> I still wonder why he chose this particular truck. It was not common on any
> of the BUDD built cars except perhaps a few NYC cars...and maybe that's the
> obvious answer.
> Bob Hogan
Even though there were several NYC enthusiasts in the Budd Buddies consortium,
they did not dictate the truck selection to Larry Jackman. My semi-uneducated
guess is that he decided the Slumbercoach (aka Sleepercoach) was the first car
Larry wanted to see in production because it had never been made before in any
form -- shorty or longy, wood, plastic, etched, etc. So perhaps he chose to
start with that truck first to go with the car he intended to first produce.
Just a guesstimate....
For those interested in S history, when Larry bailed on the Budd Buddies
project it was realized that all the advance funding had been spent on the
trucks and a few other molds for various pieces and parts including an extruded
body which was inspected by Jim Kindraka. Jim actually counted the small roof
ribs and told the Budd Buddies that one rib was missing (or was it two?). Not
only does Jim count rivets, but he has an eye for ribs!
For a while, Larry sold just the trucks via Bill Wade at BTS for a couple of
years or so.
Other Budd Buddy funds were spent on general purpose machine shop tools in
contradiction with the contract which called for the money to be spent only on
Budd-specific tooling.
Since the contract called for an entire train of about six or eight different
cars, lawyers were contacted, a lawsuit was filed, settlement negotiations
began and half the money was returned to the Budd Buddies just prior to Larry
declaring bankruptcy and moving to Florida.
As part of this arrangement, Larry kept the Budd molds which then found their
way to Des Plaines Hobbies in due course. To the best of my knowledge, DPH has
not made these trucks for several/many years now. Ron seems reluctant to
discuss future production runs and so it is quite difficult to know if they
will ever be made again.
While the project was a financial disaster, the Budd Buddies can take some
satisfaction in knowing they created a new pair of beautiful trucks that had
not yet existed in S scale. Legally speaking, the Budd Buddies hold the
copyright on the trucks, but have never asked anyone for compensation
(royalties) for producing them.
Several years later, mold maker Randy Wilson told me that the amount of money
involved would have barely covered the tooling costs for just the observation
car and no way would it have been enough to pay for tooling for an entire Budd
train which was what the contract specified. Live and learn......
Life goes on............poorer, but wiser.
Cheers....Ed Loizeaux
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