What is a dealer appreciation model

I'm not even sure the program still exists, but MTH would offer certain dealers a limited edition DAP offering (usually at year-end I believe).  Those items were typically boxed in a different color/design as opposed to MTH's regular product boxes.  That's all I know about the program.  Aside from being produced in small volumes, I'm not sure there were any significant differences between the DAP offerings vs. regular production-line offerings.

Nothing different, typical MTH products that were uncataloged and most are very sought after. My uncle has a DAP UP Big Boy and a KCS F7 Passenger set. 

Trainlover9943 posted:

Nothing different, typical MTH products that were uncataloged and most are very sought after.   ...

Always a delicate balancing act.  I'm sure dealers want items they don't need to deeply discount, and this might have been MTH's way to offer a year-end "surprise" to some dealers.  The limited production usually allowed dealers to get top-dollar for DAP items.

OTOH, I often wonder how importers felt when they KNEW they could have sold a lot more of something if they produced more of them.  I guess we got that answer a couple of years ago when MTH re-issued its Norfolk Southern OCS business train as part of its regular Premier line-up.  Wasn't a popular move for folks who owned the original DAP version and wanted their "investment" protected.  But it sure made guys like me happy, 'cause I could finally purchase an entire (and beautiful) OCS train at a fair price after watching the original DAP prices skyrocketing for several years.

Now... If Lionel would only realize how many VisionLine tankers with FreightSounds they could sell if they'd re-issue them all these years later... or just offer another road-name of the tankers with sounds.  They couldn't make enough of them!!!  Very straightforward decision from my POV.

David

Rocky Mountaineer posted:

Trainlover9943 posted:

Nothing different, typical MTH products that were uncataloged and most are very sought after.   

Now... If Lionel would only realize how many VisionLine tankers with FreightSounds they could sell if they'd re-issue them all these years later... or just offer another road-name of the tankers with sounds.  They couldn't make enough of them!!!  Very straightforward decision from my POV.

David

Agree on the VL tank cars. They were a steal as far as price and features. I mean TWO sound cars for $270 is a AMAZING deal! 

I believe most of them (possibly there is an exception here or there) have calmed down in terms of people caring about them or paying any sort of premium.

Some of the early engine/set offerings were of the Proto-Sound 1.0 vintage, which I think makes more people want to shy away from them more than they might seek them out just because they were in the DAP product line.

The boxes were mostly blue as opposed to the yellow you will see today for Railking or purple for Premier.

I am pretty sure the program ended in 2011.  A simple search on MTH site shows this announcement for the 2011 offerings (and some earlier, but none after 2011).  I used to collect the Christmas Boxcars and the last one I have is also from 2011.

-Dave

Both Lionel and MTH had DAP releases. MTH limited they're DAP pieces to two per autherized dealer. DAP rolling stock can be found pretty easily but engines are harder to find while HO scale DAP is near impossible to ever find. I have an HO scale DAP MTH K-4S PS3 with syncronised smoke  in mint condition.

rustyrail o scale posted:

........ MTH limited they're DAP pieces to two per autherized dealer. .....

 

I think that might have evolved over the years with little fanfare.  That or the desire for the boxcars tapered off to nothing after the 1st 4-5 years.

The early 1999-2000 DAP Christmas boxcars I paid quite a premium for on the secondary market (not complaining, as I thought they were worth it at the time and I really liked (still like!) the artwork).  I think I paid a premium, but not quite as high as the first 2 for the years 2001-2003 cars on eBay.

Every car from 2004 onward I was able to get via my normal dealer at a normal pre-order price for a similar boxcar.  (the odd thing with 2004-6 was that they skipped 2004 and 2005 and issued all 3 Christmas cars in the same year 2006 to keep the series consistent.  I don't know if they did similarly with other DAP items/brochures or if there were really "gap" years for DAP products in general if MTH was maybe debating what to do with the program) 

I did not start buying huge amounts of MTH trains over that time where I would have risen to his top few customers who he would save the car for if they wanted to purchase one, so I can only assume MTH either offered more to their dealers or my dealer got a fair number of extras from other dealers who did not have customers that were interested (a real possibility, I suppose).

You mentioned HO.  While I didn't go for any of the engines, I did buy 2 of the HO Aquarium cars that were done for DAP, as I still had a passing interest in HO.

-Dave

rustyrail o scale posted:

Both Lionel and MTH had DAP releases.  ...

I think MTH's program was more broad in terms of product offerings, whereas Lionel's "dealer appreciation" cars (at least by that name) were primarily boxcars for about 7 years beginning in 2008. 

If we broaden the scope a bit to include other special year-end offerings outside the normal Volume1/Volume2 catalogs, Lionel offered "Stocking Stuffers" for several years back in the 1980/1990 collector heydays.  These were often VERY limited production items that filled out a particular series of cars -- most often (but not limited to) passenger car sets... dining cars, vista dome cars, and full vista dome cars, to name a few popular offerings.  B-units were another popular stocking stuffer item as I recall.  It wasn't uncommon in those days to see prices of these stucking stuffer items skyrocket quickly after items were released.  Those 15" passenger car "stocking stuffers" often went for a couple hundred dollars on the secondary market (as well as from dealers who held stock until the prices escalated) back then.  But today, nobody really gives them a second look.