[hoosier-lightning]

I have serious concerns to the amount of White Lightnings that are made.

And I am also concerned to how many of those that are made that actually make it into a blister pack and get into cases and get shipped to the PM Distribution Warehouses.

And lastly and by all means not least, I am concerned as to how many White Lightnings are made after the fact.

What I mean by all this is:

Is it possible that somebody who lives in Hong Kong and works at the factory that makes Johnny Lightnings, could he make loose White Lightnings after the run is long over?

I have noticed a couple of Hong Kong Sellers selling alot of loose JL White Lightnings. I also have seen them sell some that are blistered. I actually have bought a few and from what I can tell they are real. But if there is no way to tell if they came from the original run. And even if they did, why didn't they get shipped?

I have been to Hong Kong a few times when I was in the Marine Corps and I know it is just a Ferry ride across into Kowloon and that is Mainland China. I asked the seller about the factory and he said went there a couple of times a week.

Here is a link to one of the Hong Kong Sellers auctions, but this is not the one that I had bought from in the past.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=19045&item=4202990200&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW



So my concerns are:

1. Are factory employees removing WLs from the factory that are supposed to be inserted into the cases for retail distribution?

2. Are factory Employees making WLs after the run of the series? In fact making the number of WLs produced more than intended.

 

[T/A Tom]

I noticed his auctions too. Does raise questions. Maybe he can purchase damaged cards??? Certainly is suspicious. Hope there is logic. Link no workie for me.

 

[hoosier-lightning]

Here is a Link to the Hong Kong Seller that I have purchased from:

http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&userid=dreamtoyspower&include=0&since=-1&sort=3&rows=50

 

[hoosier-lightning]

Fixed it Tom.

 

[rwwcarguy]

As most of you know, I have quite an extensive collection of White Lightnings. Accordingly, I am as interested as anyone about the accurate representation of White Lightning production. However, I for one don't believe their is a conspiracy on the Part of Playing Mantis to grossly misrepresent the actual production. I realize that is not the claim Shane is making now and I only mention it in hopes to squelch any such debate on the board. I too have purchased WLs from this seller in Hong Kong and interested in how they were obtained. Obviously WLs are not exclusive to the US and I suppose it's possible a Dealer/Distributor in Hong Kong could obtain them the same as those in the US. Nevertheless, it is interesting to see one seller in Hong Kong with so many. So, for the record, I'll keep an eye on this thread and trust we'll keep our discussions civil

 

[hoosier-lightning]

Bobby,
I do not by any means believe this is a PM conspiracy. But I really would like to know how these individuals are getting them. And I would hope that something is being done to try and ensure it is in a legitimate manner. Just seems a little weird to me. I am not out for a witch hunt or a flame war.

Could it be possible that these two guys are Liscenced JL Distributors?

 

[viperdave]

Very good points Shane. We have been asking ourselves many of the how many made questions on this board for several years. It most times just gets into a flaming post. But Their are several concerns regarding this seller. And Bobby is correct in his opinion that PM is not deliberatly misrepresenting their product. And lets all remember:
ANYTIME you have a system to control quantities of high value collectibles your going to have someone who will just figure out a way to "beat" the system.

It would be interesting to know how many WL's are stashed away in Tom L's closets :lol:

 

[zamac_man]

that is odd that they have them. This is one reason that I am for numbers. Maybe only a few people collect or buy them over there? has anyone emailed the seller?

 

[Guest]

More the point is has anybody told Tom Lowe about this? Perhaps he may want to look into it, seems like he would be the big loser if they are headed out the back door like the old Topper days

 

[fe428cj]

I was really unaware that JL's were available any place other than the US, US Territories and Canada (int. card in French or new dual purpose card)) I guess my question for the WL's would be a similiar one the brand x collectors always ask about their TH's, are the total production numbers for them culminated or are their totals based on the individual production runs for each market? Very interesting question Shane and hopefully we'll get some inside help.

cj

 

[luckymopar416]

I have also bought a couple of loose W/Ls from hong kong but not from this seller I will have to go back and look to see who the seller was always wondered if they were right out of the factory but was just happy to get a W/L for as cheap as I got it

 

[T/A Tom]

I'm sure Tom Lowe will be reading this. Hopefully he will rasie an eyebrow about these two guys. Hopefully there is a logical reason, if not, some investigating on his part for his own company may be in order.

 

[hoosier-lightning]

I have been wondering about this for quite some time and I do think that Tom needs to do some investigating. I think he would want to ensure that all the WLs intended for each promotion gets into circulation. That is if he has not already done so. Maybe nothing is out of the ordinary here, but it sure seems as if.

 

[Pablodragon]

I also just bought from this seller..in fact just got the cars today!

would also be curious as to the story behind him...finally got one of the 65 Novas I was looking for... a blue one..evn tho it was loose...also got another from the same auction...the second actually looks played with!

and why so many loose and played with?


here's a conspiracy theory... stolen WL's from the states..shipped over in those big shipping containers and sold scheap over in China! ..oh,no..wait...that was the story from Gone in 60 seconds...
:lol:

 

[inner sanctum]

White Lightnings?

Iwas wondering too. I thought that I read somewhere that all Johnny Lightnings were shipped, sealed, from the factory, to the warehouse in Indiana, then shipped from there to the stores. Has that changed?

 

[Guest]

warehouse in Washington state, not Indiana

 

[lightningprone]

In the past a similar issue had arisen concerning the production number of white lightnings. Consequently, it wasn't long afterwards that P.M. dropped the numbering of white lightnings on the base of the car. One may wonder what P.M.s next response could be as a result of this issue. Sometimes its better to let sleeping dogs lie.

 

[PWSchuh]

The thing that makes me suspect that these are being lifted straight from the factory is that they are not on cards. Why would dealers remove cars from cards to sell them. Only a loose WL collector who decided to get rid of his collection would be doing this. Seems unlikely that this is the case in these examples.

 

[Pablodragon]

The thing that makes me suspect that these are being lifted straight from the factory is that they are not on cards. .

..I was gonna say this too, but check out others auctions from the same seller.... there are quite a few on cards too... one I remember being a British Invasion Austin Healy...

http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&userid=dreamtoyspower&include=0&since=-1&sort=3&rows=50

 

[CTWLSMIKE]

I've seen those auctions before. I often wondered what they meant by "It comes from a factory", but I just dismissed it as a language deficiency. Now it makes me wonder.

And loose played with white lightnings???? Sounds like someone lifted them for his kids and now realized that there's gold in them there cars.