How rare is it really and what is it worth?

[IceMan Collections]

The SMP/AMT 1911 Chevy kit. I saw a posting on eBay for it and although the seller is right that I had never heard of it, is any kit really worth over $1700. 

 

Not trying to ruffle anyone's feathers, but curiosity has gotten the best of me.

 

Thoughts?

[Craig Irwin]

It's VERY rare, and worth what someones willing to pay for it. $1.700 ? Not me, especially when resin repops are available.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I don't think any single small-scale plastic model kit is worth what you can buy a decent (if ratty) running 1:1 pickup for. 

[StevenGuthmiller]

Yeah, I don't mind paying a good price for a really nice rare kit.

 I've heard that this is one of the rarest kits out there, but it'll be a very cold day, you know where, when I pay that kind of money for one.

People buy entire collections of rare old annuals for less money!

I believe I'll pass.

I don't think any single small-scale plastic model kit is worth what you can buy a decent (if ratty) running 1:1 pickup for. 

By the way Bill, I love your "profile photo".

Looks like it could be something straight from Terry Gilliam's desk!

 

Steve

[Art Anderson]

The SMP/AMT 1911 Chevy kit. I saw a posting on eBay for it and although the seller is right that I had never heard of it, is any kit really worth over $1700. 

 

Not trying to ruffle anyone's feathers, but curiosity has gotten the best of me.

 

Thoughts?

That ranks as one of the rarest, if not THE rarest of all American-made plastic model kits--was one production run only, for Chevrolet, in 1961, as part of Chevy's 50th Anniversary Year.   As with any auction, the item being bid on may well be worth what you see, at least to the persons bidding it up there.

That said, Missing Link Models has an exact copy of that in resin, for a mere fraction of what's been bid on the actual SMP plastic kit!

Art

[gtx6970]

value is determined by the buyer at any given time.

 

I've seen 2 of those kits sell in the past year.

One sold at over 1700.

The other didnt break 500

[IceMan Collections]

Yeah I can see that.  The value is in the eye of the buyer, and hopefully, for them anyways, there at least one buyer out there willing to invest.  The crazy thing is that the buyers have not driven the price to this.  It's a Buy It Now!

[Ace-Garageguy]

... The crazy thing is that the buyers have not driven the price to this.  It's a Buy It Now!

There's a lot of that on Ebay. I collect a few things, like old music, and I'll often see an over $100 or more BIN price on the same thing I can get for under $20 with a little comparative shopping.

Getting caught up in the "OMG it's the last one in the universe and I have to have it today" hysterical mindset can be very expensive.

[69NovaYenko]

The SMP/AMT 1911 Chevy kit. I saw a posting on eBay for it and although the seller is right that I had never heard of it, is any kit really worth over $1700. 

 

Not trying to ruffle anyone's feathers, but curiosity has gotten the best of me.

 

Thoughts?

Yeah I can see that.  The value is in the eye of the buyer, and hopefully, for them anyways, there at least one buyer out there willing to invest.  The crazy thing is that the buyers have not driven the price to this.  It's a Buy It Now!

 

I don't think any single small-scale plastic model kit is worth what you can buy a decent (if ratty) running 1:1 pickup for. 

At that price would you build the darn thing??? Cause, once it`s built the value drops through the floor...just playing devils advocate.

[Daddyfink]

Cool and Neat, but, I wouldn't give you $10 bucks for it! And that is only because I have no interest in it. 

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Looks like good rat-rod material to me.   

[Tom Geiger]

And every time something sells for high dollar on eBay, it prompts several people into action and they all offer the same kit the following week!  

 

 

 

[charlie8575]

And every time something sells for high dollar on eBay, it prompts several people into action and they all offer the same kit the following week!  

 

 

 

And just as frequently as not, because of the market availability, the price drops some, if not a huge amount due to the old bugaboo of so many...supply and demand.

