If you’re like me, I was a model car collector as a child (and even as an adult). Most of them were 1/25 scale AMT kits that I bought and assembled (with or without paint) back in my pre-teen years. When I became an adult, the detailed (and expensive) Franklin Mint models caught my attention. The seller has a collection of more than 70 models that was accumulated by a retired gentleman. We’re guessing he has passed on, and the seller doesn’t share his affinity for these cars. Located in Hayden, Idaho, this collection is available as a package deal here on craigslist for $1,975 OBO. Thanks for the tip, “Spokane Jeff”!
My first impression is that this group of models is/was a labor of love. He spent a lot of time and money assembling this assortment with no particular inclination for automobile brand, year, or type. There’s even a police car in the mix. The goal may have been to have a traveling miniature car show that even comes with a display table and a building (gas station or car lot?). I’m guessing all these cars, trucks, and other things are 1/43 scale since the photos show a real, live collector car parked next to the table.
But how did all of these come to be? Did the seller buy them already assembled and painted from manufacturers who specialize in these things? Or did he take the time and effort to do all the heavy lifting himself? I’m guessing the former is the case, and it would be nice to know who the sources were, as some of them look to be darn accurate.
The seller says the cars come with their boxes, but they’re not shown in the really good photos that are supplied. At the seller’s asking price, the models work out to about $28 each with no value placed on the table or building. Trades will be considered, and the items that are at the top of the seller’s wish list are a mini-bike, motorcycle, go-kart, or some tools. Just the right kind of buyer will need to come forward, as most of the folks looking at the listing might want this Ford or that Chevrolet and not the whole enchilada.
I’ve collected model kits,it seems forever.I have a bunch of
(mostly) unbuilt ones that I’ll probably never get around to building.
I’ve often thought about selling them off.
Johan had the coolest models nobody else made.
Rare body styles!
Keep us in mind!
That’s an awesome collection! Love the Rebel Machine. Hard kit to find, and pretty pricey too!
Here’s most of the rest of them.
That’s a cool collection of unbuilt models. I spy…. a Ford LNT kit. I mentioned these a week or two ago when the Ford Louisville truck was on BF.
That is an impressive collection you have Angliagt. I see the Louisville on the top of the stack too, that would be a fun build.
If you decide to sell, check the prices on Ebay 1st. About 10 years ago I was a little short of cash and sold 3 I had never put together as a kid. MPC ’69 Impala conv, JoHan ’62 Dodge Dart and another I can’t remember. I got 175 bucks altogether. At one time I had about 50 or so that were assembled. When I was about 22 (1980) I took them all to the flea market and sold them for 25 cents apiece. Even put together ones bring a good buck on Ebay. These look mostly like 1/25 scale kits. I recognize the ’64 AMT Malibu wagon with the custom roof rack. and some others. A lot of memories there.
I can say without reservation, if you are a fan of this site, there’s an excellent chance you built models as a kid. I’m not sure the scale, but I don’t think these are 1/43, the detail is too much, and look to be all plastic models, 1/32? Many parts appear to be hand made, extremely difficult with 1/43. I had a big collection too, but after the drivers license, and being able to have the real thing, or a reasonable facsimile there of, models fell by the wayside. My daughter got me one of those “visible V8s” as a gift, the Haynes one. I had the Revell one as a kid, with poor results, but this Haynes one was really well engineered, and I strongly recommend building one. As far as models again, you can never go home, and old “shaky” hands tests the patience, and after having the real thing, it’s not that much fun. Plus,,,they aren’t $1.99 anymore! What is? I do like the Jeep one, natch.
This is a terrific collection. That really had to have taken a lot of time and patience. And I’m sure they really enjoyed collecting them, and making them. I fall exactly in the catagory of Howard, Bob and Angliagt, and I’m sure others will comment on here as well. I made a ton of models as a kid. I love cars ( and trucks and tractors and………… well you know). If I had money and space to spare, I’d like something like this. Thank you very much for writing this up Russ. I saw this on Fast-finds and hoped this would get featured. And Spokane Jeff for the tip too. And I hope they goto a good new home.
