Johan prices $$$$

[gtx6970]

3 hours ago, Can-Con said:

I don't usually find models of any kind at swap meets of flea sales but when I get lucky, I get lucky. 

Picked these up for $45. The Fury and Olds were $15 each as they were still sealed and the other 3 were $10 a peice. The wagon was open but unstarted.

wanna sell the 62 Dodge dart and 62 Fury. I'll give you your money back on them 2 alone.

Edited May 20, 2018 by gtx6970

[Bucky]

A few of my "holy grail" kits are the '65, '66, '67, '68 Plymouth Fury kits. Even gluebombs can grab a lot of bids (and money) on the 'Bay!!!

The '65, '66, and '67 Chrysler 300 kits can be up there, too. The '68 300 seems to be the most reasonably priced 300 kit.

[NYLIBUD]

Definetly some of my favorite Johan kits.I wish I had them all back.Oh well.

[StevenGuthmiller]

The USA Oldies kits are probably the most reasonably priced & easiest Johan kits to find.

The real tough ones are the very early, (1959-1962) Olds, Dodge, Plymouth, Chrysler & Cadillac kits, & the later 1964-1968 Mopars.

Then of course, there are the Plymouth GTX/ Superbird kits from '69 & '70.

We all know how plentiful they are!

I've mostly filled up all of the slots for Johan kits that I really want, but for me the toughest were the '61 Plymouth & several of the late '60s, ('65-'68) Plymouths & Chryslers.

The original flatbox '64 Plymouth Fury & Dodge Polara are scarce too.

Both of those were changed later to the Petty Plymouth & the "Super Stock" Dodges, both with the stock side body trim removed.

The originals with the side trim are pretty tough to find.

Be aware that if you're looking for an original, there are guys out there that will stick one of the newer bodies in the old flat top box & try to pass it off.

On a related Mopar note, I came across a complete, unbuilt MPC 1971 Dodge Demon kit today at the NNL North show.

I had my fingers crossed as I looked it over, but of course the guy was asking $200.00 for it.

I would like to add one to my stash someday, but at $200.00, it'll have to wait!

 

Steve

[ChrisBcritter]

I admit to speculating on these kits 35-40 years ago when the rumor surfaced that the plant or their warehouse had burned down and they were out of business; eventually I sold about a dozen USA Oldies kits for a nice profit and kept a few to build. 

Hope someday someone will repop the correct interiors for the '62 Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth in resin.

[disabled modeler]

I would love to find these old Johan kits or models/promos someday but..???

69,70 Cadillac coupe DeVille HTs

69 Ambassador

65,66 Chrysler 300s

My family owned 1 to 1s of them...might as well stay in my dreams though sadly.

[pack rat]

4 hours ago, ChrisBcritter said:

I admit to speculating on these kits 35-40 years ago when the rumor surfaced that the plant or their warehouse had burned down and they were out of business; eventually I sold about a dozen USA Oldies kits for a nice profit and kept a few to build. 

Hope someday someone will repop the correct interiors for the '62 Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth in resin.

I remember being laughed at when I started scooping up Johan stuff back in the 90's; including USA Oldies

I consider this one my best score:

 

 

[Snake45]

I occasionally run across builtup but restorable/rebuildable JoHan Cadillacs of various years (mostly '60s, I guess) at the local toy show. As I have no interest in them, I haven't paid much attention, but I gather that others here might be interested in them. What are good/reasonable prices for these?

[ewetwo]

19 hours ago, Can-Con said:

I don't usually find models of any kind at swap meets of flea sales but when I get lucky, I get lucky. 

Picked these up for $45. The Fury and Olds were $15 each as they were still sealed and the other 3 were $10 a peice. The wagon was open but unstarted.

Wow. What a lucky person you were that day. Great purchase.

[Luc Janssens]

2 hours ago, pack rat said:

I remember being laughed at when I started scooping up Johan stuff back in the 90's; including USA Oldies

I consider this one my best score:

 

 

Yep, that is a very rare one.

[Mike999]

Picked up this oddball Jo-Han '68 Eldorado at a kit swap meet a few years ago.  It's a "flat-box" with the custom version shown on the box-top.  It also has all the stock parts inside.

I think this was a short-lived gimmick that Jo-Han called the "Custom Series."  I really like the box art. It reminds me of the black Toronado described in Stephen King's book "The Dark Half."

