may have preceeded Amrac. The M-5 was a Rokar design, continuing on in the Lifelike M chassis.
> 
> Marchon was the MR-1 car. It was purchased by Scalextric and the earliest MicroScalextric cars were based on the last Marchon chassis (and labeled as MR-1). Marchon had a couple chassis designs, including one that looked a lot like the HP-7. All the chassis use a can motor.
> 
> ...


Thing with Marchon is, there are at least 3 distinctly different chassis designs and all are called the MR-1. Some like you said are a LOT like the HP-7, and others look a bit like a Tomy Turbo's clone-gone-horribly-wrong. Still another design was available in grey, orange, and yellow. And Ive seen motor and magnet variations within that, even. All I know is, I hope they tighten up a lot on the QC with the bodies, and most importantly, they better find some plastic that doesnt shatter if you look at it too hard. The chassis design like on the Jeeps has this problem. Ive had to buy a lot of MR-1s on EvilBay to get 4 good chassis to mount all 4 Jeeps to.


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

grungerockjeepe said:


> All I know is, I hope they tighten up a lot on the QC with the bodies, and most importantly, they better find some plastic that doesnt shatter if you look at it too hard. The chassis design like on the Jeeps has this problem. Ive had to buy a lot of MR-1s on EvilBay to get 4 good chassis to mount all 4 Jeeps to.


There are some serious QC issues with both bodies and chassis. Besides the lack of quality in body molding/painting/decos, some body mounts can be quite fragile. I've found this true in a number of red Sauber Mercedes.

Another quality issue in the chassis I've discovered is in the front hanger for the pickup shoes. These can break off even on new chassis. I have been able to repair these quite easily by gluing in a small piece of steel (from a paper clip) into the chassis and have it stick out like the shoe hanger.

It's also not hard to break the motor/magnet retainer clip when you are trying to remove it. That's more a design issue than a quality issue.

Joe


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## A/FX Nut (May 28, 2004)

22tall said:


> I have been racing and collecting since 1962 so I have a point of view here. The repop will not hurt the value of the originals at all. If AW or Dash repops an Aurora tjet it doesn't effect the price of an original Aurora. If that was the case the Mona Lisa would go for about $5 on the bay.
> 
> I am willing to bet that the new cars will be easy to spot. The tampo work on many of the originals left something to be desired. I would like to see them do some jets and Merc GTP cars.



I have to disagree with that. The original Aurora Willy's value dropped after there was 3 companies making them. I noticed it at the shows and on Ebay.

The collectables are just like the Stock Market. Their value rises and drops with the demand of the people.

Randy.


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## roadrner (Jul 21, 1999)

oldraceral said:


> i was thinking the other day about what will eventually happen to all my slot cars...
> 
> Your grandkids will sell them at their garage sale for $.25 each and boosa14's grandkids will make a fortune on ebay.


 
I was afraid that might happen to my guitars as well so I stuck a copy of the invoice in the case for reference, not that that will mean much later to the GKs. :freak: rr


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## 22tall (Jul 28, 2002)

A/FX Nut said:


> I have to disagree with that. The original Aurora Willy's value dropped after there was 3 companies making them. I noticed it at the shows and on Ebay.
> 
> The collectables are just like the Stock Market. Their value rises and drops with the demand of the people.
> 
> Randy.


I think the economy has something to do with it. Sure there are still the oh my god auctions but there are many auctions that do not approach the prices of a few years ago. Let's face it. If we really knew the answer we would all be rich.

What is the third manufacturer? I can only think of Model Motoring (are they still in business?) and JL/AW. 

Do you and mtyoder still go to the MW Slotcar Show. I haven't made it to one in a couple years. I have to get out more.


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## Montoya1 (May 14, 2004)

Can anybody confirm the 'new' releases are the same ones as in the catalogues I obtained (and another HT user posted)?


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## A/FX Nut (May 28, 2004)

22tall said:


> I think the economy has something to do with it. Sure there are still the oh my god auctions but there are many auctions that do not approach the prices of a few years ago. Let's face it. If we really knew the answer we would all be rich.
> 
> What is the third manufacturer? I can only think of Model Motoring (are they still in business?) and JL/AW.
> 
> Do you and mtyoder still go to the MW Slotcar Show. I haven't made it to one in a couple years. I have to get out more.



I noticed the price dropping on the Willy's about a year or two after Johnny Lightning's 2002 release of the Willy's Thunderjet 500 Tuff Ones reproduction chassis. That would've been in 2004 or 2005. By 2002 JL had released two serires of the Willy's in the Pullback version in 6 color schemes. With RRR, MM, and JL/AW it's drawing money away from original collectibles.

