Pricing for Lionel 21" passenger cars??

Sort of depends on which set you'd like. Some are sold out and some are very available. I have the ones I have left priced at $539.96 with free shipping but I'm open to offers too. 

You should be able to find out that information from the most recent catalog

Matt Makens posted:

You should be able to find out that information from the most recent catalog

Awe, come on Matt... nobody pays Catalog MSRP for this stuff -- especially passenger cars!!! 

For some strange reason, passenger car prices have some of the widest price ranges out there.   That was true in the aluminum car days, and it's still true with 21" ABS.  Perhaps the huge range of prices can best be explained by the fact that the pre-order "starting point" for buying them is SO FAR from the catalog's inflated MSRP's.

The best prices I've seen are down around $430 for the new 21" 4-packs ($600 MSRP), $215 for the 2-packs ($300 MSRP), and $215 for the StationSounds diner (also $300 MSRP).  These price-points are consistently around 28% off MSRP, which seems to be the most aggressively discounted price off admittedly meaningless numbers anyway.  If dealers offered the same 28% discount off let's say Legacy diesels with a $650 MSRP, we'd see them selling for $475 or so.  But we don't see that except at special sale times.

Anyway, back to passenger cars... once we get past the pre-order periods, all best are off... and it's like the wild, wild West out there.    Lots of dealers start out at those really aggressive price-points (or very close to them)... then up the ante after the pre-order deadline.  Other dealers keep the pre-order price until the cars are delivered, and then play games with higher prices.  Still other dealers (like Charlie Ro) tend to maintain the same, good ole prices they offered at pre-order time up until they're sold out.

That should get you started.

David

I wanna say I preordered the 4 packs both up and CSX set at I believe 450 each.  2 pack preorder was 229 each.  Same for the station sound diners.  I think retail on the up 4 pack is 670 or something and the 2 packs retail for 299 I do believe.   really pays to preorder.   I learned the hard way a few times on this.   

The interesting thing about these 21" passenger cars is the street-prices aren't THAT different from the prices of Lionel's 18" aluminum cars... perhaps about $30 cheaper for the ABS 4-pack.  And maybe $10-$20 cheaper for the ABS 2-packs and ABS StationSounds diner.  So for the most part, Lionel did a successful side-step on us with pricing.  And while there's the new tooling write-off that needs to be absorbed, they pretty much have us buying 21" plastic cars for just about the price we were accustomed to paying for 18" aluminum cars.  The tooling write-offs notwithstanding, the ABS cars should eventually be a MUCH higher profit-margin product than the former aluminum offerings -- especially with the reported increasing labor costs associated with aluminum materials.  Am I missing something?

Truth be told... aside from the LED lighting now standard on the 21" ABS cars (which Lionel also implemented on its last run of 18" aluminum cars),  I actually PREFER Lionel's 18" aluminum cars.  They fit my newly planned layout a bit better than the 21-inchers, and the interiors are better detailed straight out of the box.

But for now, we're all caught up with what Lionel is selling... and that's the 21-inchers. 

David

Sorry, that was my lazy answer. Ive got 2 sets on order so i should know, the 8 car Broadway Limited is just over $1000

Matt Makens posted:

Sorry, that was my lazy answer. Ive got 2 sets on order so i should know, the 8 car Broadway Limited is just over $1000

OK.... we'll let you off the hook this time, Matt... especially since you're throwing a few bucks to Nicholas Smith Trains (I presume) for a very nice passenger set.