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Resale shops.... Finally some luck


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Well, I visit resale/antique shops, garage sales and flea markets all the time. Was out of town for work and saw a resale shop and decided to stop for the heck of it. Finally had some luck so I had to share....

AC Cobra was built nice, nothing missing, little clean up and on the shlelf

MPC? 1970 Mustang, scoop and rear bumper missing, built pretty well, not painted. Clean up, on the shelf til I want to rebuild

40 Ford, open and complete, engines assembled nicely. 

GTP Mustang, sealed

Everything cost a whopping $35. I think I did okay..... finally!

Anyone else have a good story about a resale shop or similar?

 

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Edited by Sledsel
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My little town has at least 7 big thrift/resale stores.  Along with Goodwill and Salvation Army, 5 are run by local charities.  And 4 of those are on the same street, within a couple of miles.  

An employee in one store told me that, on weekends, people drive here from a couple hundred miles away just to hit those places. 

I've found a few cheap kits, like an untouched Revell '68 Corvette L-88. And an AMT '67 Mustang, with minor gluing but a great parts source. I keep hoping to find a Holy Grail Box, full of built AMT and Johan kits from long ago.

One of my best finds was a lighted display case, about 6 feet tall, for $35.  I also found some great paint racks. One is a tall, rotating "lazy Susan" kind of thing that freed up a lot of workbench space.

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Darn, people have found out about my secret.

Seriously,  I've been prowling thrift stores and antique stores for decades and have found some pretty awsome stuff. Not every time, but every so often a gem falls in my lap.

First kit I found that turned me into a loyal shopper was AMTs Boondocker Chevy Blazer for 99 cents! This was back in the early 80s and this particular thrift store would seem to get model kits weekly.

Trying to remember a few of the deals I scored....

AMT Mack R685ST - $1.49 unbuilt 

AMT Ford C600 - $1.19 built

AMT Mustang II Python - .69 cents

Entex 1/16 Duesenberg boattail SJ - $2.50

Revell Prestige Auto Transport Set - $9.99

Johan Rambler conv. Snap kit - $2.00

Johan Maverick promo, bagged - .99 cents. 

Mattel Vac U Form, mint in box (1960s) - $2.99

Mattel Hot Wheels Sizzlers "National Champ Race Set" complete with box. included 3 cars! - half price weekend sale $1.50

There were many more, but I can't remember them all. Those were the 80s and models were much more common than they are now.

Recently I found a vintage Revell Porsche 914-6 for $5.99

And the AMT Corvette Collector's Set, 6 cars in one box. - $19.99

Nicely built 67 Chevelle SS in a bag. $2.99

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13 hours ago, Oldcarfan27 said:

Darn, people have found out about my secret.

Seriously,  I've been prowling thrift stores and antique stores for decades and have found some pretty awsome stuff. Not every time, but every so often a gem falls in my lap.

First kit I found that turned me into a loyal shopper was AMTs Boondocker Chevy Blazer for 99 cents! This was back in the early 80s and this particular thrift store would seem to get model kits weekly.

Trying to remember a few of the deals I scored....

AMT Mack R685ST - $1.49 unbuilt 

AMT Ford C600 - $1.19 built

AMT Mustang II Python - .69 cents

Entex 1/16 Duesenberg boattail SJ - $2.50

Revell Prestige Auto Transport Set - $9.99

Johan Rambler conv. Snap kit - $2.00

Johan Maverick promo, bagged - .99 cents. 

Mattel Vac U Form, mint in box (1960s) - $2.99

Mattel Hot Wheels Sizzlers "National Champ Race Set" complete with box. included 3 cars! - half price weekend sale $1.50

There were many more, but I can't remember them all. Those were the 80s and models were much more common than they are now.

Recently I found a vintage Revell Porsche 914-6 for $5.99

And the AMT Corvette Collector's Set, 6 cars in one box. - $19.99

Nicely built 67 Chevelle SS in a bag. $2.99

You have definitely found some great deals in the past!!!!

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6 hours ago, Sledsel said:

You have definitely found some great deals in the past!!!!

I also remember rejecting a few back then too,

My Mother the Car. The box was small, so I thought it was 1/32 scale. It was built and I wasn't into oldie cars back then.

Force 440 Monaco. This one was also built and I thought the cars were ugly back then.

Body and a few parts for 75 Pontiac Ventura. Knowing now how rare these are, I wish I'd just grabbed whatever I found. Nova could have provided the rest.

