Lionel NYC Pacemaker PS1 Sound Car

Ya, I did the exact same thing. It's a pretty noticeable difference. I also had the same issue with the most recent vision SF and PFE reefers not matching the older runs of reefers too (not as noticeable as the pacemaker PS1 tho). It's unfortunate but I expected it would be the case as the first pacemaker car was made in 2003 if I remember right. I think the older paint is more correct but I could be wrong. The newer "candy red" just seems off. If you add a few other PS1s between the two it's not so bad. I am hoping that in the 2017 signature catalog they announce a big NYC freight pack along with a vision pack with sounds either PS1's or the milk cars. They will go great with the upcoming Legacy Niagara. 

Weather the  car so the red is not so bright !  

I collect NYC cars in MTH Rail king !   The cars of one year do match others of later years in the Pace maker colors .   No big deal for me !  The Ps-1 sound car looked great in scheme .  I just can not pay over a $100  for one car !  

There were many variations in the Pacemaker Car colors in real life. Also the graphics varied. A few years ago AM Hobbies did several Atlas O special runs of the Pacemaker Box Cars representing all of the known variations in the paint and graphics.

Yes, I agree the color in the NYC Pacemaker "sound" box car is off from the first issued Ps-1 one.  It was rather disappointing for I wished to run 'em together.  And yes I know of all the factors in different paint in real life but these are models of the same time frame....no different heralds or hundreds of numbers off.

I also have more than 30 of the MTH Premier Pacemaker box cars and this manufacturer holds the same color thru each example, whether with data or without, black or white herald, black or white numbers.  Who really knows how red, or grey should be but at least the manufacturer should be able 

to keep it constant in his line.  I think at Lionel is just sloppy at times with "their" manufacturing.  Just put it in a orange box and it will sell.  There, I've said my piece and now I'm ready for the flak.

I am curious, which previous Lionel car are you comparing it to. Lionel did a few in their "Standard" series that had the black metal doorguide on top and one  that had better detail and more prototypical plastic doorguides same as the sound cars. The latter was also a much brighter red than anyone else's Pacemakers. Atlas, MTH, and Weaver reds are fairly close and much more maroon than either Lionel scale car. I think Atlas did two versions of the red and gray car plus one in brown. MTH did three different versions of the red and gray including white lettering with no data, white lettering with data, and black lettering with data. All of Weavers are white lettering with no data which is the as built version.

pete

"

Who really knows how red, or grey should be but at least the manufacturer should be able 

to keep it constant in his line."

If the real thing varied in color and brightness, why would you want absolutely constant color and brightness across many different road numbers?  I have lots of Pacemaker cars in multiple scales and they are all slightly different, just like the prototype.  Much more interesting to my eye.