The timing is poor for this jump in Cox values, at least for me. I'm going to start a model building class for some of the kids at our church using 1/2A Wizards. My plan was to buy about 8-10 used .049's off eBay. Now, that could cost a few hundred dollars 

Dennis, you may have missed this one. It's just a Tee Dee .049 for goodness sake!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=019&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=290084116486&rd=1&rd=1

Yes indeed there are still some values out there. Generally you are looking to buy used motors. those Babe Bees will stand uo to a horrendous amount of punishment before they are no longer repairable.

Myself, for such as project I would buy some OK Cubs and support them while they are still in buisness. My second choice would be to buy a bunch of Sure Starts from Cox. If and when the graduates move up they can  move up to Tee Dees or Brodaks or whatever else. 

Robert

Clint,
There are still some values on the bay. However the collectors are going on a feeding frenzy to buy up the new stuff to either put on their shelf or drive up the price to profit. It's a shame but thats the way life goes. Keep scanning the bay and only make bids on stuff that you think will work for you. For beginners you only need production motors or old Baby Bees. Consider investing in Nelson heads and plugs as the cost of Cox plugs is really out of line for what they are.
Dennis

I'm pretty much doing as you suggest, Dennis. So far, no luck getting anything cheap. I've never been much of a 1/2A guy, so I don't have but a few 049 runners.
There is some guy over on the SSW forum classifieds fishing for Cox parts to put on eBay. He got called on it and admits that's what he's doing. Says he's helping the hobby by rebuilding Cox engines and selling them for big profit.

Whatever.

Quote by dennis lipsett:
"You might be suprised that it was the origional package that probably drove up the price. Like I said collectors are not rational people.
Dennis"

Actually I did know that but others may not! I used to collect Hot Wheels and you talk about non rational! I could tell some stories about some of the things I observed in that bunch!
One thing I saw done was "rigging" a piece. This involved carefully removing a car from a blister pack card, changing the wheels or something else and replacing it in the package and returning it to a store where someone else would spot it thinking they had found a real oddball variation! A guy showed step by step with hi res pics how this was achieved and when done you would swear it had never been tampered with.

Variations like the blister pack the Tee Dee .049 was in and of course condition drive prices up and over reality fences.

Robert

Hi Clint , I think that I can rangle up a few cox .049s' for the project. I know I got one or two laying around , I will call brian moore and see how many he still has in running order that he will donate to the cause. You still live north of Sac. I don't think I can come up with 10 but I will see. Maybe Bruce Malm might need to dust out some of his engine boxs. How bout it Bruce?

Any Time Clint.   You call, I haul.

Well, I ordered 5 sure starts from the Cox site, so if they show up we're good on 049's for the project. Which, by the way started last night with 3 kids. They were very excited about it! Details to follow in a separate post.

Russell, you don't owe me a thing. But I could use those glow heads, so thanks very much!

BTW, did you get the Vecos?

Dear Dennis,

The outrageous selling price of a few motors on ebay is absolutely NO INDICATION of the market. Do you really need a NIP RR-1 for $500???
Do you really need a NIB Venom for $250?? Granted, you will pay more for nib or nip vintage or nostalgia engines, but Babe Bee's average~ $25 Black Widows average ~ $40 & TD's up to ~$85.   There are so many hundred thousand motors out there that there will NEVER be a shortage of these (reasonable costing) engines or spares.  What you don't realize is that a number of these high priced auctions are fraudulent with target groups bidding up the price with no intention of actually buying it from their "friend". I've tracked Cox products on Ebay for the last 5 years & do not see any trend at all that puts reasonable Cox engines out of a reasonable price range. Even VGMC1 selling Cox clone plugs for $4.00 has lots left or you can go the Galbreath aftermarket head route....your choice.

Bottom line, affordable Cox engines will be around for as long as we are!

Cheers,
Paul