Greetings fellow Greenlight Collectors,

Now, I along with most if not all of you are avid fans of Greenlight. They have made some EXCELLENT product in the past few years with a promising future ahead. I am here today to focus mainly on their latest releases describing my concerns about the increased production factor and my problems with it.

First of all, some have stated that it is hard to find their products in stores. Which is indeed true, they are in limited supply it seems and the collectors are snagging them up like hotcakes. Even my local TRU has stopped carrying them for some reason. :confused: Which is why I purchase my GL's online from our respected dealers. One would think that with a 10K production there would be multitudes of cars on the pegs, but not the case. (This is one of those, don't ask me why, I don't work there scenairos.)

As with the increased production, there have been numerous cutbacks in the process from my vantage point. First, the green dotted eye on the "i" in Greenlight on the base was axed. Then as of late, both the baseplate and white background for the numbers have been axed. Finally, overall quality has suffered in comparison with the 5k releases, both in paint and in the casting process.

With my latest acquisions, both the Barrett-Jackson R3 & the Corvette R2, there were some cars with significant flaws in them. One of my Corvettes from Release 2, specifically the '66 Convertible in Yellow, suffers the same fate as my '67 427 'Vette from the B-J R2, they both have the error of the improper drilling of the driver's side rear wheel. Now, I'm not sure this is a production error or somehow the tooling slips on the line? My other '67 427 (I ordered a case, there for there is two of each model in the B-J series) is okay, but does have it's back end slightly lower than the front, but runs okay. It was also from a 10K run. Unfortunatly, I don't have another '66 convertible as yet and have to acquire another one so that it looks right. See pics below for a more detailed view:

http://www.kollectibles.kdm-inc.com/diecast/gl/gl_66vette1.jpg

^ From a top down view of the chassis removed from the car.

http://www.kollectibles.kdm-inc.com/diecast/gl/gl_66vette2.jpg

^ A 3/4 shot of the rear of the chassis on my '66 Vette

http://www.kollectibles.kdm-inc.com/diecast/gl/gl_66vette4.jpg

^ Shot of the car in package before I removed it. Note the rear wheel almost into the rear wheel housing.

http://www.kollectibles.kdm-inc.com/diecast/gl/gl_67vette1.jpg

^ Shot of the '67 427 Vette with the same error, note the angle of the pool table side in comparison to the car itself.

http://www.kollectibles.kdm-inc.com/diecast/gl/gl_07charger1.jpg

^ Another car with a quality error. Note the roof above the passenger side, it's caved in. Where as the other car in my set has a "raised" almost separate spoiler compared to the original. Also note the paint imperfections in the grille.

Another point I have is the painting of the cars. It seems that the detail as of late has gone away, with some of the paint washing over or having the seemingly painted on with a paintbrush kind of effect. This is unfortunatly clear with my blue '67 GT500 and it's "third" headlight in the grille. Either the paint spilled over, or someone was a rookie in painting it.

In conclusion, I believe that Greenlight should return to its 5K runs with the cars. Qualitly has been sacrificed in my opinion for quanity. I liked it the way it was with the painted baseplates in graphite with the white background numbers and the little yet seeming missed dotted "i."

I would like to thank you for reading this long post, and encourage discussion about this topic.

Inciteful

My corvette 427 also has the problems yours have. The only GL's round here are at my TRU and they rarely restock becuase the pegs are full of them everytime, same cars.

I would rather production be capped at 5,000 pcs. As of late, I have seen numerous quality issues with newer releases. I inspect them as much as I can before purchases now, because one of the last ones I brought home was full of defects. Should have paid more attention. 1966 Hemi Coronet convertible:

Missing whitewall tire (front) & very sloppy whitewall (rear)
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b205/steelerfrog/th_100_0630.jpg (http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b205/steelerfrog/100_0630.jpg)
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b205/steelerfrog/th_100_0629.jpg (http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b205/steelerfrog/100_0629.jpg)
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b205/steelerfrog/th_100_0628.jpg (http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b205/steelerfrog/100_0628.jpg)

Incorrect rim on front with very sloppy "cover-up" wheel paint
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b205/steelerfrog/th_100_0632.jpg (http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b205/steelerfrog/100_0632.jpg)
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b205/steelerfrog/th_100_0631.jpg (http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b205/steelerfrog/100_0631.jpg)

I have to agree, the quality was much better when the production runs were lower. Don't get me wrong, I still think GreenLight is a top of the line diecast product, but mistakes like these shouldn't slip through the cracks.

