Has the golden age of collecting passed?

[netsmithUK]

I've always had a theory that prices went mad like they did a few years back because you basically had a whole bunch of us hitting early thirties, discovering ebay and for the first time in our lives finding ourselves with a bit spare cash in our pockets. [For those not around at the time prices went through the roof! You used to buy complete grasshoppers just to get the tires because it was soo much cheaper than trying to get just the tires for a scorcher. NIB kits for just about any model ran into hundreds of pounds, without any problem ]

Things seem to have settled down a lot now, some things stil fetch high prices, and some newer kits are fetching their own new high prices, but more and more I feel there are old school dealers beginning to have 'clearouts'(myself included) dumping loads of models on the market at a fraction of the price we paid for them. I'm not knocking anyone for doing it, everyones tastes change with time. Just wondered what the rest of you thought. If you are in the process of selling up, whats going to fill the void? Whats your latest interest? And whats the one model you'll be buried with?[]

Personally I went through the normal process of buying everything with the word tamiya on it and ended up with all the models I thought I wanted. But after a couple of years of them sitting on the shelf I've now let the majority of them go. Not that my love affair with tamiya is over, just I've decided over time that there are only certain models I really 'love' and thats what I should concentrate on.

Chris

[Stefan(2)]

Well,started to late to see the extreme prices,

but some people also noticed i did some house-cleaning.

Simple, was just getting to insane!

With over a 100 models in your house you easy get a bit

overkill.

Decided to consentrate fully on the Trucks and Tanks,

and keep some "specials" for me.

And, well, the funds i got with selling, where fully invested

in new trucks and a tank lol, so could buy that high priced stuff

without the "pain" in the wallet.

Seems such a waist to me, letting some kits just sit in a box

be couse i was all out of shelf place. Better go to a

good home then, instead of dusting away.

Keeping them "for investment" is also not a option, ain't in it

for the cash. "not intrested in that".

Just my view lines while waking up from the nightshift

Stefan

[supergreg]

Yep, same to me! Being relatively 'new' to the hobby (subscription date march 2004) I managed right away from start to get most of the models I want and no more! This had to do with the loving support of my girlfriend "oh no not another toy car come back to planet earth silly man", which resulted in concentration on a narrow range of cars that were of interest back in the day and so are today.

That's the difference to your story and today I have to be thankful, because it saved a lot of money not to buy cars for hundreds of Euros and give them away later for a few tenners. For now I'm quite satisfied with the range of cars that I own, which does not mean there will be no further ones. But today I don't have to buy one car after another just to satisfy my addiction. Sometimes it's just enough to take part in discussions, admiring the vintage collections of others, reading vintage reviews or books and overall: being part of the game (TC) []!

Oh, I will be buried with my HotShot2, the only ORIGINAL car that's left from the early days. Even if I got a Bruiser []!

[_4-0_]

When I stumbled accross the FF01 civic on ebay i was seriously bitten by the bug. And just like netsmith I started buying up everyhthing with a tamiya logo on it. I personally dont think the golden age of collecting is over. I just think we've all calmed down and taken the rose tinted glasses off. I've offloaded a few of the models i've bought at a loss, but I'm also buying new cars that are coming/ have come out such as the hornet, and BMW m3 and i wont be stopping there either.

I'm gonna be buried with all my cars, so a shipping container for my coffin when the time comes []

[Constructor]

Can u get too much of a good thing?

Yes I think u can. Personally, I have limited myself to seven models.

Why? I'll tell you.

You identify with certain models and these are the ones you should keep.

A new and an old hornet one for me, one for my new born son. It was my first model and it's his first.

A hotshot1 - the first 4 wheeler - seminal and not too expensive.

A dagger - complete and utter basher - pure everyday fun. (Hey that's what they're made for!)

a F201 - super quick and I love F1.

Schumacher mission - a race car, and bang up to date with it.

TL-01 - sheer hopup ability.

The advent of re-releases is diminshing the collectability of the models. Why collect seven of the same models if a re-release occurs! Wait for the LB's and GH's to appear on the bay.

It might seems this is a negative post but this aint.

Why would I need any other models? I'm not going to use them - why deny someone else the chance to have their moment of fun? All my cars are runners except for my sons and as soon as he can - he'll be running that!

That's whats its all about - having fun.

Collectabilty, resale value, making money. Nah - dont bother. Run them all into the ground. (With a big smile on your face!!!!!!)

[rcracerpete]

I must be the next generation of tamiya collectors!

