Status of Lindberg?

[Casey]

We haven't heard a peep out of Lindberg models for over two years, and I think the Dodge Charger Police Cars were the last new kits (maybe modified reissue would be more accurate?) they released in 2010. They didn't attend the 2012 iHobby show, and I don't think anything they announced at iHobby 2011 has seen the light of day, at least going by what Gerry reported on: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=49241&hl=ihobby

Their website's newsletter signup link is broken, and they haven't updated anything on their site for at least two years...not a good sign.

Anybody have any inside info as to what going on in Toledo? Steve Goldman, maybe?

[Austin T]

In this link it shows several lindberg kits that were released in the spring of this year.http://www.modelroundup.com/category-s/132.htm?searching=Y&sort=7&cat=132&show=14&page=6 There the dirt track cars.Other than that I think lindberg is holding onto the industry with one last finger thats losing grip.

[Guest]

Strange considering how nice some of the last car kits were from them, like the 67 Olds, the 66 Chevelle, the 53 Ford, the early 60's Dodges and Plymouths.

[Nick Notarangelo]

So in other words grab what you can before you have to pay for the over inflated ebay prices.

Hopefully someone buys them out before the become a thing of the past.

[440 Dakota]

can't say for sure but I beleive J.LLYOD was/is based in Iowa,Lindberg used to come out of Craft House here in Toledo but I beleive that dried up years ago we used to have outlet stores that only carried Craft House/Lindberg stuff and they went out of buisness several years ago cause of no product,now the left over Charger kits have been at Ollie's discount and my son who worked at Hobbytown couldn't order me stuff so it doesn't sound good

[sjordan2]

In recent years, they've reissued some Pyro kits of classic cars like the Auburn Speedster, and chromed pieces that weren't that way in the Pyro kits.

[mikemodeler]

Makes one wonder about that warehouse fire they had where the "damaged" kits ended up at Ollie's- did it happen or did they dump a bunch of kits to raise capital?

I thought there were some kits still at Hobby Lobby, although that could be leftover stock from last year or so.

It would be sad if they did go out of business, glad I bought a couple of the 66 Chevelles!

[Greg Myers]

Reading this thread my thought is, what's on the shelf right now? What have you seen in the stores?

[Chuck Most]

My local shop just got a fresh order of Lindberg kits in, but he's getting them through a warehouse and not direct.

I wouldn't worry too much- Lindberg has gone under a few times already, and they always manage to make a comebock.

[1972coronet]

Isn't Lindberg the last standing kit manufacture whose facilities are still in the U.S. ??

If so , I would hate to see them fail , based upon their U.S. manufacturing alone !

I must admit that it's been ___ years since I've bought one of their kits ; not out of any prejudice , just out of accessibility . I've been eyeing the Little Red Wagon and the 1967 Olds 442 as well as the 1966 Chevelle , and have also considered their "A38" Chargers ; I've just not committed myself *yet* .

In spite of my opening statement : Perhaps Round2 or Moebius (sp?) will buy the old tooling from Lindberg and keep that torch burning ...

[Art Anderson]

Isn't Lindberg the last standing kit manufacture whose facilities are still in the U.S. ??

If so , I would hate to see them fail , based upon their U.S. manufacturing alone !

I must admit that it's been ___ years since I've bought one of their kits ; not out of any prejudice , just out of accessibility . I've been eyeing the Little Red Wagon and the 1967 Olds 442 as well as the 1966 Chevelle , and have also considered their "A38" Chargers ; I've just not committed myself *yet* .

In spite of my opening statement : Perhaps Round2 or Moebius (sp?) will buy the old tooling from Lindberg and keep that torch burning ...

Not quite! J Lloyd is based in Cedar Rapids IA, and they were producing their kits in China--the last Lindberg kit I bought was the Dodge Charger police car, and it clearly states on the box "Made in China". There's been enough intrique with J Lloyd/Lindberg to make for a fairly long-running soap opera though.

Art

[Tom Geiger]

Makes one wonder about that warehouse fire they had where the "damaged" kits ended up at Ollie's- did it happen or did they dump a bunch of kits to raise capital?

I think the fire story was just a story. As I heard it, Lindberg over produced a bunch of kits that would be slow sellers and had a huge warehouse full of stuff they couldn't sell. So they wholesaled it out. Ollies makes it sound damaged or distressed to protect the original owners salability in regular retail markets. That big sale at Ollies was over a year ago, I was there last weekend and they still had product in the store!

[Casey]

I recently saw the (ex-AMT) Lindberg '34 Ford pickup on the shelf, but that was it.

I saw the old school modified kits has just hit the market, but they were released under the Dirt Track Racing(?)/DTR, Inc., which I am assuming is similar to what Model King and Revell have been doing.