It seems like GL has a lot of quality issues going on with there latest releases. First it was the packaging issues with the green machine base signs either missing or the wrong sign or upside down.
Then the serial numbers either missing or hand written on. Now to see flaws on the actual castings. Seems like they are trying get the latest releases out to fast and bypassed any inspection. :freak:
I guess I better look them over more carefully now.

I don't collect Greenlights but I do sell them and this is very disturbing information. I really hope they get their act together and return to making top quality cars as in the past.

I have one of the new released yellow SuperBees or Charger can't remember and the paint on top is messed up -- looks like it might be fingerprint before it was dry --- bought it anyway cause heard it was hard to find plus it was one i needed to complete the set. I figured sooner or later this might happen.I'll try later to post pic :(

Yes, I too find myself working through more and more quality issues with each release. I do not have the answer for that, so I make no assertions. But I do agree 100% that quality was better when runs were smaller.

Was that due to shorter runs and more time to monitor the production line, or maybe the fact that it was a new company and had to pay close attention to overall quality and detail to ensure a winning product? I just don't have the answer.

I love their cars, and have every release to this point. I guess somehow proving I have no axe to grind ( i.e. They don't make enough of my favorite brand of cars! etc.)
So with hundreds of dollars invested into their company, I fell I have the right to weigh in on this topic as well.

Please Greenlight, you guys are smoken', but PLEASE pay attention to the details. If you want to produce .99 cent toy cars, that's fine. Just charge us .99 cents. But we are willing to pay for a quality diecast reproduction, so make sure we get what you are "selling". We are behind you, please stay behind your collectors.

Ward

Great points being made here. While I too have bought every release of the MCG and the BJ and Pace Car 2 series, I will admit that I have yet to encounter these problems with my cars. That being said, I have noticed on some cars that still hang on the pegs, there are the occasional minor flaw here and there. Specifically, the standard rubber wheel not fully seated on the rim issue. Seen alot of that on the JL's also. I'm a strong believer that when quantity takes over as job one, quality certainly begins to suffer. I share the same sentiments that alot of us do here in Hobbytalk. I would much rather wait longer for a quality product then know I can get a new set every month or so. The green bases, numbered chassis, and green rivits are all awesome details from a company that IMO, cares for the product. But with the slow and steady changes being made, the increase in quantity shared with a proportionate decrease in quality, my concern is the company is losing focus on what made us fans and believers in thier product. Let's keep this product great Greenlight, quality is where it counts. Thanks for the read.

people buy the greenlight green machine, and the rest hang. i can go to tru, target or k-mart at this minute and come home with about 30 to 40 cars.

Yes, I too find myself working through more and more quality issues with each release. I do not have the answer for that, so I make no assertions. But I do agree 100% that quality was better when runs were smaller.

Was that due to shorter runs and more time to monitor the production line, or maybe the fact that it was a new company and had to pay close attention to overall quality and detail to ensure a winning product? I just don't have the answer.

I love their cars, and have every release to this point. I guess somehow proving I have no axe to grind ( i.e. They don't make enough of my favorite brand of cars! etc.)
So with hundreds of dollars invested into their company, I fell I have the right to weigh in on this topic as well.

Please Greenlight, you guys are smoken', but PLEASE pay attention to the details. If you want to produce .99 cent toy cars, that's fine. Just charge us .99 cents. But we are willing to pay for a quality diecast reproduction, so make sure we get what you are "selling". We are behind you, please stay behind your collectors.

Ward
Nicely said.

I have noticed defects in the newer Greenlight series too. The MCG series 4 was a little disappointing. There weren't many cars that I liked in this series. I have left regular GL cars on the pegs that I would have bought in there weren't defects to the chrome detail around the fenders of some cars. It also seems like GL is doing more repaints of castings like the other company. I hope Greenlight makes the necessary corrections to improve quality control. I think Greenlight is a great company with a great product, and hope these issues can be taken care of.

Please Greenlight, you guys are smoken', but PLEASE pay attention to the details. If you want to produce .99 cent toy cars, that's fine. Just charge us .99 cents. But we are willing to pay for a quality diecast reproduction, so make sure we get what you are "selling". We are behind you, please stay behind your collectors.

Ward x2

One solution could be to release a .99 cent variety with little details. Yes, another brand on this board tried this route and failed. Or make a mass-market release in a similar style to the last Muscle Car S&C Target variation with the unpainted base and such. The hobby issue could be regular as before.