The Diecast Zone · Model Car Club Since 1994
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Topic starter
08/05/2015 9:04 am
Understanding the relationship between Legacy and The Zone.
After reading a post below I can see that some of you do not understand the relationship between The Zone and Legacy / Mint Models. Let me be clear in the hopes to put this to rest.
Kevin and I own Legacy as well as the website associated with the Zone. I do not want to say the words "Legacy owns The Zone" because we want this to be a forum that is a free exchange between collectors and a place where they can share their passion for these mini masterpieces. We do not censor it at all.
Having said that the facts are as follows.
. Kevin and I do in fact own this website.
. We try to do our best to add content and helpful information to
the Zone. Zone News, pictures of new announcements, providing industry information to the moderators and contributors, etc.
. We worked closely with Rusty Hurley on the Auto Art contest and
gave away over $3,000 worth of models. No contest like that had been done before we bought the Zone and Legacy. We are working on more contests for the Zone.
. As for Jim Cowen, we entered into an agreement with Jim Cowen and
Raffi to launch the new 1:24 scale line of resin models. Kevin and I both worked for The Franklin Mint for many years, and had the marketing ability, connections, 1:24 scale customers, and the money to help get it off the
ground. We paid for the initial development of the 1:24 scale models.
Automodello was the manufacturer, and we would be the retailer and distributor. The relationship changed when Jim Cowen posted on this Forum and asked all customers to order the Lincolns directly from him.
Automodello does not help fund the Zone. We do.
. We will never allow another merchant/retailer to post and
advertise on these forums.
. If we had not purchased Legacy / The Zone last March, Legacy would
have gone out of business and the Zone would cease to exist.
. The Zone costs about $1,000 a month to fund. The Auctions and Web
Fund Donations pay for some of that. We pay the rest!
Why did John Kuvakas send us the brochures? Because he did not have the time to go through them all and asked if we could. One of my assistants is going to go through them and will list them on the Auctions and Ebay, and we will use that money to pay for the Zone.
If I have been unclear in any way, please feel free to ask any questions that you would like answers to. I will be happy to help you understand.
Michelle
08/05/2015 11:57 am
Thanks, Michelle. Can you describe the relationship, if any,..
between Legacy/Zone and D4C? Many still think of this as the D4C club website, which, of course, it hasn't been for very many years. Thanks in advance.
08/05/2015 12:41 pm
Thank you Michelle. And thanks again too, for all your excellent service to me over the years from Mint Models.
George Schire
Oakdale, Minnesota
08/05/2015 1:27 pm
Michelle, thanks for the clarifications... I appreciate your direct answers.
Topic starter
08/05/2015 1:39 pm
The Zone and the Club...
The Zone and the Club have a very close partnership. We will continue to work together and actually are presently discussing with Jay some ideas for the future.
08/05/2015 2:09 pm
Thanks, Michelle
08/05/2015 3:15 pm
Thanks Michelle. The hobby has always benefited from your professionalism.
09/05/2015 9:58 am
Thanks for the information, Michelle. However, I'm really confused about why it costs...
... so much to fund. I've done some research on costs and I saw off-the-shelf forum hosting with 500,000 views per month that are less than $50/mo. Perhaps it's time to do some price comparisons because $1,000/mo seems to be outrageously high.
09/05/2015 4:22 pm
This site offers a lot more content than most post-only forums...
like the car lists from various mints etc...
Topic starter
09/05/2015 7:12 pm
Michael is correct. The Zone is not an off the shelf forum
It is a custom website. We have the auctions which require the ability to transact. The car list, as Michael mentioned has functionality and integration with Legacy. The functions that separate The Zone and off the shelf forums are numerous and are akin to comparing apples and oranges.
Additionally, as you may have noticed, The Zone never crashes or goes down. This is partially because we pay to have the site monitored for any dysfunction. Any glitch is immediately corrected.
Those off the shelf sites all look the same and don't offer anything that you find on this site.