Do people collect MPC?

Yes there are people who are strictly collectors of the MPC era. Some of them are so single mindedly focused on collecting it, they'll accuse MPC operators of being abusers of the product.

 

That set doesn't look like it would be a good candidate for a collector, I'm suprised the bids went so high. At $150 though I would have been happy to beat it around my display for another 50 years.

Looks like although there were multiple bidders, there were only two bidders that were serious, everyone else were only willing to pay no more than $125. So yes there appears to be a few collectors (2) but by and large I think it's a great era to collect, some may ask outrages pricing but it's the old " only worth what someone is willing to pay".
I remember buying the MPC 9700 series box cars from Charles Ro for 12 for $60.
But,  Even today they are hard to sell. You should be able to pick up MPC era stuff really reasonable, even cheap.
By in large, there is not a whole lot of interest, all depends what you like.

I'm sure there are. Especially the people who remember it from their childhood.

 

Even if I was a MPC collector, I don't think I would have bid on this lot, just because of how they plan to ship it!

Saw this set also on ebay, had the box been in better shape, may of bid on it.

Its the first Service Station Special, from 1971. Although the set components are fairly common, the boxed set itself is pretty difficult to find. In all my years of collecting, I've only seen a few at best. One of the Greenberg's books estimates production at 1000 pieces. Wonder how accurate that number is.

 

Last month there was a pretty nice one up for auction, photo below.

  

The box was the reason I was interested. Even though it was damaged, it looked like it had all the packing, including one of those Styrofoam block houses.

 

Hi CW,

 

On first glance, it seems a bit high,  It was in like new, in the box, condition, so when you consider what today's Service Station Specials are selling for (The B&M GP 9 Set is around $380 at Charles Ro), the MPC set went for $100 less. Its like valuing something at "replacement cost". 

The selling price seems high to me, but he did get a buyer. Who's to say what something is really worth.

Do people collect MPC?

 

Me, with head slightly lowered:

"Hi, my name is Todd and I collect MPC."

 

Crowd:

"Hi, Todd!"

The following is just my own personal opinion as my tastes and interests have changed. Please, no offense to anyone intended!

 

'Collecting' MPC stuff seems more like something that would be called 'rounding up', 'gathering', or similar. There are a few truly 'rare' items produced during that era but from what I remember at train shows 10 -15 years ago there were tables with vast stretches of it everywhere. Probably hundreds of thousands of the common boxcars, gondolas, and tankers that had never been out of their boxes, yet they had a lot of miles on 'em! There are still sets in the original shrink wrap out there - and for what?  These are toys, not 'valuables'.

 

Unless a lot of them have been thrown out by disgruntled spouses, most of those trains produced are still around in people's basements, under furniture, in closets, storage buildings, and the like. If you are patient, you can probably amass quite a number of boxes easily.

 

The MPC era certainly has somme appeal but unlike pre/postwar trains that have historical/antique value and the modern era of scale O gauge equipment with operational features, MPC is an unusual middle ground period before the better quality PWC reissues and CC reissues of the postwar trains...

Lately I have been picking up mint or LN early MPC sets. They are really quite reasonable in price and the boxes stoke memories of the early to mid 1970s. The quality of those starter sets is pretty poor (such light plastic) but I have found them reliable runners once greased and oiled up. They definitely have a "toy" look and feel to them as they run around the layout and are best run just the way they came as complete consists. Basically, they are fun things to have and bring a smile to my face when I run them. Who could ask for more?

My mom has a collection of wishbones from Thanksgiving turkeys over the years. People can collect anything they want. Just because other people don't want to collect what you do doesn't necessarily make it a bad thing to collect. Except old turkey bones maybe....

 

If someone wants to collect MPC era Lionel, more power to them. Perhaps in a few years it will become more popular with people who can't afford the new stuff but don't want antiques.

"Do people collect MPC?"

 

I think these guys do...  

 

 

You are NOT KIDDING... check out these prices for MPC/Fundimensions sets/equipment.

Question for PaperTRW, any idea on how many of those 1971 SS sets were made ?

Think the Greenberg estimate of 1000 is even close ?

