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Post by Brandon on Mar 24, 2009 22:21:30 GMT -6
I REALLY want to know how that happens? (without the 'helping hand' of shifty Ebay sellers, LOL) How did sooo many really cool kits never get opened... just to look over the parts? Who has this time machine and why does he insist on bringing back models instead of other stuff?  I couldn't even wait to get home, I'd rip the plastic off in the car and pull out the tires and hold the body and look over the engine and options. I could see being a kid and getting a bunch of models for a holiday or something and not building them ( yeah, right..) but HOW DO YOU NOT CRACK THE PLASTIC? Who would not crack open a Rommel's Rod just to look at the skeletons, if nothing else? I have trouble believing they ALL came from closed down drug stores and hobby shops... Any thoughts? Did YOU ever leave anything sealed? |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2009 23:04:32 GMT -6
Not likely to happen back then...LOL Geez I remember going through kits in the car - waiting for the parents to quaf their pint - playing with pilots (when it was aircraft) and making them fall to their deaths... Sick ain't I??? But that was then - I wonder at times when I see those adds on the evil....
Lance
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Post by RodBurNeR on Mar 25, 2009 2:42:56 GMT -6
a lot of the sealed vintage stuff was rounded up by "collectors/dealers" over the years. what's funny is a lot of them old sealed kits have been bought and sold many times since being found.
I sold a kit on ebay last year to the ORIGINAL owner from California! I live in Nebraska and he knew the kit was his because of the price tag......crazy stuff! He wanted info about the tag to make sure it was "his".....or he would not buy it.
I used to run an antique and collectibles store with my wife. we got a call one day to come clean out the basement of an old Hallmark store.....much to our surprise there was STILL mint toys on the stock shelves such as TONKA trucks from the 50s and 60s! there was a bunch of other types of toys too, but we got it all! We were amazed it was sitting down there all them years while the store was STILL in business!
that's just ONE story of how it is these old things are still found like new. ;D
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Post by A.J. on Mar 25, 2009 4:58:18 GMT -6
Well Brandon, like Bob Black I had the opportunity to buy the remaining stock from a hobby store that was closed down in the mid 80s. There weren't any models left as he had sold that stock several years before I got to it but the late 60's Hot Wheels tracks and accessories were to die for. I filled the back of my truck and part of the extended cab area to the roof. The main thing about it is that they made thousands and thousands of this stuff back then and lots of it got shuffled out as the new stuff came in. Mostly into warehouses and such until somebody turns it up. I remember when my local hobby store was pretty much on it's last leg. They had zero models in their store but every once in awhile they'd open up the second story of the building for a sale and low and behold there were shelves of obsolete kits. Unfortunately at the time I really didn't do anything with collecting and wasn't building. I believe that the kid that worked there for years ended up with the remaining stock when the place finally closed down. The stuff is out there but I will agree, even to this day I'll crack open a new kit to look over the parts. I'll never crack open a vintage kit worth dollars though. Too many opened ones out there to buy for me to throw away money like that.
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Post by Paul B. Canney on Mar 25, 2009 5:55:23 GMT -6
There's nothing like cracking the seal on a 70's Monogram kit, sticking your face in the box and taking a big old hit.
well, 'cept maybe a fresh mimeograph
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Post by gluepuddle on Mar 25, 2009 6:11:31 GMT -6
There's nothing like cracking the seal on a 70's Monogram kit, sticking your face in the box and taking a big old hit. well, 'cept maybe a fresh mimeograph |
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Post by bozobutt on Mar 25, 2009 6:13:45 GMT -6
I didn't think people these days remembered such things..my 93 years young Grandmother still has an old cylinder Victrola that she never lifts the lid on...and it smells wonderful! ;D
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Post by dpaintbizer on Mar 25, 2009 6:25:56 GMT -6
I werked at a hobby store in downtown Grayslake, Ill....Every payday, when I got my check, the owner would let me pick out a model too ! I also ended buying another kit as well, sometimes two ! But the stock didn't turn over every week, so I found my self getting the same "Wacky" rods again and again !! At one time, I had 3~4 sealed "Rommels", "Taxis" & "Dragon Wagons" eaisily Plus many others that I never got around to building, or even opening !!! Till the fire.....and thats a whole nuther story  ............... ~ Dpaintbizer Dean ! |
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pknopp
Showrod Builder
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Post by pknopp on Mar 25, 2009 7:55:56 GMT -6
This is an interesting question with answers from many sources. Many unopened Hot Wheels did indeed come from service station stock that was never used. There were a small numbers of collectors even back then that didn't open their stuff.
I knew a long time toy retailer (he ran the toy dept in a local dept store for years) and then opened a place in the mall when they store when out of business. The stuff he had stashed was amazing. He kept nearly every display and salesman sample he was gave. I tried to buy the Flap Jack counter display but just couldn't touch it (it all went to auction). I did get some amazing stuff though.
I once bought a super mint Barbie that a lady who made doll clothes as a hobby had put in her closet and simply forgot about. It hadn't even seen the light of day for 35 years.
