Wild Willy 58035 Nib Current Market Price?

[jas312 0]

Hi all,

Can anyone fill me in on what is the current price range for a NIB 58035 Wild Willy M38?

I searched eBay for completed listings but only returned one result which has a BIN price of close to a grand. I don't think that is realistic.

Thanks in advance.

jas

[Hibernaculum 933]

G'day Jas,

No-one else has replied?

Current NIB Wild Willy price is usually around US$850 - US$950, in my experience. I've seen them higher, but not much lower. There are some wide fluctuations in the NIB vintage collectors market, so keep that in mind. But I bought two NIB Wild Willys last year, and they both cost me around those values. Prices certainly aren't going down, but are staying either fairly static or rising a bit. Despite what Alex wrote a few years ago. He was too optimistic about the affect of the Wild Willy 2 IMHO. (Though the US$dollar was a bit stronger back then).

As with all vintage kits, expect to pay slightly more or less based on box condition.

Some collectors seem rather keen on having perfect boxes, which is a slight mystery to me personally, but it can affect the price a bit.

I find it a miracle that any unbuilt examples exist at all, and a real privilege to own any NIB vintage kit full of mint parts. Why worry so much about the condition of the cardboard it comes in? Boxes are wonderful, and nice condition boxes are surprising, but it's the stuff inside that really matters. Besides, a bit of wear on a box does actually speak more of hobby history and romance......imagine the kit sitting proudly on some hobby store shelf for 20+ years. Part of the fun is knowing that this ancient relic hails from 1985 or 1982 or whenever, and that feeling is actually reinforced a bit more when the box isn't so pure, clean, white and perfect. But alas, some people will actually drive prices up by many hundreds of dollars over whiteness and shrinkwrap

Another factor affecting the Wild Willys M38 kit value is that it originally came with a shorter wheelbase when released in 1983, but the kit was modified and lengthened around 1985 or 1986 I believe. Not a huge difference, but it did affect performance and appearance to a slight degree. You can find other threads here in the forums about this subject. NIB Original Wild Willy kits are rare enough, and the earlier edition of the kit even more so - by a ratio of around 1 in every 10. So it just depends on how fussy people are over the differences.

There's also plenty of cross collector interest in the Wild Willy. Jeep enthusiasts are understandably big fans too.

Hope this helps!

cheers,

H.

[twisty 8]

I didn`t understand the box thing either untill i sat down and thought about it.If the box is mint,it has been stored well and looked after,if this continues to be the case then it will stay more valuable for longer,the box is just like a paint job but even more fragile and susceptible to water or moisture /mold damage.Obvious really.

Oh and WW 1 boxes are very few and far between from what i have seen.If anyone wants to proove me wrong you have a customer here for one please

[jas312 0]

Thanks for the informative reply.

[jas312 0]

I looked at some pictures of the Wild Willy M38 boxes. I found there is an English version and a Japanese version. Internally, the tires of Japanese version appear to be blister packed, while the English version only wrapped with a plastic bag. Does anyone know if the box art or manual was also changed along with the introduction of the LWB chassis?

[Hibernaculum 933]

No worries

I have both the English and Japanese version of the kit, and both have the tyres blister packed as far as I remember. Both are the SWB version.

I'm not aware of them being in plastic bags? But correct me if I'm wrong anyone.

Incidentally, a lot of questions about the differences between the versions of Wild Willy can be answered by this article, which I believe was written by Alex Jung, again of ClassicTamiyaRC. It goes a long way to unravelling the mysteries of the Wild Willy kit.

Well worth a look if you haven't seen it.

As far as I'm aware, there are no differences between the box art for the SWB vs LWB version.

However I'm guessing the manual would have to have been different, because there are quite a number of internal parts differences. (Someone who's built both might confirm this)

Awesome kit though, if you end up getting one NIB. Pretty much a joy to behold, and the box internals have that nice lift-out cardboard tray with the handles, as several of the great old kits had (Sand Scorcher included). And a lovely, huge box too, unlike many later kits (the boxes have become much smaller over the years).

cheers,

H.

[Yangtao 0]

Latest auction record was at Yahoo JP on Aug 14

Highest bid was 78,000 yen = $661

winner was the you-know-who darth_dirtysocks....