If only I knew then what I know now. 'Sigh'

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I have only had one lucky find and that was a revell ag Mercedes firetruck kit. That was at a "collectibles" sale where most things where overpriced, like used and dirty haynes workshop manuals priced higher than retail on new ones and worn cds from the 90s with busted covers with pricetags that looked like lotterywinnings. The Mercedes was not very cheap but cost probably a third of normal retail price and was complete and untouched.

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I think about a third of my stash came from resale shops/charity shops, even more if you include the resellers on ebay. Some I'm sure i paid too much for but they were kits i wanted so i dont mind that. All my johan kits were from resellers and were well under ebay values.

63 plymouth - $20

rancher caddy-$25

plymouth cop wagon -$20

63 olds- $15

revell escort xr3 parts kit(missing grille and headlights) $5

frog moecedes (box ruined-glass glued)- $25

tamiya audi quattro road - $15

tamiya audi quattro rally -$20

emhar bedford olb $15

airfix 1/24 spitfire (damaged box,no instructions) $30

thats just the ones i remember, theres a load more (one entire wall of my living room is just kits 15ft by 10ft)

but if you convert the prices into £s they are even lower

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I have found some deals on diecast Franklin and Danbury Mint cars.  I bought a 58 Impala, 55 Chevy, the Boris something Cobra (atrocious to me) For $110.   Sold the 55 and Cobra for $110 and kept the 58 for free.    Found a 57 Chevy Mint car for $12, sold for $30.  A friend found several for $8 each.  69 Camaro that only needed a tire swap to be perfect and a 53(?) GMC Limited Edition truck that I still have waiting for a front bumper.  I found some bumpers that will work.  Just need to take the time to affix the bumper and clean it up.    

I prowl the local stores - several in our downtown - occasionally.  Could probably do better if I looked more often.  And have been able to haggle with sellers on most occasions to get a reasonable price.  Haven't seen a lot of plastics locally though.  

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We have a couple of antique malls here that often have some good finds. Especially when they do their big parking lot sales a couple of times a year. i have found many a wanted kit, and the vendors are usually willing to haggle.

 

A local RC club used to do a swap meet every fall. RC stuff, diecast, and plastic. I always found stuff there, for excellent prices, but they haven;t done it for a couple of years.

 

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8 hours ago, randyc said:

I have found some deals on diecast Franklin and Danbury Mint cars...

A woman came to a local flea market several times, a couple of years ago, selling off her late father's huge diecast collection.  She said the collection was housed in a separate out-building he built just to display his diecasts.  None had the boxes or paperwork, but they all still had the little tag and string on the back bumper. I got these cheap:

'57 Ford Retractable (my favorite, I like to play with the working roof)

FM '48 Tucker x2, one in Waltz Blue, the other the gold 50th anniversary edition from 1998. I'd been trying to find one of those for a long time.

'57 Mercedes "Adenauer" cabriolet

'53 Cadillac convertible

A couple of weeks ago, I found a DM '48 Chrysler Town & Country at the same flea market. It's in the original box with all the paperwork.

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2 hours ago, Tom Geiger said:

I never find anything good! But one time I got kicked out an antique shop for pointing out to the owner that’s his genuine 1955 Chevy kit had a zip code and barcode on the box!

Ground breaking for '55. Super rare prototype kit. ?

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18 hours ago, Tom Geiger said:

I never find anything good! But one time I got kicked out an antique shop for pointing out to the owner that’s his genuine 1955 Chevy kit had a zip code and barcode on the box!

An opposite experience, from Ye Olde Anteek & Junque Shop in Los Angeles long ago. The woman running the place had the kit shown below on display.  An index card in front of it said "RARE!  25th Anniversary! FROM 1965!"

I explained to her that "25th Anniversary" meant the anniversary of AMT from 1948, not the car from 1940.  So her kit dated from 1973, not 1965.  She was very nice, thanked me for the correction, and wrote up a new index card.

She actually made a pretty reasonable assumption with her mistake.  Only one of us weirdos would know that kind of history.

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Edited by Mike999
goof
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I got dragged, kicking and screaming, into the local Goodwill yesterday by Mrs. Bucky.

I found this in the toy aisle:

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No shrink wrap, but everything is in the box, including tires,  chrome tree, and decals! All the white molded parts are still in the bags. Box is good, too. I've bought kits from hobby shops that didn't look this good.

Grand total of $2.99. And then I got a 10% senior discount on top of that.

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