I know where a room full of unopened models from the 80's and early 90's are. Thing is, they are just not worth what he believes them to be worth. Someday though.
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Post by RatRod on Mar 25, 2009 9:09:22 GMT -6
Well, it does happen!!! This is a good question, just yesterday I was out in storage digging around looking for stuff, and was amazed at all the kits I own that are still sealed....  I am like you guys too, I can't wait to open a new kit up, and see what is inside, but I also have bought more than one of many kits that are still sealed. I'm also like AJ in the fact that I own many old rare kits that are sealed, that will remain that way as long as I own them, and a lot of 'em are sealed with tape (that's how old they are!!) There are downfalls to the celo sealed kits though, the boxes get distorted from the celo shrinking, and the older kits have tires that will melt plastic.....  This last thing is why I try to buy older kits that are open, then I can put the tires in a separate plastic baggie.
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Post by Tory on Mar 25, 2009 12:04:57 GMT -6
There's nothing like cracking the seal on a 70's Monogram kit, sticking your face in the box and taking a big old hit. well, 'cept maybe a fresh mimeograph God! I love those smells! Monogram kits DEFINITELY had their own unique smell. ;D And don't get me started on freshly printed mimeograph sheets...although I'm sure my IQ would be 20 points higher if not for all those indigo ink "hits"... |
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Post by Brandon on Mar 25, 2009 12:55:14 GMT -6
And don't get me started on freshly printed mimeograph sheets...although I'm sure my IQ would be 20 points higher if not for all those indigo ink "hits"... X2 on that...  |
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Post by gwangiboy on Mar 25, 2009 13:39:33 GMT -6
There's nothing like cracking the seal on a 70's Monogram kit, sticking your face in the box and taking a big old hit. well, 'cept maybe a fresh mimeograph God! I love those smells! Monogram kits DEFINITELY had their own unique smell. ;D And don't get me started on freshly printed mimeograph sheets...although I'm sure my IQ would be 20 points higher if not for all those indigo ink "hits"... A couple of years ago I found some Testors models at Big Logs and bought the Camaro ... opened it up and the same exact smell of those old Monograms was right there! My wife thought I was insane when I was going on about it -- like how could a person get excited over a smell?! ;D |
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Post by Rodger on Mar 25, 2009 14:14:12 GMT -6
After getting stiffed with a missing tyre in my Lil Coffin I will open the kit in the shop and have a quick check.
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Post by davea on Mar 25, 2009 18:18:52 GMT -6
I think some of those unopened kits come from some of us buying 2-3 or more of the same kit. You rip open one but don't touch the others, and sometimes on down the road they turn up at yard sales, swaps, or Ebay.
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Post by Brandon on Mar 25, 2009 18:40:07 GMT -6
I think some of those unopened kits come from some of us buying 2-3 or more of the same kit. You rip open one but don't touch the others, and sometimes on down the road they turn up at yard sales, swaps, or Ebay. Yeah, but the ones from the '60s and '70s?? Who was buying multiples... It baffles me still. |
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Post by rapidtransit on Mar 25, 2009 19:39:39 GMT -6
I still have all the Revell 1/16th dragsters and funny cars sealed
from when I was 16 year old I guess i lost interest in them and never opened them up. But I sure like the smell of the 70's Monogram kit;s, you could almost eat them. ;D
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Post by ShowRodFreak Don V. on Mar 25, 2009 21:36:03 GMT -6
You mean like.............................. a Black Max Trike. ;D
I just can't find myself to opeing it. Maybe one of these days
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Post by badroadahead on Mar 26, 2009 6:07:37 GMT -6
Back then mine were opened as soon as I got in the car........come to think of it things haven't changed!! I still open them in the car!!!
Monogram has it's own distinctive smell.....as did a fresh mimeograph copy.......Remember when the teacher handed them out in class and everyone's face lit up as they gave a long sniff.....
I do have a couple unoppened kits, only because I had purchased doubles, none from those years though.
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Post by donculley on Mar 26, 2009 8:48:23 GMT -6
I can see some kits hanging around and never getting opened . If some kid got one as a gift, and it was a crappy kit or something he wasn't interested in , it may have been stored away .
Now I can't see how a showrod or custom car could have spent 30+ years unopened ,I would think curiosity would get any kid to open it up !
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Post by AL on Mar 27, 2009 13:25:01 GMT -6
I DO eat 70's Monogram kits, "Delicious"
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...............
I am like you guys too, I can't wait to open a new kit up, and see what is inside, but I also have bought more than one of many kits that are still sealed. I'm also like AJ in the fact that I own many old rare kits that are sealed, that will remain that way as long as I own them, and a lot of 'em are sealed with tape (that's how old they are!!) There are downfalls to the celo sealed kits though, the boxes get distorted from the celo shrinking, and the older kits have tires that will melt plastic..... 
This last thing is why I try to buy older kits that are open, then I can put the tires in a separate plastic baggie.