I don’t know of a present car car nut that didn’t own or build car models. I know I did but not to the extent for sale here. We’re down to 2 models of the Mini Coopers we have owned but I do check the model display every time I go to the drug store. Seems to be in our blood. My cousin gave me a Hess truck hauling a Viper for my birthday that lives in our garage work shop so I guess it runs in my family. Long time friend and car nut gave me a Porsche Type 1 in a box with a viewing window that is also in the garage with the box unopened. They’re everywhere!
That’s a very interesting observation bobhess. I suspect most of us Barn Finders had model cars or trucks, or Matchbox cars or trucks, or Hot Wheels. I had all three, not a big collection of any of them, but I had some nonetheless. My built models are down to three, plus my small collection of promo cars. Plus I still have a few of the Matchbox and Hot Wheels. Most are in “well played with” condition– kind of like when we see cars here which are described as “used but not abused.”
You made me laugh Bob. I still have some of my Matchbox and Hotwheels. But unfortunately, not in good condition. Lets just say that if they were real, and shown on Barnfinds……….
They’d be classified as parts cars with salvage titles!!! But I still wont part with them. I’m sure that ince I’m gone, I’m sure they’ll probably go too.
I always thought that the allure of model kits was to actually build them. I don’t think that I would have much satisfaction in buying models that someone else has already built.
I haven’t seen that many model boxes in one place since when I used to buy them at J.J. Newberry’s for 2.99 each. Obviously, a while ago.
I remember going to the local Pico Rivera Serv-Mart discount store where model kits were 99 cents. (I’m dating myself).
It has been some years ago, but back then I was blown away by Michael Paul Smiths vintage photography using models like these. He didn’t just use the cars, he made all the supporting houses, furniture, everything to make a realistic foreground with a real background mix seamlessly. He had so many scenes that he created a fictional town, Elgin Park, to feature them all. I wrote to him, (remember when you did that) and found that he had just passed away. However his photography lives on and I now see others using his same style. The estate was looking for a museum or venue his work and I hope they found it.
If I had the time and energy, I would buy this collection and try to mimic his work. The price is cheap, and the collection would be a great start.
Here is a nice link to Michael Pauls work:
https://fstoppers.com/bts/model-maker-turns-toy-cars-nostalgic-life-images-200-point-and-shoot-867
1/24th-1/25th scale for sure, I have a few of the same ones.
What a great looking collection. I collected and built model cars since I was in grade school. I am 77 now and have since given all of my collection away to another model car collector. I had over 13 orange crate boxes full of models. There were a number of kits that were still in there original boxes with the plastic wrap still in tact. I first got started when my cousin gave me his models from the 50s. I had a lot of fun with the models and wanted them to go to a good home for someone else to enjoy them as I did.
It’s a sickness. I “helped” my older brother with his models in the early 1960s and inherited many of them when he went into the Air Force in 1964. I continued buying and building them through all these years. Luckily, my mom didn’t throw them out when I went to college and I retrieved several boxes when we bought a home of our own. I slowed down over the years – jobs and kids have a pesky way of taking up time and money. I’ve gotten back into it since retirement. Our farmhouse is about 150 years old and has a cellar instead of a basement but I made a little shop down there. On a day like today when it was 14 degrees below 0 I can just go down and play a little. My older brother is still one of my heros so this year I made a 67 ElCamino to match his original paint/engine/interior red 396 ElCamino. They don’t make a 67 model, but they do make a 66 ElCamino and a 67 SS 396 so I cut the front off each and made a 67. I painted and detailed it to match and gave it to him for Christmas. He was almost as excited as I was.
I tried posting this picture right after the above post but got a message that I was blocked from Barn Finds. Apparently I was a security risk! I contacted Jesse and he checked into it and he had not seen that before. Maybe a scam? Anyway this is kind of a test post.
A couple other commenters here have questioned the price put on the above collection. I too think it’s a stretch. You better be in it for the love of cars and not think you’ll make a killing. A good friend collected Chevrolet promo models. Ones prior to the early 70s are valuable but he ended up with dozens of cases of 80s – 90s Corvettes that almost weren’t worth selling. A friend and I bought dozens at $5.00 each and he donated several cases to the Boy Scouts to give away as door prizes!
Lots of interesting models shown above but I think the ask is too much.
