Hey Marx guys - Is this real?

Yes, it is real.  According to Hiteshaw's excellent 6" tin guide (highly recommended!) they were made from 1953-1962.  Plastic wheels went into production around 1949.  This would have been part of a windup set, with the sliding slot & tab couplers.  I had to go grab my example off the shelf to look at... it's one of my runners I use on the clockwork layout.

If you are interested in Marx 6" tin, Walt Hiteshaw's CD is THE reference to get... worth every penny: http://www.toyandtrainguides.com/

Nice car John, congrats on the find!

Thanks James. 

The same guy actually had a couple other cars I considered picking up.  Unfortunately, A. I'm a very long way from home with limited suitcase space for the return trip and B. despite having an adequate some of good old American greenbacks with me, I had only a small sum of Canadian money with me so I had to be rather picky.  Looking forward to getting this home.  I will probably put a chunk of soft foam in it when I run it to help keep the noise down.

btw. What's an average price for a car like this?  I thought it was a steal at $8.

Thanks again,

John Z.

Usually, if I find a fairly common Marx 6" tin windup car - in good condition like yours - for $10 bucks at a train show, I feel really good about the purchase.  Walt's guide values it at $17, so $8 is a can't-pass-it-up deal to me!  You might find it cheaper on Ebay, but shipping costs would easily put you over that price - it would probably cost 8 bucks for shipping alone.

Too bad you couldn't get the other two cars your were interested in, but I understand the luggage space & cash limitations.  BTW, I may try your foam idea... it could be disguised as coal or gravel, and it is worth a try to dampen the racket.  A train of Marx tin running a windup speeds can make quite a roar!

Thanks again James!

Hi - To elaborate just a bit on WindupGuy's informative comments about the couplers, the sliding attachment is unique to the windup versions.  Electric versions' tab-and-slot couplers would be attached through a 1/8" hole in the frame with a brass eyelet, AKA a rivet.  (Or they could also have Marx' plastic knuckle coupler).

Anyway, congratulations on your nice find.  The 6" tin cars are just charming.

Actually one of the cars had a plastic knuckle coupler on it (the other was broken off.)  I thought it was a homemade item - Oh well, next time I'll know.  Thanks again.

Marx designed the plastic knuckle coupler to be able to work with the tab & slot. Many set tenders had T&S with the rest of the cars being plastic knuckles.

Steve

as...

although they likely did originate in clockwork sets, don't sell sliding t&s couplers short in an electric powered consist, either.  mixing about 1 in 4 in a long freight train, when the locomotive starts up you get a very cool coupler unslacking sound effect.  they do get a little tricky backing up, though.

Also worth mentioning is that from about 1938-1948, the sliding slot & tab couplers used a twist on the tailpiece to attach it to the car, as opposed to the punched dimple on your green LV gondola.  I prefer to find riveted coupler cars from that era to run on my layout, since the twisted end tends to jam in the slot in the frame, causing derailments when the coupler won't swing from side to side.  The twisted coupler works OK on a circle or simple loop, but tends to cause problems when cars need to go around curves in both directions.  The later punched sliding coupler doesn't have this problem.

That's a great idea, Steve!  I'm going to try it out as soon as I get some train time...