[moparfarmer]

A few of the best Lindberg kits were of the 64Dodges/Plymouths. Sure wish they would come back with a 65 Belvedere post like the 64 Dodge. That would give them some capital. Only if its a good as the others though...

[michaelbaskett]

My local hobby shop here in Windsor, Ontario, Canada just last Friday got in the 61 Impala and the Little Red Wagon from his distributor in Ottawa....

I thought they were dead too....

[Brett Barrow]

Not quite! J Lloyd is based in Cedar Rapids IA, and they were producing their kits in China--the last Lindberg kit I bought was the Dodge Charger police car, and it clearly states on the box "Made in China". There's been enough intrique with J Lloyd/Lindberg to make for a fairly long-running soap opera though.

Art

All the old Lindberg re-pops are (or should that read were?) still made in the US. This includes the 64 Dodges and Plymouths. The newer kits(since ca. 2000?) are done in China. These would include the Chargers, the Crown Vic police cars, the Ram monster trucks, and maybe a few others, this is just off the top of my head.

I wished they could have gotten (or will get) the LAWMAN Belvedere out, the parts are all there between the Dodge and Plymouth kits, but the kits' different sprue layouts don't make it easy to add all the necessary Dodge kit parts to the Belvedere and fit it into a standard box. A 2-door post Belvedere body would open up some more possibilities as well, as would a Savoy. They(Lindberg management at the time) should have thought those kits through a little more during the design phase to make part swapping a little easier to do from a production standpoint. It's easy for us to do, all we have to do is buy both kits!

[Fabrux]

Makes one wonder about that warehouse fire they had where the "damaged" kits ended up at Ollie's- did it happen or did they dump a bunch of kits to raise capital?

No Ollie's stores around here, but I did get a bunch of Lindberg kits from the Mardens down in Calais, ME. When they first got their shipments in they had a 20' shelf section full of kits; you could really pick up a smoky smell from them so I believe the warehouse fire story.

[charlie8575]

No Ollie's stores around here, but I did get a bunch of Lindberg kits from the Mardens down in Calais, ME. When they first got their shipments in they had a 20' shelf section full of kits; you could really pick up a smoky smell from them so I believe the warehouse fire story.

Someone went crazy with that smoke-flavour additive you can get at the grocery store?

Just sayin'...

Charlie Larkin

[kurth]

Remember back in say 2007 or 2008 Lindberg came back under a new owner and they pretty much re-issued everything all at once? Instead of one Crown Vic every few months, they issued Every Crown vic kit decal variation at once.

I also remember the dodge cab over truck causing a bit of a stir when that was re-issued.

[mr moto]

It would be a shame to lose Lindberg at this point. I hope this is just a rumor. Their kits with modern (since the 90's) tooling are really excellent like the '64 Plymouths and Dodges that others have talked about. The '66 SS396 (which hasn't been available lately) is a work of molding art. It has things like no visible mold line on the major chrome parts. Just generally as clean and sharp a kit as I've seen.

Their older stuff is a really mixed bag and, in fairness, a lot of it wasn't actually tooled up by Lindberg to begin with.

[Aaronw]

Even a lot of the old stuff was nice to see again. They have the only Auburn kit around, at $12-15 I'm willing to do the work to make it presentable, but at the high collectors prices even old Pyro kits were fetching I would have to pass.

[Nick Winter]

My local shop just got a fresh order of Lindberg kits in, but he's getting them through a warehouse and not direct.

I wouldn't worry too much- Lindberg has gone under a few times already, and they always manage to make a comebock.

My local hobby shop here in Windsor, Ontario, Canada just last Friday got in the 61 Impala and the Little Red Wagon from his distributor in Ottawa....

I thought they were dead too....

My Local shop just got a bunch of Lindberg kits in aswell

[80mirada]

The Chinese made kits were actually made by a third party company out of CHina, that was latter purchased by JLoyd. The Reissue and updated kits sucha s the 64 Mopars were produced somewhere in the midwest.

[Kit Basher]

It would be a shame to lose Lindberg at this point. I hope this is just a rumor. Their kits with modern (since the 90's) tooling are really excellent like the '64 Plymouths and Dodges that others have talked about. The '66 SS396 (which hasn't been available lately) is a work of molding art. It has things like no visible mold line on the major chrome parts. Just generally as clean and sharp a kit as I've seen.

I have to agree. I recently finished the '53 Ford Vic, and I'm working on the Off Road F150 4x4. Both are nicely detailed kits that go together precisely. I've been wearing Ollies out, but I may still pick up a couple of those Crown Vics.

[440 Dakota]

I checked Hobby Lobby and they didn't have a single Lindberg kit and no spaces on the shelf