Some of the Collectors Sets seem like they would be nice to own.  That Mid Atlantic Limited set from 1980 would be cool to own.  I wish Lionel currently would release more SAL painted items.  I don't see MPC era items sky rocketing in value like Postwar items during the 80's and 90's were but I think some of the rarer items in good condition probably will hold there value.

quote:

These are toys, not 'valuables'.

 

All Lionel trains are toys, whether folks collect them or not.

 

 

 

And there have been few truly "rare" items produced during any era since MPC, either.

 

Also, the number of PWC reissues and CC reissues is relatively tiny. In any case, the quality of MPC pieces I have collected is excellent, and they're far more interesting than most of the PWC or CC reissues. 

 

It just depends on the person. Like any era, there are some MPC pieces that are better than others. However, the MPC items I have, and I still have a fair number of them, I really like, and are definite "keepers" for me. 

I have been posting MPC locos and cars on the for sale forum and probably get 10% success selling them so I think interest is waning.

Mikey

I have been posting MPC locos and cars on the for sale forum and probably get 10% success selling them so I think interest is waning.

Mikey

 

You have probably hit the proverbial nail on the head Mikey. MPC experienced the return to the hobby by most of us who were the baby boomers. I can remember when almost anything Lionel produced in the late 1980s and early 1990s became 'hard to find' immediately after release. The GS4 Daylight was fetching $2000 for a couple of years. There were other similar pieces that went for crazy $$ because the hobby was really growing. 

There have been several excellent threads about the future of O gauge and one thing is likely - just what you said- "Interest is waning". Add to that the tremendous amount of new product produced since the MPC era that is out there -  who is buying MPC?  Some folks do like and appreciate the beautiful paint schemes of that time but the numbers are definitely diminishing among collectors in general and MPC aficionados in particular...

You're asking too much...

a nice train is a nice train

I had allot of MPC in the 70's. Now more into the scale side of 3 rail.

 

i still have some that I kept:

 

Bicentennial set, loco and all cars 

The entire lionel set including the engine and all cars including the 5712 box car

The blue comet set with engine and all six passenger cars

 

Although I don't run them anymore they were special gifts from my mother who is now gone but still remembered. 

I still have a lot MPC trains. They were some of the first trains I bought being a baby boomer myself. I started buying trains in the 70's, the 1st being the CN GP-7. I stopped buying trains for a while from about 85' until about 03'.

 

When I got back into buying trains, I started liking and buying the scale ones. So most of the modern trains I now buy are scale with some PWC & CC mixed in.

 

I did sell off some of my MPC a few years ago, one being the N&W J 8100 since I had bought a scale J to pull my N&W O gauge aluminum pass. cars. So one day I may have the new Pocahontas set. Needless to say this past week I received a N&W J 18040 to pull those cars. So I still love some of the MPC trains but now scale comes first.

What do the initials MPC stand for?

MPC

Actually, I believe it was "Model Products Corporation." I could be wrong, of course. Just ask my wife...

I wont tell your Wife either, but Model PRODUCTS Corp was what I understood it to mean as well.

 

Doug

I have some MPC items, and yea some of them are cheap, but the rolling stock has the needle point axels, I think my 2 favorite ones are the small Hudson that had the sound of steam (which doesn't work correctly, I guess this particular model was notorious for that, otherwise still has a very post war feel to me at least) and an Alco FA set made for the Biencentellial that someone gave me. I seem to remember Michael Premack (?) in one of the TM segments saying that his best runners were MPC engines.

 

Brialel Klineguy wrote in another thread not to knock starter sets. As someone whose first Lionel catalog in middle school was the 1996 catalog mailed to me by Arizona trains, I'm starting to think about collecting some of those sets I wanted as a kid but didn't get, and I have to say, some of these MPC sets look really nice too, especially the steam passenger sets and some of the sets talked about here.

The MPC Lionel era was a transitional period where a new company was finding its way   to serve the new model train market created by the baby boomers. Back in the 1970's life was still pretty simple. There were no computers, video games, cell phones and CATV would come about by about 1975. Trains were a big deal back then and the train shows were packed to capacity. You could barely get down the aisles and the shows were attended primarily by young people in their 20's.  

