Seeking knowledge from the forum members.

Posted by: @perrone1

Posted by: @georgeschire

 

OUCH!  Why were they destroyed?  Am I missing something here?

To preserve the integrity of the limited numbers that were promised to be produced. 

Makes sense of course.  But hindsight reveals how valuable those "extra" models would be today.  And I'm thinking that today, if it had been explained that they were "extra's" for the purpose they were intended, collector's would be overlooking the "limited edition" advertisement all these years later.  Maybe not, but who knows.

@chav Thanks Chav!!

@georgeschire 

The Mints didn't want to be accused of making, say, 10,000 models, that were marked as limited editions of 5,000 pieces. And they did their best to monitor the numbers as models came back in for quality control issues. And did they ever send one back out if it were actually in pristine shape? I wouldn't doubt it but they had to make a LE plate change. Remember the fiasco with the Callaway Corvette that came with all the accessories like that of the Shelby-signed Mustang GT 350?

The models were shipped but some got out without Reeves' autograph. FM directed the cars to be returned and people got models back with wholly different numbers than they originally received. Many folks kept the unsigned replicas on speculation that the unsigned model would realize a bonus error/value status.

Posted by: @perrone1

@georgeschire 

The Mints didn't want to be accused of making, say, 10,000 models, that were marked as limited editions of 5,000 pieces. And they did their best to monitor the numbers as models came back in for quality control issues. And did they ever send one back out if it were actually in pristine shape? I wouldn't doubt it but they had to make a LE plate change. Remember the fiasco with the Callaway Corvette that came with all the accessories like that of the Shelby-signed Mustang GT 350?

The models were shipped but some got out without Reeves' autograph. FM directed the cars to be returned and people got models back with wholly different numbers than they originally received. Many folks kept the unsigned replicas on speculation that the unsigned model would realize a bonus error/value status.

 

It's nice to hear that the Mints made honest efforts to keep things on the up and up.  THANKS for the great input Tony!