 

[slusher]

On May 20, 2018 at 1:50 PM, Can-Con said:

I don't usually find models of any kind at swap meets of flea sales but when I get lucky, I get lucky. 

Picked these up for $45. The Fury and Olds were $15 each as they were still sealed and the other 3 were $10 a peice. The wagon was open but unstarted.

What a great score. I have been want a 62 Chrysler 300 for a long time..

[PeeBee]

On ‎5‎/‎19‎/‎2018 at 4:47 PM, NYLIBUD said:

I was on eBay,and Model Round up today.I was looking to possibly buy a Johan police car,and build an old NYPD car.I built one years ago,and figured why not build another one..I haven't purchased a Johan kit in a long time.Well I could not believe how high the prices have gone up on their kits.I mean most of them are well over a $100.Some were over $200,and $300 hundred dollars...I knew I should of kept my old kits.Oh well.

Hey Ron, I take the Metro-North Harlem line into the city several days a week and we pass an NYPD parking lot in Yonkers, or the upper Bronx(?).  In that parking lot is parked a '65 or '66 Fury NYPD patrol car in green/white livery with the bubble gum machine up top, etc.  I've seen a cover on it from time-to-time, but it otherwise sits out in the weather year-round, unprotected.  Strange, it looks like somebody spent time and money on a restortaion, unless it just happens to be a survivor, but that is doubtful.  Body looks to be super-straight.  Of course, I've only seen it through the window of a moving train traveling 30-40 MPH (depending on the day) from abot 60' away.

Yeah that regarding the Jo-Han kits.  Last one I bought, about five years ago, was the '67 Eldorado (a holy grail), facory sealed, for $70.00.  Luckily there was no trace of tire-burn, and the chrome is some of the best I've ever seen on a kit from any era.

These days, I reserve the $200.00-$300.00 model purchases for must-have, limited-run kits of interesting subjects ('50s-'60s sports cars, sport racers and F1, mostly).

[NYLIBUD]

Yea they probably use for parades and stuff.Theres also a lot of local car shows,where Ive seen some very cool old police cars.I actually have a collection of police cars.Mostly diecast,and all different scales.I don't know why,but I've always liked police cars.

[CapSat 6]

Remember that some of these Jo Han kits were actually still available new until at least the 1990's. I remember a few local hobby shops who had a few Jo Han kits here and there, for prices just below what retail would have been for AMT and Revell kits. There seemed to be a few that were common (SC/ Rambler, Petty Superbird, Sox & Martin Cuda, Comet Pro Stock, 70 Olds 442, some of the Caddys). I remember one last run of the '68 Fury Police cars in the 1990's- they came with green tinted windows. I bought a few then, thinking they would be the last.  

It does seem that if you hunt around, you can still find some of the "newer" Jo Han kits for almost reasonable money (especially if you don't mind buying an opened one molded in a weird color, like dark green for the Superbird for instance), but it does also seem that prices for all of them are on a steady rise.

I stay away from sealed Jo Han kits, simply because either you might get short shots, bad chrome, missing/ wrong parts, or a weird color. "Quality control" was spotty at best for many of these kits...       

[SfanGoch]

 

Open kits can be a problem too. How many times have you seen a kit listed and the seller indicates that he's not sure if all the parts are in the box but it looks complete? Why don't you look at the instruction sheet and inventory what's in the box? You know exactly what you're selling; so, cut the naive/stupid act.

[Oldcarfan27]

6 minutes ago, SfanGoch said:

 

Open kits can be a problem too. How many times have you seen a kit listed and the seller indicates that he's not sure if all the parts are in the box but it looks complete? Why don't you look at the instruction sheet and inventory what's in the box? You know exactly what you're selling; so, cut the naive/stupid act.

Especially if they are expecting more than $100 for the kit! No excuses. 

[Mark]

53 minutes ago, SfanGoch said:

 

Open kits can be a problem too. How many times have you seen a kit listed and the seller indicates that he's not sure if all the parts are in the box but it looks complete? Why don't you look at the instruction sheet and inventory what's in the box? You know exactly what you're selling; so, cut the naive/stupid act.

It's a miracle: the only ones that are incomplete are the ones that "haven't been checked"...

