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the Mrs and I were at our local antique shop tonight. One dealer has a really nice selection of Lionel, and pretty decent prices. One other dealer had a wind up Marx CV, no key,or tender. No info as far as working condition. It appeared to be missing the trim for the stack, and I couldn't tell if it was missing the side nameplates, if it even came with them. The asking was $24. Would it be worth bothering with?

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Dave, there are a lot of variations of windup CV's out there.  The run of the mill, postwar black CV is worth $24 if the motor acts like it will run... release the brake and wind the wheels backward a few revolutions, see if the spring will start to rotate them forward.  If so, it will probably wind and run.  Grossman's has repro stacks and keys.  If it has stamped steel wheels, make sure they are snug on the axles, as they have a tendency to come loose.  Even if it didn't run, I would personally try to talk them down a bit on price and take it home anyway - but the Marx CV is one of my all-time favorites, so take that for what it is worth.

 

Now, if the CV is a swing-peg or other prewar, or any color other than black, I would say it is worth $24 running or not.  If it is gray, silver or green... don't walk, run back there and get it. 

 

Gotta love those Marx Mechanical CV's:

 

CV24NOV2014 [800x532)

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Forgot to address the nameplates on the sides... as far as I can tell, those were only applied to the electric CV's.  Some early windup CV's had "Commodore Vanderbilt" rubber stamped on the side.  A lot of prewar windup CV's had a NYC nameplate on the nose of the locomotive, but those went away not too long before production was suspended for the war.

 

Hope that helps!

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