With the economy downturn in late 2008 it has had an affect on Ebay, people watching their money because they have less of it. And I think some of it is sellers setting way too high an opening bid or reserve price for desirable slot cars that are not deserving of that high price in the first place. Also there are less people at the shows. Atleast the Midwest Show anyway. And I've seen post here reporting the attendence drop of other shows. Like I said though, demand of a specific car can set the price. 

All of the previous text including reproductions is affecting the collectable price. The answers are there, just connect the dots. I'm not rich, but I do see what's going on in the hobby.

Road Race Replicas is the third. MM is still in business. They are suppose to rerelease the Thunder Plus Chassis. It's on their website.

Yes, me and MTYODER still go to the Midwest Show. We were there this past November. Hope to see you at a future show. I'm going to try and make the spring show. But my Model Rail Road Club is having our train show the day before. It's a big fund raiser for our club. If I don't go, Craig will more than likely go with someone else.

I want the next release of Autoworld's Thuinderjets release. If MCT has it by then I'd like to pick it up. Going to be a good one.

Randy.


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## 22tall (Jul 28, 2002)

How much of an impact did MM and RRR have? I am guessing not much. You noticed the drop after JL got into it. I guess we have to wait to see if the market is flooded with new cars.

On the other hand most Marchons are not that costly. What's a couple bucks in the grand scheme of things.


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

As I stated earlier, most of the expensive Marchon cars I come across are in the mid $20 range - and that's in the package. The Jets and Monster trucks bring in more, but the rest of the cars are in that price range. The new cars, if released, will no doubt be in the $20 range. So, no great loss in value for Marchon collectors. In fact, die hard Marchon collectors are probably looking for the original packaging, so those packaged cars won't drop in price.

I believe what has happened to collector prices, and slot car prices in general, is that a lot of guys got back into the hobby when the internet took off. It was like a feeding frenzy. After 10+ years, most guys probably picked up nearly all of the cars they wanted. Sure, there are still the rare cars which bring in a lot of dollars, but there are probably very few guys who are willing to put out large sums of money, even in a good economy.

At the shows I attend, outside of T-Jets and Aurora AFX, there is very little interest in older slot cars. Packaged (and NOS loose) Tyco, Tomy and Lifelike sell very slowly, even when those cars are not marked up much (if any) higher than their original retail price. Seems the hot items, other than Aurora, are new cars from AW and new bodies by the cottage guys. Even AWs get marked down soon after they are released as they are no longer in demand.

It's a fickle hobby. Some days everyone wants to buy a certain brand, the next day no one even looks at them.

As I said, if you collect, you'd better do it for your own enjoyment. Slot cars only have any "value" to a small population on this planet, and it's an even smaller segment that would spend more than retail for a car. If no one else wants the cars you have, they are worth something only to you.

Joe


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## SplitPoster (May 16, 2006)

Grandcheapskate said:


> I believe what has happened to collector prices, and slot car prices in general, is that a lot of guys got back into the hobby when the internet took off. It was like a feeding frenzy. After 10+ years, most guys probably picked up nearly all of the cars they wanted. Sure, there are still the rare cars which bring in a lot of dollars, but there are probably very few guys who are willing to put out large sums of money, even in a good economy.
> 
> It's a fickle hobby. Some days everyone wants to buy a certain brand, the next day no one even looks at them.
> 
> ...


Once again Joe hit the nail on the head. Give credit where credit is due - before ebay I had no means whatsoever to repair or replace an old Aurora tjet (the body, not the chassis). I could either hit flea markets or yard sales, way more miss than hit where I live and really time consuming. As far as slot cars go, ebay and the internet was an epiphany, open 24/7. It was a LOT of fun, fad quality addictive fun for a while. 

Now I have way more cars than when I started, and it's a bit more work to shop. As with a lot of you, I am also a bit jaded with some ebay resellers - a few lurkers and posters on here may be those sellers. I looked at the bay for vibes at the end of this week for the first time in months, and saw more pieced together crap than stuff pulled out of the closet or attic. (example: white vibe wagon with yellow roof) "As found" is fun for me, vert Vettes reglued with JL replacement windshields sold "as is" is not. A vibe chassis with no guts at all from somebody who knows better isn't either. I am getting where I won't buy from anybody who routinely sells non-mint old slot cars because I don't want cobbled up almost-collector cars. That means they niether are good enough for display nor do they run LOL. Quit Mr Coney altogether as well, too many AFX C-5 runners in the $25 and up range to wade through. So I hold onto my duplicates and trade stock, waiting for the day when I can meet up with someone and horse trade. 

That said, it is still a lot of fun, isnt it?  Plenty of stuff to be interested in, and many fine people on HT!!!!!!!


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## 22tall (Jul 28, 2002)

Good points Grandcheapskate and Splitposter. I have been collecting since 1962 and have never sold a car. If you see my stuff on the bay it means something really bad has happened to me. I have never looked at my collection as an investment. I enjoy having them and my friends enjoy looking at them.


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