I built many model cars when I was young, up to age 16, (got my driver’s license then) I kept them all these years, I’m 70 now, I just sold them last year to a dealer, boxes of parts, some new never built, my dremel tools, etc. I don’t have a steady hand to mess with them anymore. This is a nice collection here.
I’ve been in the scale model car industry for decades.
These all look to be built plastic kits, which have no value in the trade market, unless it’s based on an extremely rare kit that could be disassembled and rebuilt. Even at that, it’d be of limited dollar value. I see nothing like that here. Buyers want mint in box kits, not built examples.
So you’d have to want these pieces in your own collection and this collection is a giant haphazard focus, at best. If it were all Corvettes, or Fords, or whatever, but it’s not.
There may be some Mint (Franklin, Danbury) models hiding in there, but I don’t notice any offhand. They’d likely be displayed with the doors and hoods open. Most are not that. Mint models generally trade at $50, and must be pristine with box, along with any other doo dads that came with. And that is if you can find a buyer. That market is saturated. They are now “Hummels on wheels”. Again, extremely rare, pristine examples could fetch more.
The $28 average price for built AMT/Revell/Monogram 1/24-1/25 scale kits is “all the money”. Actually, a lot more than that. At my local, very active model car club, built kits go for $5 to people who want to the them apart for customizing projects.
Sorry.
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Thanks Bluesman. Always good to have comments from someone who is “in the business.”
I just see a lot of info here that is less than helpful to someone making an evaluation.
For assembled plastic model car kits to have any sort of meaningful value, they have to be built by genuine craftsmen, fully painted, and, in general, have exceptional details added to the engines and interiors. And be significant subject matter as well.
A 66 Galaxie built straight from a plastic kit and not painted or detailed in any way does not meet any of those criteria. It’s nothing more than plastic parts, glued together.
Certainly, people can pay what they want for this stuff. If they need it, buy it. But for someone hoping to find some marketplace value in this collection here, it’s very limited.
From someone in the hobby, and very aware of what appears to be shown in these pictures, these are almost all very rudimentary builds. Many appear to be unpainted plastic. None of them appear to be Mint diecast models.
I see these kinds of built models all the time at swap meets and model car club meetings. Unless the underlying kit is exceedingly rare and valuable, $5 is the going rate for build model cars that look like this. At least around here.
When I go to model shows vendors will have old built cars for sale usually glue bombs. Maybe a rare kit can be restored but usually the are broke up for parts.
I’ve never sold a built car but have given them to someone who likes a particular car. Like many builders I got about 100 unbuilts in my stash, once you build it not worth anything.
Loved putting these together when I was younger. Built many a 1/24 scale muscle car, street rod model(s)
My last one I built to exact colors and everything, was a 1969 442 W30 model.
Still have it, but it is in the box. Had it displayed and people couldn’t keep their hands off of it so some pieces came off.
Still have a few in the plastic wrappers…
Did anyone have Dinky Toys model cars? These were the first toy cars I had as a kid and as I remember they were mostly British versions. Metal and not very detailed. I outgrew them pretty quickly and, like most everyone else here, built an excessive number of model kits…they were all over the house for awhile. Great fun, great memories from 70 years ago.
Hi Mike. I had lots of Dinky Toys and one fine day my friends and I dug a hole and built a bridge over it to connect to our sandpit road network. I drove my 1950 Ford out onto that flimsy bridge and we lit the supports on fire. We watched my favourite Dinky melt into a glob of white metal. Fun days.
Back in the early 70’s, I used to find unbuilt model car kits at the flea market for about 25 cents each. I guess people bought these kits for their kids who had no interest in building them so they were unloaded at the flea market. AMTs were my favorite. I had an assembly line on my dad’s work bench where I would work on 3 cars at a time. As the paint/glue dried on car #1, I’d move on to car #2. As the paint/glue dried on car #2, I’d move on to car #3 so forth and so on.
I built many kits when I was a teen. For the past 35 years I have been collecting 1/43 scale Diecast, white metal and resin models.
Me too. Every chance I got I was either haunting the hobby shops or down in the kids corner of the basement gluing and painting away. I can still smell the Testors glue. Besides model cars my pastime included ships, planes and even metal models made by Hubley. I entered some of my better efforts in contests but I never won anything but honorable mention. But I had a lot of fun and what else was I going to spend my lawn mowing money on? Oh yeah and there was the glue too.