I have the Missing Link resin- it's fantastic, and about a 95% discount over that. With that said, if I had a that much money to blow, I'd still consider it, and make a neat little display in my case with that as an unbuilt example, and then build Kevin's resin to display with it.

Charlie Larkin

[IceMan Collections]

And every time something sells for high dollar on eBay, it prompts several people into action and they all offer the same kit the following week!  

 

 

 

Not to mention that sometimes when they do sell for extreme prices, the exact same one is relisted immediately by the same seller for a higher price.  Smells fishy to me.

 

 

[1930fordpickup]

Looks like good rat-rod material to me.   

A year ago someone sold two built ups on EBAY and they went reasonable for an early 60's built up. More than I would pay but it was around the 100.00 range. 

This is the only thought I had when I put in my bid. Rat with a new Hemi . 

[Pete J.]

All valid points but here is what it comes down to.  Why do you want to buy it?  If you are a wealthy collector(I don't think many here are) then you may be willing to pay anything to "complete" your collection.  If you are a guy who wants to build a 1911 then it probably doesn't matter if you have an original or a repop.  Your going to build it and when you are done, no one will be able to tell what your source was.  If you are a resin caster and you can make repops for $30 or $40 a piece, then it may be worth it to make a mold from the original part.  A lot of different reasons.  It is worth $1,700? Perhaps to someone who doesn't share your motivation, but that doesn't make their motivation any less real or correct.  It just makes it different.  After all any model is worth exactly what someone is willing to pay for or what someone else is willing to part with it for. 

Interestingly, there was an episode of American Pickers that highlighted a person who had a collection of slot cars.  Now by a collection I am not talking about a tub or two of them but a small warehouse full.  Literally thousands of them.  Some of them went back to the early 1900's.  He was looking to sell the entire collection for $1,000,000 and it had been valued at $1,500,000.  Anyone interested?  No?  I thought not. 

Although many of us have collections(or stashes if you will) not many of us are true collectors.  The true collector is concerned about more than we builders are.  They are concerned about originality, completeness and condition of boxes, etc.  Each of these impacts the ultimate value.  As builder, for the most part we just care if all the parts are there and we can build a model out of it.  Different POV.  If you see something that looks ridiculously over price, try stepping into the other guys shoes and see if you can understand their motivation.  It is much more informative and interesting than taking a pot shot at them.  Indecently Joel, that looks like how you started this post.  Good for you!

[IceMan Collections]

Thanks for playing devils advocate here, Pete.  Valid attempt at turning this into a negative thread. Let's not let that happen, because that was not my intent when I created this thread.

Nobody is taking shots at this guy and no need to get defensive.  Good for him if it's worth that much to him.

I was in deed curious to see if anyone else shared his point of view. I completely understand all of your explanations of every single POV you could think of.  I honestly didn't think of all those.  None the less, it seems you wouldn't be interested in buying this kit at the listed price either.

Thanks to everyone for sharing your thoughts.  I always find these auctions curious and since I had never heard of the kit, I wanted to know what other builders/collectors thought. 

Edited May 6, 2016 by iceman-555

[StevenGuthmiller]

Cool and Neat, but, I wouldn't give you $10 bucks for it! And that is only because I have no interest in it. 

 

That was my first thought too!

 

Steve

[signguy2108]

I don't think any single small-scale plastic model kit is worth what you can buy a decent (if ratty) running 1:1 pickup for. 

Bill, you can buy a NICE looking vehicle around here for 1700! I saw a "professionally built" box stock snap kit pete on ebay yesterday for 70.00 bucks! and some clueless soul will probably buy it.

[Pete J.]

Thanks for playing devils advocate here, Pete.  Valid attempt at turning this into a negative thread. Let's not let that happen, because that was not my intent when I created this thread.

Nobody is taking shots at this guy and no need to get defensive.  Good for him if it's worth that much to him.

I was in deed curious to see if anyone else shared his point of view. I completely understand all of your explanations of every single POV you could think of.  I honestly didn't think of all those.  None the less, it seems you wouldn't be interested in buying this kit at the listed price either.