I'm 13 and already got myself a few vintages 2 tamiya hol buggys,ta02,midnight pumpkin are to name but a few!

I haven't thought about anything about "the golden age of collecting" or whatever as i have had a tamiya r/c for 4 years!

I hope i stay in this hobby for a long time []

[netsmithUK]

I dont' really want this to run off into the whole 'investing for profit' debate we've done that to death already.

Constructor - I agree people buy they want, but that does not automatically mean if you are a collector you are in it for profit. I collect Scorchers and 3spds not because I figure I can sell them at some point I collect them because I love'em and they are what I like most about tamiya. If tamiya rerelease them all next week you won't see me crying in my beer, you'll find mind in the queue to buy some more []

"Why would I need any other models? " no one can answer that, but collectors can answer that question for themselves, and very very rarely does it have anything do with money []

[Constructor]

Agreed netsmith - its all a very personal thing.

hey - at the end of the day - we all get an immense amount of joy out of them.

And if I think one thing and someone else thinks another about tamiya - does it really matter? No. As long we all are still enjoying it.

Long may it continue.

[gozone]

Well, the main reason i am collecting is still an effort to get back some of my "lost" childhood.

Collecting bits and pieces, and putting back together one of the "Dream Machines" from back when i was young brings back loads of memories from the past, remembering how i would drive my LHD crazy with all my stupid questions hour after hour, just hangin´out in his shop, with him very patiantly aswering all of my questions, as he was competing in races also, with his last "serious" racer being a very hopped-up SuperShot. unfortunately, as i have said in a different thread, he was shot and killed in his shop one afternoon, just 15 minutes after i had left.. Had i as usual went back to the shop again, after the things i usually had forgotten, (Does any of you recognize this: You always only remember half of the things you go to the shop to get), but in this case, i remembered it all in the first try.. If i had not remembered it all, i would have gone back there as always, and perhaps had been able to either stop the guy from shooting, or perhaps have been able to call the ambulance quick enough for my hobbydealer, (and close friend) to have survived his m75 gunshot wound.. However, he died from his injuries, and i must say, that eventhough i am often called insane and weird for collecting all the cars and spares that i do, each time i start fiddling with some sort of Tamiya-stuff, it brings back memories of my long lost friend, with the huge patience and knowledge of these fine R/C cars..

My 6 year old son has also devoloped a huge interest in R/C cars, running both Touring and buggy type cars, and actually he is better in controlling a part-gas rear end slide with the Blitzer Beetle on the dirt track, than he is at controlling a fully race-prepped 4WD TRF 415 on carpet....He must be a buggy-type racer....

Even though i have tried a lot, I have not yet succeeded in finding a nice Frog, which was my very first Tamiya-car, but i am confident it will happen sometime..

Cheers, and enjoy your passion for R/C racing, whether you are collecting or racing, and remember if you are racing, it is supposed to be fun, and nothing else..

Michael

[Shodog]

I don't think it's over. This is evidenced by the some of the rising prices of the 58100-58200 model series. A new generation of collectors are starting to emerge. In 20 years from now, will people be fighting over a new in the box King hauler or Knight Hauler?

[jocktheglide]

I personally got into the tamiya collecting late in my life personally growing up I could never afford them I only seen one tamiya kit before I bought my first kit the TLT it was the grasshopper my friend had it at the time and I got jelous of it and him wishing I could afford it. Anyways I like to only buy trucks and what not I was buying on road kits, but had n enjoyment out of them except speed runs with a brushless kit, but that got boring overall trucks get me off I finally got my collection of clob buster 1 and super clod, juggy 1 and juggy 2 NIB, and a host of other minor trucks and military vehicles. As for the prices its new guys like me that dont know the value of them that keep paying more than I have to sometimes cause im a newbie to tamiya collectiong and building.

[mrlexan]

I got caught up in the 30's thing buying what I could not afford when I was a kid. I know that I spent way too much money and don't really care about how much was spent on the certain must haves. It's not the point, just having them sit there makes me happy.

The only reason I have had rash of sales is the wife has convinced to buy a second home (my latest interest) and I need to reduce the amount of things to move or that is moved into the new house, not mention that funds are tight and $1.00 is one more that I can make a monthly payment with that I did not have yesterday. If I take a loss, so be it.

I will be buried with my NIB 58001, 934 (the holy grail), and NIB 58027, Ford Ranger XLT.

