Are NASCAR kits falling out of favor?

[Shafter44]

I live in the heart of Nascar country and routinely pick these kits up at yard sales and flea markets for 2 or 3$ sealed and pay even less for open kits. In fact this summer I bought 9 built cars and 3 open box kits for 5$ from a guy who was begging me to buy some of the diecast he had for sale for next to nothing. It seems that the over production from Nascars heyday and the fact that most (not all) people have learned that these things will not finance their retirement has created a buyers market for those of us who do appreciate the potential of the parts inside the boxes.

[Atmobil]

I am not and have never been a huge Nascar fan but I do love motorsport. I have watched the world rally championship, formula 1, dakar rally, Le Mans and many others since the mid 90s. I have in the last few years lost interest in watching many of these series. Formula 1 is just a "Lewis and Bernie's party" and WRC has been dominated by "The Sebastiens" (Loeb and Ogier). The dakar rally moved from being Paris-Dakar to a offroad race in south america that has no reason to be called Dakar rally anymore and due to the timedifference has become more difficult to watch.

15 years ago Tamiya had loads of WRC kits and Formula 1 kits but they don't have that anymore. Maybe it is a global thing.

For me personally it is about the kits them self. I think the reason I don't have many race car kits is the same as that I don't have many military/aircraft/armor kits. I like to look at a kit as a blank canvas where it is up to me and my mind to dream up want I want to do with it and up to me and my skills to make it happen but a race car (and so many aircraft/armor kits) can only be built in to one thing. All I can do is to add more details, because it has to be in that specific color and I have to use the decals like it says on the box.

Another thing is that a race/rally car looks at it's best when it is in racemode. It looks at it's best with the driver inside of it with his foot on the floor and nuckles on the steeringwheel and engine roaring, tires squealing and a bit of dirt and marks from "race incidents" all over its body.

Building a static model that is shiny and clean and has no driver figure and then putting it on a shelf jus does not make it look as good. One could build a diorama out of it but that would be a lot more work and take up a lot more space and if one does that with Nascar one would have to buy and build several cars that all race togheter and build a part of a track. It could look like a 3d picture from a race but it would involve alot of research and scratchbuilding to do so.

[ZTony8]

I bought several AMT & Monogram NASCAR kits back in the early and mid 90s.I think they were about $5 each at KMart.I still have most of them,unbuilt.At last spring's D.A.A.M. show,to my pleasant surprise, I was able to off load a few of them for 3 to 5 dollars each.I'm thinking I should build a couple of them just to say I did it.The rest I'll break for the good parts,for painting practice bodies and perhaps even a slot car.

Thses kits are such dogs on the market and so unwanted that at the Downriver Model Car Club annual Christmas party there's a rule of "NO NASCAR"! for our Dirty Santa gift exchange.

Edited November 18, 2015 by ZTony8

[afx]

Personal opinion only: I see two factors.  (1) mentioned above-the multiple paint schemes, you just can't keep up so why bother.  (2) NA$CAR went with the NBA playbook and made the players (driver) the focus of their hype, to the detriment of brand loyalty.  I wouldn't buy a Gordon or Kenseth kit, I want to buy a Ford or a Chevy kit.  I literally cannot tell the difference at a glance between any of the race cars.  They bear no resemblance to any of the cars they purport to represent.  You may also note I've not watched an entire race in almost 10 years and even now I couldn't tell you what the standings are.  The France family blew up a good thing. 

I agree with you 100% Steve on both points.  The homogenization of the cars is also affecting Indy in my opinion. That and Indy cars are down right ugly now.

Edited November 18, 2015 by afx

[disabled modeler]

I like the ones of the 60s to mid 70s car body styles lost interest in them when they all started to look the same like most people did.

[gtx6970]

Falling ?  Try fell out,,,some time ago.     

You almost have to give them away to get rid of them

[Nova-ss]

I have not watched or built in so many years...NASCAR was destroyed through to much greed and not letting them just race.

Personal opinion only: I see two factors.  (1) mentioned above-the multiple paint schemes, you just can't keep up so why bother.  (2) NA$CAR went with the NBA playbook and made the players (driver) the focus of their hype, to the detriment of brand loyalty.  I wouldn't buy a Gordon or Kenseth kit, I want to buy a Ford or a Chevy kit.  I literally cannot tell the difference at a glance between any of the race cars.  They bear no resemblance to any of the cars they purport to represent.  You may also note I've not watched an entire race in almost 10 years and even now I couldn't tell you what the standings are.  The France family blew up a good thing. 

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[Maindrian Pace]

Disclaimer: Second-hand info, and I don't know how much is factual. But it seems reasonable.

I discussed this with Dick, owner of Hobby Depot. He said that he has customers regularly calling him for new NASCAR model kits, and has all along. He told me that the main reason for no newer kits is because of the Car of Tomorrow. Not so much because they were generic, but because NASCAR declared their design to be their intellectual property, and only allowed companies to make models who were willing to pay exorbitant licensing fees, like 200K-300K per model - and this left pretty much die cast companies as the only takers. This was also one of the things that upset the car manufacturers, until Ford and GM reportedly threatened to pull out of racing unless they were allowed to run cars that actually resembled what they sell. Thus, no more CoT as of 2013. The manufacturers now own the car designs. Will they loosen up on the model companies? It would be nice.

[Joe Handley]

Falling ?  Try fell out,,,some time ago.     

You almost have to give them away to get rid of them

I've had that conversation lately with a friend looking for new monster truck stuff as well as a  customer looking for  monster figure kits........the market on the trucks  isn't what it was when he and I were kids, same with the guy looking for the figures vs when he was a kid.

[Mr Stock]

Hey if you guys are practically giving them away send them my way please Lol !, In the UK Nascar kits are difficult to get hold of, they generally sell for between £12-15 per kit ($18-22), as of yet I have never built one and Id love to, Id happily pay $3-5 dollars for a kit