To Open or Not To Open, That Is The Question (in Shakespeare voice)

[FoMoCo66]

I got an old Johan pinto funnycar today from a swap meet, the first Johan I've purchased (restored a sox and martin cuda). The thing is absolutely MINT. It's factory sealed and I can tell by the original pricetag and the markdown. The lady wanted $45 for the car but I got her down to $35. On ebay, a kit of this condition is going for around $100, and an opened kit is around $70. That means if I were to open it I would not loose any money and probably still make a profit. But my other concern is if the kit might be too nice to even open. Should I just buy a different kit if I wanted to build a Johan or a funnycar?

[Ace-Garageguy]

Simple.

Did you buy it to resell it, to collect it, or to build it?

[FoMoCo66]

Just now, Ace-Garageguy said:

Simple.

Did you buy it to resell it, to collect it, or to build it?

Didn't know at the time, modeler see good price, modeler buy.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Just now, FoMoCo66 said:

Didn't know at the time, modeler see good price, modeler buy.

Story of my life since about 2011.  

[FoMoCo66]

I was also wondering if this was a sought after kit/ rare kit?

[Fat Brian]

4 minutes ago, FoMoCo66 said:

I was also wondering if this was a sought after kit/ rare kit?

Everything Johan is sought after to a degree, they aren't making any more of them. Being a Pinto some people love this kit and others would never build it. If you're wondering whats in the box it's exactly like the 71 Mustang kit they did, just with a Pinto body. They're good kits and I like them though they can require a bit of clean-up, one of my kits is much more flashy than the other one. The tires will almost certainly need to be replaced, both of mine are goopy and warped.

I guess the answer really depends on if you like drag stuff. I don't build many full on race cars so I cleared out a lot of my drag stash a year or so ago but I kept this kit and the Mustang because I new I would never find another one for what I paid for it 15 years ago if I did get a desire to build it one day. If you prefer other subjects I would definitely leave it wrapped and flip it. If you want to build it though, go ahead. The money you make you'll spend finding a replacement. 

[Beans]

Hard to build it without opening it...just sayin.

[Shark]

Hate to say it, but there's a lot of unethical people preying on model builders. I have never trusted sealed older collectible kits. If I consider one, I tell the seller that it will be opened in front of him and my money returned if it is not as advertised. I am a builder, so sealed kits don't have an attraction to me.

[FoMoCo66]

1 minute ago, Shark said:

Hate to say it, but there's a lot of unethical people preying on model builders. I have never trusted sealed older collectible kits. If I consider one, I tell the seller that it will be opened in front of him and my money returned if it is not as advertised. I am a builder, so sealed kits don't have an attraction to me.

I am a builder as well, this was just an unexpected find at its price. The lady who sold it to me probably bought it new at $4.31 and has no idea of its real value. So I don't think she was unethical at all.

[Ace-Garageguy]

50 minutes ago, FoMoCo66 said:

I am a builder as well, this was just an unexpected find at its price. The lady who sold it to me probably bought it new at $4.31 and has no idea of its real value. So I don't think she was unethical at all.

I don't think he was implying she was, but there HAVE been instances of people buying "sealed" kits only to open them and find nothing but empty sprues.

There have also been, from time to time, questions on this very forum as to how one goes about replicating the factory clear sealed wrapper.

Hmmmmmmm...

[FoMoCo66]

16 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

I don't think he was implying she was, but there HAVE been instances of people buying "sealed" kits only to open them and find nothing but empty sprues.

There have also been, from time to time, questions on this very forum as to how one goes about replicating the factory clear sealed wrapper.

Hmmmmmmm...

I could see that happening with some sellers, I was just clarifying that mine wasn't. Also this weekend at a model show I saw a Johan Recharger kit box that was sealed, obviously empty. Good thing it stated on the box it was empty.

[stitchdup]

until you open it, it could be a potato

[Ace-Garageguy]

7 minutes ago, stitchdup said:

until you open it, it could be a potato

Schrödinger's potato, no doubt...

[Fat Brian]

2 hours ago, Shark said:

Hate to say it, but there's a lot of unethical people preying on model builders. I have never trusted sealed older collectible kits. If I consider one, I tell the seller that it will be opened in front of him and my money returned if it is not as advertised. I am a builder, so sealed kits don't have an attraction to me.

Yep, I open every kit I get to inventory it. It's much easier to replace missing or damaged stuff when a kit in new versus ten years down the line when you finally decide to break it open and build it.

[dmthamade]

I would build it. Never will be a collector/flipper/speculator. Always been a builder. I built this decades ago when it was the Mickey Thompson pinto, would still build it again. Would be a happy builder if i could find the Johan Rambunctious Challenger and the two Mickey Thompson kits. Would happily build and display them!! IIRC these were some of the first funny car models where the chassis actually resembled the real car, not the onesizefitsall MPC offerings. Monogram Snake and Mongoose were accurate as well.

 

Don

[Spex84]

I'm not a collector...but when I get an older kit, I open it immediately to assess the tire burn situation, and bag the tires separately before they destroy anything else!

[Chris V]

I’d hang on to it for now, and see if another open one turns up. Jo-Han Funnycars had impressive detailing and a completely different crispness than the AMT, MPC and Revell Kits of their time. The Pinto in question was an authentic model of Mickey Thompson’s “Titanium Pinto”. Slixx has the right decals for the car.

[Twokidsnosleep]

I don’t think I could keep my nose out of finding what is inside the box

You are a better man than me if you can keep the plastic on that sucker

[Calb56]

15 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Simple.

Did you buy it to resell it, to collect it, or to build it?

In the 80s I used to collect albums but to listen to the music. More than once I bought an album, cut the plastic wrap and handed it to the store employee at a used record store to put on... to the dismay of other collectors.

So... obviously I'd open it. I ALSO would bag up the parts inside to protect them and my lil squirrel mind would be working on building or swapping parts before anything else happened. 

[FoMoCo66]

So the message im getting is to open it. I will probably end up looking trough it sometime this week.

[iBorg]

I'm opposed to opening it. It is only orignaly factory sealed once. If you want to build it offer it up for trade for an opened one. I'm sure there are collectors, another side of the hobby, who'd love to have a sealed one. 

[LDO]

Build it. Look- in five billion years, the sun will go supernova and destroy the earth. Everything we have ever done on this planet will be erased.  No one will get to see your MISB Pinto funny car. Just build it. 

[Redisetta]

Build, build , build.  That’s what kits were designed for IMHO

[dmthamade]

4 hours ago, Chris V said:

The Pinto in question was an authentic model of Mickey Thompson’s “Titanium Pinto”. Slixx has the right decals for the car.

Even more reason to build it.

Don

[Xingu]

If you are just curious, it will look similar to this.