You keep saying you're sure they are there. But how can you be sure? Have you actually seen them? If not, why are you sure? It may make sense to you that they would be kept and no sense at all that they would simply be trashed, but I recall (and apparently so does Fuff) seeing reports that that is exactly what happened. Apparently because the owners had no plans to used them, assumed no one else would want them and saw no reason to keep them, even though it might cost them nothing to do so.
Colt's not going to be producing new DA revolvers. The sunk costs were paid by the LEO orders. Consumer guns were gravy. No mass orders = no new revolver in the style of the old Pythons.
It's time for Colt to just dissolve into bankruptcy and start over as a part of Cerberus or Freedom Group.
They could bring back the colt trooper II. ITS friggin perfect. I wish....
It doesn't take a great deal to realize that at the very least, those that coordinated the museum auction for Zilhka would have realized the value in some of the stuff that some believe was "trashed."
The "stuff" you refer to (drawings, process sheets, gauges, etc.) had no value what-so-ever...
Once Woolworth's (there are many other examples, but WW was first to mind) kicked the bucket, I learned that no famous long-time business enterprise could last forever. I hope Colt's can survive, but if it cannot, it is not the end of the world. We all love the Colt's legacy, but soulless management can drive any enterprise into the ground.
Aragon said:You're simply wrong about that. Even if the company had no use for the original drawings, they would have been worth a huge amount of money at auction. The same company that Zilhka used to auction the contents of Colt's museum would have been more than eager to auction things like original engineering drawings.
What % of Colt's business is firearms?
I know years ago a local business bought crucible magnets from Colt Industries.
Grew up shooting Colts. Had a few. Only one I have now is my Commander, and it's been flawless. Has some marks due to carry, but that's what i bought it for. $675 when H&K compacts came out. People said I was stupid to buy it.
It has around a 2# trigger pull from the factory and chews the X out at 50 ft.
How much is an H&K compact worth used now vs my junky built by UAW 1911?
Took a deer with an older blued Python. Deer wasn't much to look at, but popping one with my dad's old gun made it cool. Eh, I'd rather have a 686 for hunting, if I ever went nuts and back to .357 revolver. Like a 629 better
The drawings had no value (existing or potential) to the people who had them so they trashed them. They might have had value to collectors if they had had a chance to buy them. But they didn't. The auctioneers may have recognized the value if they had been made aware of the them, but there is no evidence that they knew the company had no use for them or that they were getting rid of them. If the company saw no value in them, there would have been no reason to make the auctioneers aware of them. It wasn't (yet) an episode of American Pickers.
They can't and won't. For a simple reason. In today's economy they can't make it and offer it for sale at a price most buyers would likely be willing to pay.
However the good news is that they show up on the second-hand market. So keep you're eyes open.
A local gun shop chain is having a huge sale & they put out printed ads saying they offer a Colt licensed 30/06 BAR type semi auto rifle for approx $8000.00 USD. I think the ad states only 1000 Colt licensed rifles were produced.
The rifle includes a nice wood case, cleaning items, manuals, etc.
The firearm was manufactured by a shop out of Ohio not Colt or Colt's CT labor force.
I, for one, would not purchase any Colt .45acp pistols or firearms. Who would provide the repairs or service if Colt shuts down?
Who would provide Colt factory parts or magazines if production stops?
What if the gun is junk or breaks?
Colt needs more than a legendary name, they need quality firearms.
Aragon said:Wrong. They could have at the very least been sold as collector's items.
I'm sure they're still in Colt's Document Control System (and not their museum which was auctioned) along with finishing process instructions, metal heat treat instructions, etc., etc.
Engineering drawings, process sheets, obsolete gauges, etc. are intellectual property that a competitor could use. The attorneys would never allow those items to get out the door without being destroyed. Failed or pre-production prototypes are a different matter, they may have had that kind of value when they were made but not after all this time, and they are of even less use than actual production firearms for reverse engineering.
Pure speculation on your part with no proof. You'd be surprised at what companies trash with no thought to future needs or worth. I worked for a large engineering company ($12B / year gross). They would regularly send the administrative staff to "clean out the archives" - and you'd learn about it after the fact - or, when you needed to find information from a past project and it was missing...
Don't conflate your sense of worth with management's sense of worth. If archives are taking up space that can be used for something management deems productive - archival material gets thrown out.
We lost all of the hard copy drawings stored in flat-files because management decided to turn the room into a kitchen / break room...
I have no doubt somebody at Colt had the capability of making as equally clueless decisions about Colt's archived material.