diecasts...sorry...exoto, whats up with them?

[jbwelda]

over the years i have bought a good number of exoto diecasts and they would regularly send me catalogues and new release sheets. last few years though, that seems to have dried up, and announced "upcoming releases" (a number of which i have preordered) have failed to materialize. this was brought to mind by a recent post on this board somewhere so i went to their site, seems they have had virtually no new releases in years from what i can tell and certainly the cars im most interested in (eg: maserati typo 60/61 birdcage, jaguar d-type etc) seem to be dead in the water (not to mention theyve been largely usurped by CMC and AutoArt).

anyone have any idea whats up there? are they in fact dead in the water or are they still actively working on and releasing new products? they were close to what i would consider the leaders in the industry but that was then and this is now...

[jbwelda]

no one knows?

no one cares?

[Modelmartin]

This is merely an educated guess based on my experiences and a few reports from others who have had business dealings (not retail purchases) with the proprietor. He has a very unique way of conducting business that does not involve paying bills promptly and also making big big promises of the amount of business he will do with you. My guess is he wore out his welcome at most of his suppliers. Remember when Car & Driver started selling Exoto diecasts? They were payment for his big 2 page color ads! I insisted on full payment at the time he ordered and I would deliver in 60 days. I never heard from him again.

Andy

[jbwelda]

thanks for the insight andy; i kinda had a gut feeling it was something like that. also such a huge pre-release schedule makes me curious too...and in a, dare i say it, recession, i would think it difficult to sell off 5k diecasts with multiple (though largely redundant to my mind) versions of each; i have to think buying expensive diecasts is among the number one thing to go when finances get tight. anyway it always struck me they had a very ambitious release schedule that they often managed to more or less meet...up until a couple years ago anyway.

so at this point i assume they are more or less dead in the water though im going to keep an eye on them particularly to see if the maserati makes it out...but its gonna be hard to compete now with the CMC masterpiece and their rolling chassis.

one thing about exoto though: i always loved those bare metal finishes, i have a cobra daytona and a chaparrel in bare metal and they are pretty much my favorites amongst my top drawer die casts.