Well Joe I would love to call Arnie ( I think i still have the phone number) and thank him. He is the reason there was a Code 3. He OWNED Funrise and the product was largely his concept and vision. He deserved every penny he earned on them. As for the hand over fist statement, I doubt that as the Code 3 fire line was a small portion of the over all Funrise bottom line. I am sure they made more on the plastic siren trucks in one Christmas season than they did on the Code 3 for the entire year.

As Funrise grew they did make some mistakes. But who hasn't. Right until the end they were making the best diecast fire trucks out there. Not perfect but for the price the best.

The problem I saw was they listened too much to their customers, not enough. Why else would there be apparatus from odd places? Why else would the Super Pumper be made. I can tell you, because in a room full of collectors 95% said they would buy it. The problems was that 95% was probably the bulk of the collectors interested in the models. Why did the go direct? Collectors told them too. In the process they killed off the large distribution channel they had with the local hobby shops. Thus sales waned. Repaints are a necessity for any diecast company. The collectors need to realize this. It is what helps amortize the start up costs for the product. Like it or not FDNY paid the bills that made room for all of the other stuff. Just like the Yankees and Cowboys help support the rest of those leagues.

I find all these hater posts just odd. For years everyone was wishing Code 3 would die and now that they have, everyone seems sad or angry.

Maybe it is just part of the grieving process. You are in the anger phase. I hope you can eventually move on to acceptance. I do seem some in the bargaining phase where they hops someone, anyone will pick up where they left off.

The truth is I think 1/64 diecast fire trucks are done. The scale doesn't fit the masses. Most other lines are 1/24, 1/32, 1/43, 1/50, 1/72 and 1/87. Only the 3" low end stuff is 1/64 or there abouts. The next big thing will fit into one of the train or plastic model scales. 1/64 was always an odd ball in the modeling world. I personally love it and how it does get picked up, but I am not waiting on anyone for it.

Joe, if we can help you through this just reach out brother.

Jeff

Location: NW PA

"and now that they have, everyone seems sad or angry."

Not everyone......

Location: Jim from Western NY

One of the things that helped kill C3 is the rising labor costs in China. There was an article on the msnbc web site that talked about how some US companies are bringing their production back to the US because there is no longer any cost savings in China and their quality sucks and is nowhere near as good as 'Made in the USA' is. Maybe some day there will another C3 but for now the days of cheap diecast are gone. I'm sad the C3 is gone, but I'm glad that China is going down the tubes. China owns too much of the US and I'm afraid we don't need to worry about an invasion, they'll just call in all the loans and bankrupt us.

Location: Dalton, GA