I recently read that there were some 9120's made in brown. If this car exist, does anybody have one?.
Harold
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I am not sure of their existence but Lionel did the 9122 in brown.
Neal Jeter
The regular production 9120 Northern Pacific Flatcar was green with white trailers.
The regular production 9122 Northern Pacific Flatcar was brown (red oxide) with gray trailers.
The first production run of the 9122 was mistakenly produced in green instead of brown. These are fairly common in the marketplace.
One single example of the 9120 in brown is known to exist. It served as the prototype/color sample for the 9122.
TRW
Thanks for the information. We can stop looking for that one.
Harold
@HSD68 posted:Thanks for the information. We can stop looking for that one.
I wouldn't completely give-up! I highly doubt the brown 9120 is a one-of-a-kind, so there might be others out there. Unusual MPC pieces continue to surface, 50+ years after they were made.
Without a doubt, the one known brown 9120 was a color sample. The flat has a green body painted brown, and the trailers are molded white painted gray. It was then factory heat-stamped with the 9120 graphics. Other prototypes/color samples were made in this era by painted or molding new colors but stamping with existing numbers and graphics.
Just out of curiosity, where did you read about the brown 9120?
TRW
I just purchased a green 9122 with white trailers a did a search on it. It was actually your response (PaperTRW) to a forum from 2014 Wrong color Lionel rolling stock. You listed five variations of the 9120/22 but did not say the brown 9120 was one of a kind.
Would you know if this sample still exist or who's collection it is now in?.
Harold
I found the brown 9120 in the late 1990s and have had it ever since.
Sorry for the lousy photo which is attached.
TRW
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Thank you TRW for sharing the picture of your car. Very nice. If you know of any others in existence the might be for sale, my e mail is in my profile. I have a weak spot for these early pig's.
Do you have any other early color variations? Would love to see them.
Harold
@HSD68 posted:Do you have any other early color variations? Would love to see them.
Sure, early MPC oddities are my thing. Here's one of my favorites:
The 9142 Republic Steel Gondola is normally green (1971) and the 9136 is normally blue (1972). This is the prototype/color sample for the blue 9136 Republic Steel Gondola, with the heat-stamped number and built date from the green 9142. It's noteworthy for two reasons... first is that the new color (blue) is molded plastic instead of painted. I think just about all the other color samples I have use paint. This molded blue is also different from the standard 9136 blue and is much more royal.
But the neatest thing about it is that Lionel showed this variation on the side of thousands of rolling stock boxes starting in 1977! They probably didn't realize that particular photo showed something special when they created those boxes.
About a half dozen of these blue 9142s are known to exist (this one is a duplicate that I recently acquired), which goes back to my earlier comment about not giving up on finding another brown 9120.
Enjoy!
TRW
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Did you get the odd color cars from a factory auction or were they from a private collection. It does not seem likely that they would show up on ebay. I have seen factory errors come up at shows but never a paint sample.
Harold
The answer about where to find such animals is "all of the above." I've bought such oddities from auction houses, other collectors, former Lionel employees, local shows (it helps that I'm in Michigan), eBay, Craigslist, etc.
My brown 9120 came from Madison Hardware in Detroit in the late 1990's. My guess is that it was among Dick Kughn's items from when he owned Lionel.
A red Republic Steel Gondola popped-up on eBay last fall in a regular production set. Unfortunately, I missed it, but a friend was able to snag it. Even more crazy is that it's different from the one I have... mind is red with yellow lettering (the one shown in the TM 1970-1980 book) and the one from eBay is red with white lettering. As I mentioned in an earlier note, interesting things are still popping-up 50 years later.
TRW
TRW thanks for the information. Please keep the pictures coming.
Harold