Nice collection
I too have collected cars my whole life. My dad and I would build them together at first, he was a much better painter! Later on, I saved and bought the latest JoHan, MPC etc promo cars from the local drugstore. I also had Match Box, Hot Wheels, etc, but they always seemed to “disappear” around my little brother. When my collection reached about 50 and I had to “protect them” from my little brother, my father built me a 36″x60″ wall mounted display case. It is one of my most treasured possessions. Meanwhile in retirement, my father started collecting the expensive 1/24 Franklin and Danbury Mint die cast cars. He accumulated about 50 that I inherited when he passed. He built display shelves all around his home office. In addition to those, he inherited a large collection of 1/18 die cast cars also. He lined two walls in his “collector Garage” with mirrors and glass shelves. He must have had close to 100 out there. My brother and I split the 1/18 collection when my Dad passed and we were able to split and reuse all the mirrors and glass shelves in our garages. Now when I pull into my home garage, I see all the collectables that my Dad loved and good memories hit me every day!!
Great collection, shipping will be a problem, many little parts might not survive. One of my careers was working at an antique auction house. A lot of things had to be wrapped in toilet paper before bubble wrap. When I was making kits I would save parts from other kits and add parts on other kits to Soup them up. Let’s not get started on Hot Wheel cars… I got about 500 of newer ones, and about 50 Red Lines. One day, my heirs are gonna curse me.
Made my share of 1/25th scale models back in the late 50s early 60s. Saved them in the basement of my hose after I got married. Had a three year old son who took a hammer to them for some unknown reason! None survived. That’s the short story. He’s 51 now. I’m 80. I always marvelled at the detail of these kits. If you looked close you could see the MPH increments on the dash of some of them. This way before CNC! B.
I tried building one as a kid. Never finished it! All I remember is getting fingerprints on the painted body and glued my fingers together, too many times! I guess that I wasn’t very coordinated back then!
I, like most boys in the mid 60’s, collected Hot Wheels. I still have my original case and cars in good condition. I even found some first editions, still in the original packaging.
I’ve always enjoyed the larger die cast model cars with the great details!
Don’t ask about my Hot Wheels collection…
Thousands…The wife adds to the collection all the time… (Hey we don’t have one of those)
My wife and kids give me a hard time because I still collect Hot Wheels and other assorted brands of cars. I only collect 1968/1969 Pontiac GTO’s. My favorite car. Sadly, that’s the only way I can afford a “mint” GTO right now.
Is that a BSA motorcycle on the left in one of the pictures?
What an amazing collection. I’ve only built two kits, one a Visible V8 when I was a kid and the second years afterward was a ’40 Ford that I turned into a convertible. Slot cars don’t necessiarily qualify I guess, but I did customize the heck out of mine with rewound motors and better tires etc when I was in high school. I do have two models now though: a Franklin Mint ’35 Auburn Boattail 851 Speedster and a Danbury Mint ’57 Chevy convertible. Both are 1:24 scale diecast.
I bought my first AMT kit in 1958, I guess as it was a ’58 Ford. I was 14. Do the math and see I’ll be 82 this summer. In my late teens I destroyed many of them (BB guns, fire, towed down a gravel road in Saskatchewan). Big regrets about that. I had a working ’59 Ford retractable H/T that we crashed and burned while my friend filmed it with his 8 mm movie camera. It looked really good. An AMT kit I think. After my kids were raised I got back into it and now have about 160 — 70% I built. I have them all displayed on 6 shelves in my basement. Last summer we heard a crash and my wife and I thought it came from outside. But when I went downstairs I found two of my top shelves had collapsed and about 50 of my collection lay smashed on the carpet. I just got finished repairing them all and back in their place last week, but they are not the same. My kids and grandkids are not interested in them. But I’m still building. The cheapest kit is about $45 now in B.C.
