This is a joke, right?

artyoung posted:

This is a joke, right?

No! A joke would have been if they had lettered it "Maroons"! "That's all folks!" 

artyoung posted:

This is a joke, right?

Nope, this is 100% real. It is a unique car that has an interesting story, and the reality is that the manufactures would not have touched this on their own.  

This car can be further customized in so many ways.  Does anyone know when students pulled this prank?

And the price is ?

aussteve posted:

And the price is ?

$79.95 plus 9.00 for shipping. 

POTRZBE posted:

This car can be further customized in so many ways.  Does anyone know when students pulled this prank?

My source for the original photo tells me in happened between 1960 and 1962

So we're celebrating vandalism??

No Jeff,it's called creative writing.....LOL

This is way cool. Not only is this a unique piece of rolling stock that is prototypical, it tells a story that not many people knew about. I love it! Ill probably order one soon. Bravo Derek!

The way things are going recently, it will come back from the factory spelled "Monon"

This is a neat idea.

Next do the FGE "SOLID CLOD" reefer!

A very unique and fun offering! Just ordered mine. Have always like different and unique items. 

NICE, but a little pricey.

Derek:

Love the concept of XP Trains.  I just ordered one.

Neal Jeter 

I won't be ordering one but anticipate others may think of me when they see it and order as a gift.

What, me worry?

Jeff T posted:

So we're celebrating vandalism??

Surely you've seen the cars with graffiti decals.

I'll bet that even the guys who had to repaint it got a laugh out of it.

Will the car come with paperwork that tells the story behind it, along with prototype photos?

Mallard4468 posted:

Will the car come with paperwork that tells the story behind it, along with prototype photos?

We're looking into this. It is something that we would like to do with every car we release. Just need to get a final OK from Lionel. 

Maxrailroad posted:

This is way cool. Not only is this a unique piece of rolling stock that is prototypical, it tells a story that not many people knew about. I love it! Ill probably order one soon. Bravo Derek!

I got my Degree at Purdue and this would make a great display in my office and maybe tell the story of it to friends.

     I have the schemes I like, one by MTH the other I made with Highball graphics decals on a Lionel PS-1.

                              High speed scheme has never been made yet in O.

MORONS would be found in other places, not hard to locate these days. 

Mallard4468 posted:

Jeff T posted:

So we're celebrating vandalism??

Surely you've seen the cars with graffiti decals.

I'll bet that even the guys who had to repaint it got a laugh out of it.

Which is also vandalism.

No doubt they did, but I'm sure the foremen who had to justify the expenditure viewed it more grimly.

I love it.  Nice and humorous for the one person in who will catch it running it on a club layout. 

Off this subject but reminds me of my one of a kind GGD car.  When I was helping Scott at my first York at the booth he was displaying the factory sample.  I asked him if I could buy it and he told me just to make it go away.

While I'm a Ball State grad (architecture), leave it to the engineers at Purdue to pull off relettering a boxcar.  The best we managed was to rewire the architectural school elevator so that the floor buttons took you to the wrong floor one night.  Full disclosure, it was the class ahead of mine that did that!  Don't want that coming back 30 years later.

I like the car.  Have to see if finances will permit me to purchase one.

Thanks Derek, I just placed an order for three "MORONS" (Moe, Larry, Curly).

What a great car and story! I can't wait to get mine!

Wonder how long the car ran in service before repaint was caught and corrected?  Used to watch a Monon BL-2 switch a concrete plant in southern lndiana...

I think my wife would buy that car and give it to me to run around the layout...

colorado hirailer posted:

Wonder how long the car ran in service before repaint was caught and corrected?  Used to watch a Monon BL-2 switch a concrete plant in southern lndiana...

I'd like to know the same thing. I think it really depends on how far the car got away from Lafayette before someone noticed it and reported it to the shop. It's one of those things that you do a double take when you first see it, I would think it made it for at least a few weeks. 

PS. Thank you everyone for a GREAT first day of sales. 

Does it say Moron on both sides or is it one of each?

I think it's hilarious and might buy one. It was a harmless joke done decades ago. No need to get worked up over it. I don't encourage vandalism, but the are a lot bigger issues in the world than this car. 

palallin posted:

Mallard4468 posted:

Jeff T posted:

So we're celebrating vandalism??

Surely you've seen the cars with graffiti decals.

I'll bet that even the guys who had to repaint it got a laugh out of it.

Which is also vandalism.

No doubt they did, but I'm sure the foremen who had to justify the expenditure viewed it more grimly.

If you find it objectionable, then by all means don't order one.  By not ordering one, you will send a strong message of disapproval to all the would-be vandals out there, and I'm sure many of them will change their ways as a result.

Great job, Derek.  I'm in!  Wish I could afford more than one, but that wouldn't be prototypical, would it?

I just ordered one as I find it very funny, and maybe I'll celebrate a little vandalism too! Give me a break.

At the least, I guess you could say it was a MORONIC idea! LOL!

Things like this and more common graffiti are certainly breaking the law, and do not exist on my layout, but I can't help being amused by railroad modelers who are so offended by it that they seem to place such activities on the same level of someone breaking into the Louvre and painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa. Some guys need to get out of their basements more often! 

German posted:

Things like this and more common graffiti are certainly breaking the law, and do not exist on my layout, but I can't help being amused by railroad modelers who are so offended by it that they seem to place such activities on the same level of someone breaking into the Louvre and painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa. Some guys need to get out of their basements more often! 

That's something of a stretch, isn't it?

Here IS a stretch: M-O-N-O-N. ☺

Just to clarify a few points, the car will have the Moron lettering on both sides. I can not confirm it was done that way, but judging the way the tracks were laid out it was certainly doable if they had enough time. 

Also, I spoke with Lionel this morning. We will be including a sheet with the car that shows the prototype photo and tells the story. This will be folded and in the orange box. 

For all the Purdue alum reading, "Boiler up and Hammer Down" 

Assuming that they were undergrads, the evildoers would now be at least in their late 70s.  I wonder if any of them became model railroaders.  Maybe they're on this forum? 

You can come clean - the statute of limitations has expired.  

Some of you Moron's need to lighten up a bit. The vandalism part was a joke... Jeez...

As a proud Boilermaker, love the car and the story behind it.