[quincey]

when i found ebay and tamiya club,i went mad buying allsorts of models i never had during the early 90's,now ive had nearly all that i wished i could of owned.As time and money rapidly disapeers its got to the stage of keep what i really want(fravorites+cars ive had since i was a kid)and sell the rest,its really hard trying to restore 50+ models the cost and time i will never get back so ive got to let them go.and it's nice to see them some of them go to members of tamiya club and let someone else have some fun.

i have noticed a drop in prices on ebay and i get more questions about cars than i used to.

i still want my kids(when we have some[:0][][])to see what dad had when he was young and i see it as a small investment that may some time see my kids into uni?

[netsmithUK]

I agree there wil always be collectors, and the current 'collectable' will probably change as new people hit 30 and want the car that got them started. I've watched it happen, what I'm getting at though is that it just seems much 'smaller' and more controlled this time around. 3-4 years ago it was just mad - virtually anything that said Tamiya on it fetched a high price, real clapped out bashed machine still regularly went over £100 and there were loads of people talking about collecting the first 100, or all the 4wd, one from each chassis class, etc. Now people seem more like that are at to get 2 - 10 cars, usually less. Maybe its just the economy but people seem a lot more controlled now days.

Quincey made a good point, I must have had 70-100 'projects' at one point and it seems that in the past 6 mths or so, me like many other have decided to finally have a bit of clearout, realising that we are never going to get around to finishing them. I think the difference is though I was not alone with that number of projects - in fact I was quite a small collector, but you don't hear those sorts of numbers bounced around so much any more.

Not saying that this is a bad thing, just looking for opinions []

[SGNAS]

If prices are falling, I haven't noticed. Bits n pieces are still going for far more than I am willing to spend. TA01 / 2 chassis are more expensive now than a year or two ago.

I consider myself to be more of n "accumulator" than "collector".

Before I discovered TC or Ebay I already had

From being a kid:

Sand Scorcher

Sand Rover

F1 Ligier

F1 Lotus

From being a young adult (OK, kid earning own money[])

3 Kyosho Optimas

Kyosho Nitro RS200

Kyosho RS500

Fire Dragon

1/8th nitro Buggy

Isuzu Mu

Chevy S10

Clio Williams

Discovering TC and Ebay enabled me to get the Sand Rover running again and find some odd bits for the Sand Scorcher. Both done, relatively, on the cheap by finding those mis labeled sales[].

What has been my downfall is those **** TA01 stadium trucks. They are agile, good off road and great for mounting scale bodies on. I must have 8 or so in various guises. Nothing I have is a shelf queen, everything I have can be run, but I have nowhere convenient to run the on road stuff. I haven't bought a whole Tamiya vehicle for some time. My ebay account has a serious itch and I've gotta scratch it soon[]

[Shodog]

I hear ya Chris and I agree with your comments though but you don't mention the factors which have contributed to the slow down.

Ebay membership has increased dramatically in the last few years. More poeple are clearing out their old stuff trying to make a buck. More product creates a glut and eases prices.

Economy, The world economy has taken a bit hit in the past few years. It's only starting to rebound now. Given time, prices will rebound back to their crazy levels

Tamiya club, don't underestimate the role TC plays in this. This site gets tons of hits. with a lot of people lurking on the forums who never post. Our forum audience is much larger than you would expect. all this useless banter educates buyers to be smarter. People bought evertyhing they could in the past because of a percieved idea that something is rare. Know they know that it tryuly isn't and patience truly pays off

The RC craze goes in phases. Here in the uS, Walmart is planning on offering a line of Hobby grade RC cars. this and many other factors like RTR kits will increase the popularity of R/C which will inturn bring older as well the toung modelers back to the fold.

[netsmithUK]

Its no so much the prices dropping that interests me, its the fact the size of the average collection dropping thats what I was wondering about, both with old timers selling off large numbers and new collectors settling for smaller numbers.

[simensays]

there are only so many Tamiya collectors, realtivly speaking, a lot fewer than the number of people that back in the days actually owned a Tamiya, there are plenty of old cars stacked away.

One theory might be that we as collectors, during these last years, have managed to dig up a great percentage of these to actually fill the demand to a certain degree. The most hardcore collectors has had a few years to actually reach their ever growing Tamiya wishlist. Some might even have lost some interest as a result of just that, or like you yourself Chris, kinda narrowed it down a bit, taken two steps back and concentrated about what started it all, maybe focusing on one or only a few cars.

Also people adapting the modern way of buying stuff, like eBay - I was thinking about it earlier today actually, it's definitly a buyers marked today - myself, I know the parts I'm looking for will show up again in a few days, so I don't place those crazy bids like there is no tomorrow - I know eBay will still be open next week.