I only built a few .models when I was young. I was also one of those uncoordinated ones that glued their fingers to the body. I was a late bloomer. I have metal prebuilt cars that have meaning to me. White SVO, ’55 CORVETTE, BLUE MINI COOPER, 55 CHEV. But the one I cherish most is one a buddy of mine built me for a Christmas present many years ago.He is one of those craftsman that makes what isn’t available. He built a replica of my ’55 Chevy convertible that I had in high-school. Same color, engine, exhaust wheels, etc. I also have a,metal GMC Savana van given to me by GM Commercial Division for my van sales effort in 2005.
What a great friend, and a very skilled one it sounds like. I did that with the ’40 Ford I made for my high school competition too and it turned out great, but partly due to sheer luck rather than skill. I got the maroon color almost perfect by using two different colors but interestingly I didn’t even know they came in Maroon until many years later. I just kept spraying on paint until it looked right to me. :-)
Have Hot Wheels, 1/24 and 1/18 scale cars, found some original redlines last year, and thrift store has bags of Hot Wheels often, even got a bag of plastic 1/24s. I’m a car addict, any size. Some plasic ones go for good $.
I built probably 100 or so plastic car models when I was a kid.(Still have them, stored in the basement) Like others said, when you turned 16 and had your own car, the model building stopped, but I was working on real cars instead…and girls. LOL.
The model or built car that I’m looking for is a,1981 FORD THUNDERBIRD. I have an ’81 Ford Durango and would like to build a model of it. Ford started with a Fairmont Futera Sport Coupe and had the body modified from there. The Thunderbird is the same body style so I doubt that anyone made a model of the Futera Sport Coupe. I might find one made for the Thunderbird.
Anyone ever see one? I still have in the box a 1965 Plymouth Baracuda to commemorate the 3 that I used to have. And one that is the copy of the Thunderbird that Bill Elliot drove. (I have known Bill for over 30 years.,)
Hi Wayne,
To my knowledge, no company has made the ’81 T-Bird as a kit. There may be a 3d printed one out there and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a Fairmont close to that vintage as a 3D printed/resin car but I’m not exactly sure. You might Google them or if you’re on Facebook, check out Resin Model Cars and Parts. They might be able to point you in the right direction. Good luck!
Thanks Bob!
In my younger days, I had hundreds of 1/25 built models, wrapped in paper towels, none painted. If I only knew then what I know now (sigh).
Where is my comment with an appropriate link?
As so many of you guys have said, I also built many 1/25’s as a kid. I still have a few that I entered in the local hobby shop’s yearly model contest. Still have several trophies too. I also have about a dozen old Ford promotional models, along with some Corvettes. These days I collect the Franklin and Danbury Mint cars, have 63 of them, along with another 175 1/18 scale diecasts, just about all of them are muscle cars from the 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s. These are all displayed in plexiglass cases, along with a sign that says “Still Plays With Cars”.
My wife bought me aT-shirt that says. STILL PLAYS WITH BLOCKS with a picture of an engine block.
I would be interested in the two AMC Rebels, angliagt!
Aren’t we all?
I’ve been a model builder/collector for over 50 years and it looks like the builder did a nice job on those models. Most of them are not particularly rare and many are still available but there are definitely some nice builds there. I have many, if not most of those in my stash as well and hopefully they will go to a good home.
Growing up in the late 70’s in Charleston SC we had a model shop in the mall with a contest for best model builds. What excitement at maybe 10-13yrs old to see everyone’s artistry under glass changed out every week or two and one win I really remember! A few years later my brother had a street built 69 mustang convertible also shown yearly with the mustang club (driven inside the mall) before college in that mall (northwoods) – what a great life!
I’ve been building since ’65. None of those survive, they all met a firey or explosive end. Now there’s 300-400 in cabinets, and around 80 in the stash. Too hot here to build.
I started building when I was 5.
By the time I hit 13 I was a factory building 5 or 6 models at a time.
By the time I could get a part time job the local toy store was going under and I bought them out.
Then Dad threw them away.
Forward 25 years, I got stationed in Korea; the boredom of where I was got me into building WW2 aircraft.
I was a regular customer of the toy store in Munsan, sent a bunch kits home.
The RoK army Lt of the barracks was fascinated by my skills.
My office has at least 30 planes hanging from the ceiling, then there is my shop with the 1/32 scales, 50 lb fishing line has held up well.
Years ago I got a slew of Dukes of Hazard Chargers, and painted each with a quarky color of the period, even avocado.