What I liked about MPC trains was that they were good reliable runners, simplistic in nature but very reliable. There were some mistakes along the way like the silver wheels on the rolling stock/diesels and traction tires that came off (I super glued then back on)and there was no horn option. My favorite activity was buying magnetraction axles at Madison hardware, drilling. honing out the bushings, adding the gear with the larger bore and scrapping the traction tire wheel sets. My MPC rolling stock all has Magnetraction now even before it became available again. When the horns finally came they sounded like radio interference, really chitty sounding. Many boxcars were cast in plastic in the body color of the RR and just heat stamped. The boxcars were particularly bright, colorful and very unrealistic looking. Still it was a busy period in Lionel history that we can remember with fondness. Lionel was proudly Made in the USA back then and I felt good buying it. The hobby seems smaller now and Lionel is now imported but still very expensive. The main reasons I don't purchase any of their trains anymore. Today I  strictly buy leftover, NOS, and deeply discounted overrun trains. It has to be 40%-50%  OFF for me to reach in my pocket.

To me, the 92/94/9700 class boxcars bet the socks off the PW 6464 cars in looks.  However, the frams on the early cars seemed light, and those rare express box type trucks were on almost every car until the metal sprung trucks came along. 

hello Dennis LaGrua.............

 

You are a WISE man for what you were saying about "the hobby seems smaller and now Lionel is imported but still very expensive. The main reason I don't purchase any of their trains anymore. Today I strictly buy leftover, NOS, and deeply discounted overrun trains. It has to be 40%-50% OFF for me to reach in my pocket." Very well said.  You could write a letter to Lionel and see what they have to said about it. I felt the same way as I just purchased a NOS Santa Fe F-3 ABA set #18117 and it has 2 bend armatures which had to be replaced even it is new in the box and made in America. This is the last Lionel engine I am buying but will buy Lionel imported freight cars at a deeply discounted prices. Some NOS Lionel trains is still very expensive today.

 

the woman who loves the S.F.5011,2678,2003,200

Tiffany

Really???  I thought the MPC boxcars didn't hold a candle to the original 6464's -- largely because MPC dropped all the rivet detail to make the application of graphics easier.

 

If you look closely, the MPC boxcars tend to only have a couple of rivets near the roof line and then a couple more near the bottom car frame.  Through most of the boxcar side-body, it's purely smooth with little or no detail aside from the actual graphics.    Overall I viewed them as a huge disappointment and clear signal that MPC was looking to cut corners in their reproductions.

 

Having said that though, I agree MPC has secured its place in Lionel history... if only as a "stop-gap" era that carried the more serious toy train enthusiasts to a follow-on period when increasing detail became the norm again on locomotives and rolling stock.

 

David

quote:

If you look closely, the MPC boxcars tend to only have a couple of rivets near the roof line and then a couple more near the bottom car frame.

 

Who looks closely? The MPC cars look great whether they are rolling down the track or sitting on the display shelf.

 

Sorry, I was speaking tongue-in-cheek about looking closely.  Whether they're rolling down the track or displayed in a shelf, it's quite obvious that the MPC cars are inferior knock-offs of the post-war originals.

 

Don't get me wrong... MPC produced some terrific stuff for it's time -- the painted aluminum passenger cars being some that rank at the top of the list.  But the boxcars were not good examples of "better product".

 

David

As far as decoration goes, the MPC boxcars are way better than the postwar boxcars. I like both, but MPC did a better job on decoration.

 

My first train set was MPC back in 1976. I've got all the books, catalogs, and flyers from the era. I have what I want from the era, and would say I collected it.

 

Grab a couple Lionel catalogs from the 1970's, and watch an episode of Barney Miller and the Jefferson's, and it all comes together.

Ed,

 

Good question. I really don't know, but that number doesn't sound completely out of line given what I understand about the period.

 

I have some production documentation for those years, but I don't recall the 1187 set being included. Those sets were likely assembled from existing inventory, although it was the first place you could obtain the 9230 Monon Boxcar. I'll do some digging and get back to you if I have any luck.

 

TRW

Was the Standard O Hopper tooled by MPC or part of the tooling bought from Pola to make the first round at STD O cars?

 

In the new RTR catalog, were the 4 wheel cars such as the tankcar issued by MPC or was the 4 wheel platform only used on the Bobber caboose?

Generally speaking, NO...but I've got their Budd cars and a 4935 GG1 to mention a few items.

Several of the "Thomas" cars are based on the MiniMax tooling.