I've been small time collector since I got back into vintage Tamiyas, only focusing on the few cars I actually wanted as a kid, but never got. Earlier tonight a took apart several project SRB chassis to have the metal parts beedblasted - I thought to myself, that these were the last ones I'd do, maybe even just rebuild some of them and selling off the other stuff - simply cause owning a vast number of them doesn't make me any happier...

[Shodog]

quote:Originally posted by netsmithUK

Its no so much the prices dropping that interests me, its the fact the size of the average collection dropping thats what I was wondering about, both with old timers selling off large numbers and new collectors settling for smaller numbers.

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I think some old time collectors are realizing where they want to focus their efforts on. I have come to the realization that that I want to focus on 3 speed trucks, Old racing buggies-SRB's and aftermarket alike and the Lunch box family of Monster trucks

The thing is that I have a bunch of cars and trucks that really don't interest me anymore. For the most part I got them for such a good deal that I don't want to get rid of them. I would rather pack them away in a box than sell them for money I would probably blow on something else I don't really need.

[El Mexican]

I think the golden age of collecting is directly related to the golden age of Ebay.

As you guys said, this was 3 to 4 years ago. Same goes for Ebay.

[Cul-Tech]

I'm with Jim, my collection will always grow, even if I have a car that I decide I don't want to put any time or money into it gets packed away in my vault of misfit cars. These cars can then at least talk to each other and not be forgotten in the world as RC scrap.[] My shelf cars respect the misfits also knowing some of the parts they may be wearing came from the partial comrades in the corner on the floor.

Who knows some day I may need some more parts from them.[]

I have not sold ANY of my cars good or bad since I got into collecting Tamiyas, and don't plan to.

Bury me with my Bruiser and Hilux, these I have had since new.[]

[Gazstation]

Hi

Here's my two pence on the collecting. I believe it's an age thing, i'm 26 and when i was growing up I do remember a lot of Tamiya cars and remember not bieng able to afford them (hence now[]) but working in a computer games store (I take back the growing up bit!) every day I see the next batch of young adults in late teens to early twenties buying up Master Systems and Snes's, N64's etc and with every purchase you will hear "I remember that as a kid" so maybe it's just what was big as we grew up, making it more a cultural thing if you will. Anyway my two pence.

Only just got back into this myself and my latest plaything is a Mudblaster although there's a Bullhead on the way, Lunchbox re-release on order, Hornet when I get the Cash! **** this web site[]

[Mervyn]

Very interesting thread. I'm going on 56 in a few months,and retiring within the next(not sure?) but as I slow down,I seem to enjoy collecting a whole lot more. I at one time had 85 new in box vintage kits. I have whittled that down to just 1,which I have had for 19 years. Some got sold,some got built,and now when a new project gets built,it replaces something in my display.The car from the display gets carefully boxed up and put away.I have a huge crawl space behind a stairwell crammed with all kinds of cars that at one time were on display. I have found over the years that nib does nothing for me. Built cars are what seems to satisfy me. If I get tired of any car in my display,its into the crawl space to see what I might want to bring back.I also have at any one time,about a dozen projects on the go.Some go into the collection,others end up getting sold or traded.It never seems to end. Most summer time is spent doing other things than r/c projects,but the other seasons draws me back down to the "pit" to build and create.Back in the 80's I used to race.All through the 90's I built cars with my children. Now its all just for pleasure,and its been 2+ years since I have driven anything.I have new radio sets all over the place,but I never seem to get around to building any drivers.No explanation!!! 23 years of r/c'ing and its just as much fun as when I started.The mode keeps changing-but the pleasure always remains.

[addict again]

well, I am 31..32 on May 1st. I as a kid loved rc my first "proper" kit was a hornet, and to this day i can remember the anticipation of the whole experiance from actualy buying it,the car ride home with the big box sitting on my lap and of course running it for the first time. I also remember sitting in my lhs for who know's how long looking and dreaming of owning a bruiser and an rc10. I used to get goose bumps just looking at the advertising in magazines!! And like most people I lost interest for real cars..ehem... and girls. Then about oh 4yrs ago a freind showed me his t-maxx and the whole thing started over again.As far as my collection goes I have slowed down a bit I have sold a few of my models but not many. Alot of times i almost feel like i need to grow up and sell them and get into something more adult like but everytime i look at my cars especially my bruiser and somewhat restored rc10 I just couldnt part with them!! And bury me with my bruiser and try to find room for the rc10!!!!!! thanks for reading

[Constructor]

Lol. Listen to us all; how old are we all getting reminising about the good old days!