[CapSat 6]

2 hours ago, SfanGoch said:

 

Open kits can be a problem too. How many times have you seen a kit listed and the seller indicates that he's not sure if all the parts are in the box but it looks complete? Why don't you look at the instruction sheet and inventory what's in the box? You know exactly what you're selling; so, cut the naive/stupid act.

How dare we suggest that? You can't take away the "naïve/ stupid act"! It's the only one some sellers have!

I have seen some sellers at swap meets stay in character LONG after being educated about their "ignorance". They should work in Hollywood. Generally speaking, I wouldn't buy anything from some of these clowns, even if it were a good deal (usually, of which they have none to offer anyway). There are some sellers, for which I routinely walk right by, after YEARS of observing such nonsense. Still (!?!), they find buyers.      

Agreed, so at least when looking online, I try to inventory kits using the available pics. If the text calls out prominently that the kit wasn't checked (as in: to very conspicuously cover the seller's rearward bits), and / or if the pics are substandard (as in: taken in a way to obscure some of the contents, which seems to be more common lately), I tend to move on. It's mind boggling how some online sellers ever manage to sell anything with how poorly they represent their products, but then again, there seems to be an art to sucking people in to buying incomplete or substandard stuff.      

[Bob Turner2]

On 5/20/2018 at 9:35 PM, NYLIBUD said:

Definetly some of my favorite Johan kits.I wish I had them all back.Oh well.

The generic Comet Pro Stocker, (2nd kit in line), cost me $55 still sealed at a swapmeet last year. I got that 69 Roadrunner still sealed for $35 at a swapmeet about seven years ago. In the past three years I've gotten two of the generic Mustang FC reissues, (fictional "Trojan Horse" instead of Mickey Thompson decals), one for $30, & one for $35, both open but complete. A 1970 Eldorado open/complete ran me $30 a few years ago, & a sealed 1964 Dodge "Recharged" Super Stocker cost me $40 last year. Hit model swapmeets, as you can usually find JoHan kits at a somewhat decent price there, compared to ebay & some online kit vendors.. Now "decent" depends on if you compare them to the original price, or to what most domestic kits cost these days! If it's the former, $30-$50 might seem steep. If the latter, then $30-$50 for a kit that's never going to return compared to $30 or so for a reissued kit that's easily available is a real bargain!  Depending where you're at in NY, I've heard the NNL East in NJ is a great one to get kits at.

Shopping around is indeed the best bet, & this is one instance where actually doing the shopping physically instead of online will likely net you a much better deal.

[NYLIBUD]

Hey I found the police car I was searching for on eBay,at a geat price.I guess you gotta keep looking when you want something.

[Mark]

Deals are where you find them.  I've picked up one or two of the original 1971 issue Shahan AMX kits for pretty close to what the reissues were selling for at the time.  Trivial for the most part, but there are a number of differences between the original and the reissue...

[gtx6970]

39 minutes ago, Mark said:

Deals are where you find them.  I've picked up one or two of the original 1971 issue Shahan AMX kits for pretty close to what the reissues were selling for at the time.  Trivial for the most part, but there are a number of differences between the original and the reissue...

such as ?

[Mark]

40 minutes ago, gtx6970 said:

such as ?

Vinyl radiator hoses, no trim on the rocker panels (some of the drag cars had the trim, others didn't), no license plates (front bumper in the original has the entire plate area incorrectly smoothed over), no hood hinges, wire axles instead of plastic rods, and one-piece hollow Goodyear tires and slicks instead of the solid fronts and two-piece slicks with Goodyear on one side and Firestone on the other.  The original Sox & Martin Superbird had wire axles and the hollow tires/slicks also. 

[gtx6970]

13 minutes ago, Mark said:

Vinyl radiator hoses, no trim on the rocker panels (some of the drag cars had the trim, others didn't), no license plates (front bumper in the original has the entire plate area incorrectly smoothed over), no hood hinges, wire axles instead of plastic rods, and one-piece hollow Goodyear tires and slicks instead of the solid fronts and two-piece slicks with Goodyear on one side and Firestone on the other.  The original Sox & Martin Superbird had wire axles and the hollow tires/slicks also. 

I knew about the metal axles in the mopar kits from the period ( I have them all ) . So only figures the others would be the same.

DID NOT know about the rocker trim though

Thanks