Neat! We have an old Hornsby windup from the early 60s in storage somewhere...

I asked on a Tyco forum and was just told 1963-4 release. Do you have photos of your CP set?

Wow! That's in good shape.

Canadian Poncho wrote:

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I mentioned on another thread that I had purchased an old Mantua-Tyco locomotive kit from the late 1950's-early 1960's. It arrived a week ago from Ontario. After a quarantine period I opened it. Sadly the seller showed a lack of intelligence and shipped it in a padded envelope instead of a box (I know I paid enough postage for it to go in a box!). This resulted in some damage to the original box which appeared to be in really nice condition prior.

I love the old artwork:

 

The locomotive and parts seem to be fine. the box inside is still sealed:

 

As I mentioned before I found out these diesel kits are fairly rare (most were steam locomotives) and now have a dilemma as to whether I should crack it open and build it (thus reducing the value by about 80%), keep it sealed and display it on a shelf or trade it on the Tyco Facebook page for one not so rare.. The box damage does reduce the value somewhat so maybe I should just build it.. 

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 Todd, my question to you is what did you have in mind when you purchased it?

- An untouched display item?

- A fun, nostalgic build?

- A good item to trade for something you want more?

- It was a deal that was too good to pass up that you might be able to make some pocket cash from?

If you answer those questions to yourself, it should help you decide.

 

My thoughts:

- If you bought it to build it, then have fun with it and do the build.  Life's short, and the fun you will have with it will far outweigh the potential 20% reduction in value.  These kits were made for somebody to build, and in this case it just took 56 years before somebody built it.  If you do build it though, take lots of photos as you open it up and remove the contents - I'm sure that will be interesting to enthusiasts of these trains as some have probably never had the experience of opening a fresh 56-year-old kit.

- I do understand not wanting to disturb it from its original packaging, though.  I would probably struggle with it somewhat, but heck, the packaging was damaged anyhow, so it's already been irreversibly changed.  The beauty of it is that you can still build the kit and still display the box with the built locomotive in it, if you wish.

- As a vintage model car enthusiast, it's something we struggle over from time to time.  But I do have to ask myself every now and then, just like with old cars, who are we saving them for?  These things are our own nostalgia from our childhood.  For the most part, the younger kids today mostly don't care about the things we hold dear, so who better to enjoy it than yourself?

No matter what you decide, enjoy the experience.  You don't see vintage items like these every day - thanks for sharing with us!

It's still in the package. I can't seem to bring myself to open it.

I also had a mantua-tyco that was a Christmas 1965 gift. It was a diesel CN freight set. I had it until 2009, it was mistakenly thrown out (not by me). I would love to have another one. I shouldnt have stored it in a cardboard file box.

Paul

Canadian Poncho wrote:

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Kind of like being a billionaire and buying a 12000 original mile Hemicuda and slapping snow tires on it (bias ply of course) and driving it all winter. 

65Camino wrote:

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Ive often wanted to buy a mint new in the box slot car and rip it apart and race it on the track. In front of people to see the look on their faces.
Youre paying a premium to do just that.

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 Now youre talking !

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 Buy it at one of those Arizona auctions. When the gavel falls get in and drive it home. 

That was back in April when we had no idea what we were dealing with.

An early Tyco CN set just showed up on Kijiji in Mississauga:

LINK

Prefectca wrote:

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I also had a mantua-tyco that was a Christmas 1965 gift. It was a diesel CN freight set. I had it until 2009, it was mistakenly thrown out (not by me). I would love to have another one. I shouldnt have stored it in a cardboard file box.

Paul

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427carl wrote:

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Canadian Poncho wrote:

 It arrived a week ago from Ontario.

 

After a quarantine period I opened it.

 

 

 

 

 

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      Quarantine period. (joking  right ? )     

I opened all my packages from Moncton and Sackville immediately

 

like all the folks do, from E-Bay and Amazon etc 

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 3328 Ontarians didn't think that Covid-19 was a big deal until yesterday.

Even though the Maritime daily cases have remained quite low (all cases in the Maritimes now are related to travel, or contact with somebody who had travelled from elsewhere in Canada or internationally), I still am careful about stuff that comes into my house.  Doesn't hurt to put stuff away for a few days to potentially reduce the chance of issues.

They are learning new stuff about this virus daily, and even though we have become accustomed to it being part of our lives, it's when you get slack that it gets you.