Thanks to everyone for sharing your thoughts.  I always find these auctions curious and since I had never heard of the kit, I wanted to know what other builders/collectors thought. 

Joel, Sorry if I stated my position in a less than effective way.  I was actually trying to side with you and keep it minds open to other points of view.  I think you made a good point and I wasn't intentionally headed to the negative side.  It just seems every time one of these threads comes up somebody jumps on the "Well that's just stupid!" bike and peddles off into the distance without considering other POV's. 

Understanding collectors and collections is challenging at best.  I found the narrative on the eBay post most informative and see the value to someone who has a room full of "mint in the box" models.  We all just need to realize that internet sales are a "world wide" proposition.   The seller is obviously a collector and the collector market is obviously who he is going for.  I am going to follow that sale, because I am interested to see if it actually goes for that. 

 Would I spend $1,700 on a kit?  Yup!  Been there, done that.  Would I spend $1,700 on that kit.  Nope, doesn't appeal to me because I am a builder with a stash, not a collector who builds.

[Harry P.]

A 1911 Chevrolet must be incredibly rare, seeing as how the first production Chevrolet to be sold to the public was the 1913 Chevrolet.

[Snake45]

That was my first thought too!

 

Steve

Mine too. In fact, that photo looks like what I have left in the box after I build an AMT '25T rod.

[Mark]

A 1911 Chevrolet must be incredibly rare, seeing as how the first production Chevrolet to be sold to the public was the 1913 Chevrolet.

The kit represents the prototype: the first Chevrolet, the only one created with the input of the man himself.  Design work started in 1911, with the first cars produced for sale as 1913 models.  You can't walk down the street without seeing the name, yet hardly anyone knows anything about Louis Chevrolet, or even knows that he wasn't with the company long after the first cars were built. 

The current issue of Collectible Automobile includes a short article on the only restored, complete, running one of these cars known to exist.  (An older one of the same model still exists, but that one is incomplete and is thought to have last run in the early Forties.)  The CA article would be good reference material for converting one of the resin copies to a production model.

The first item I ever bid on on eBay (in 1999) was a disassembled promo model.  I got it too, for around ten bucks plus shipping.  Prior to that, I swapped some of my resin stuff to Mike Watgen (Mike's Miniature Motors) for one of his copies of that kit.  I'm pretty sure Mike was the first person to do the Chevy in resin.  This was in 1993, a few months before Mike passed away.

As for an unassembled kit?  Yeah, I wouldn't mind having one...but not for $1,700.  I guess that's why I haven't got one in that form.  But I've got two other ones, and only two real ones exist...

[ChrisBcritter]

The current issue of Collectible Automobile includes a short article on the only restored, complete, running one of these cars known to exist.  (An older one of the same model still exists, but that one is incomplete and is thought to have last run in the early Forties.)  The CA article would be good reference material for converting one of the resin copies to a production model.

As I've mentioned before, the wheels/tires from the MPC Stutz Bearcat are a big step towards making it accurate.

I just noticed something when looking at the Stutz that Bruce Bowser posted in Under Glass - the 10-spoke front wheels look like a perfect match for the ones on the real 1911 Chevy; the 12-spoke rears will work with the bulges removed and look heavier than the SMP ones - and more like the real thing. The kit wheels are all 12-spoke and look too skinny.

 

 

I think with the right combination of (Kevin) Lutz and Stutz I might just want to tackle one of these!

[Jon Haigwood]

All depends if you are a "builder" or a "collector". Ran across a fellow on a model trader facebook page. He had a tassel of models to sell. Most were ships and plane but there was a Jo-Han Roadrunner in the pile. I inquired it's condition and price shipped to me. He came back with complete and sealed ,$300 shipped. I gave it a quick "pass" as I am a builder, Maybe it would be worth it to me if I was a collector and desperately needed that for my collection