Congratulations you appear to have a first production run edition - old square box, right?

Congratulations you appear to have a first production run edition - old square box, right?

Ah yes, thanks for reminding me. It is a old square box.

So either they employ LIFO or sales are verrrry slow!

During the Lego World 2015 convention in The Netherlands the only toy-store present at the convention (Intertoys, sponsor of the event which is happening between the 21st and 27th of October), has the 10242 Mini Cooper getting 'dumped' at a large discount: 20% off MSRP because the Lego World convention celebrates its 15th anniversary, and then another 10% off that reduced price as the convention discount. So €99,99 - 20% = €79,99 - 10% = €71,99.

Only a few other (far less interesting sets) got the same treatment...

Either regular sales in Europe are verrrrry slow (as valenciaeric stated), or TLG wants to get rid of their stock of the Mini Cooper and uses their partner Intertoys at this Lego World convention.

Whelp, I brought one today. To build though. Hoping after the van, cooper, f40, these cars become the next modulars and we see 1-2 new ones every year. 

Whelp, I brought one today. To build though. Hoping after the van, cooper, f40, these cars become the next modulars and we see 1-2 new ones every year. 

You forgot to mention the VW Beetle which was the first car in this line. The first one to be retired and already expensive to acquire.

Just noticed this on the Dutch (EU) Lego store:

Old box version with code 6061191. Obviously Retired.

And the new box version (code 6144522) has an order limit of only 1:

 

Might the Mini Cooper get a retirement now after all?

No, almost all exclusives are now limit 1 except Sea Cow - interesting that set was not on the promo list.....

2 hours ago, valenciaeric said:

No, almost all exclusives are now limit 1 except Sea Cow - interesting that set was not on the promo list.....

I would imagine whatever logistics software they use is optimising supply & manufacture in preparation for the increase during the holidays...

This set seems to be linger forever. I think this is heavily hoarded as the camper van. Or less as the horde focus on the van?

What's the view of BP?

It´s been out for less than 2 years. A whippersnapper compared with T1.

Will make a great pairing with a Beetle.

45 minutes ago, mattjay said:

This set seems to be linger forever. I think this is heavily hoarded as the camper van. Or less as the horde focus on the van?

What's the view of BP?

In my mind the hoard may be more gun-shy about this set because of the never-ending shelf life of the T1. So maybe its flying under the radar a bit if it retires sooner rather than later?

48 minutes ago, lobo1969 said:

In my mind the hoard may be more gun-shy about this set because of the never-ending shelf life of the T1. So maybe its flying under the radar a bit if it retires sooner rather than later?

I'll be AMAZED if there aren't already bloody loads of the thing hoarded by the horde.

This set is over produced and probably a bad seller. Whenever I walk in a Lego store, there are tons of it! Not long ago, BN had it on sale, a sign of bad seller. And like battrax said, it's probably over hoarded already (btw, which set is not over hoarded these days? Please let me know!)

I would not go deep on this set. 

Just my 2 cents. 

6 minutes ago, yang said:

This set is over produced and probably a bad seller. Whenever I walk in a Lego store, there are tons of it! Not long ago, BN had it on sale, a sign of bad seller. And like battrax said, it's probably over hoarded already (btw, which set is not over hoarded these days? Please let me know!)

I would not go deep on this set. 

Just my 2 cents. 

My best guess? The only ones not over-hoarded are those that were sold out 5 years ago.

 

 

The Mini Cooper has been on sale at 15% discount multiple times over the past months here in The Netherlands. It's definitely over hoarded and at the same time less appreciated by Lego fans. The order of preference of the currently available vehicles seems to be: T1 Camper Van > Ferrari F40 > Mini Cooper. 

The only saving grace for the Mini Cooper would be if it would retire before the T1 Camper Van. But that's unlikely to happen.

I think the reason this Mini isn't as popular as the VW T1 is the fact that with the VW they picked the most iconic model in the line up, the mini they picked a late model car where mini enthusiasts all obsess over the early cars. 

I know they wanted to be a bit different to the T1 but if they'd done it as a 1960's Cooper in Red and White I think it would be doing a lot better.

there are a few of these floating around Melbourne. I've got one and love it...love it sitting there in the cupboard with the f40 and T1 haha. 

28 minutes ago, Fenix_2k1 said:

I think the reason this Mini isn't as popular as the VW T1 is the fact that with the VW they picked the most iconic model in the line up, the mini they picked a late model car where mini enthusiasts all obsess over the early cars. 

I know they wanted to be a bit different to the T1 but if they'd done it as a 1960's Cooper in Red and White I think it would be doing a lot better.

I think the Mini will be just fine long term.. There are plenty of "modern" mini enthusiasts around the world who might eventually have kids and be exposed to LEGO... There are plenty of kids whose parents have purchased a "modern" mini who might eventually want one of these sets for their own collection.

I think you're spot on with the colour though... why they don't release a "colour change pack" or something is beyond me. So many special parts that don't come in other good colours makes it a hard one to moc up.

A photo of my Mini Cooper, on display in my IKEA Detolf glass cupboard.   One shelf above it is the VW T1 Camper Van, and one shelf below it is the Ferrari F40. 

 

On ‎4‎/‎8‎/‎2016 at 6:48 AM, Haay said:

A photo of my Mini Cooper, on display in my IKEA Detolf glass cupboard.   One shelf above it is the VW T1 Camper Van, and one shelf below it is the Ferrari F40.

I'm going for exactly the same setup, all that's missing is a T1 (where are you, next ebay bucks promo or ebay flash sale?) and the cabinet. In other words, I have the F40 and the Mini

I've got the F40 and T1 I wasn't going to bother with the Mini until I saw the van MOC.

Also if they did colour change sets in Red, White and Blue I'd have 3

Edited April 8, 20169 yr by Fenix_2k1

Looks like a couple of boxes for hold...it can be had as low as €70 here.

I knew a guy who went deep on this, 80 boxes at rrp!

1 hour ago, mattjay said:

Looks like a couple of boxes for hold...it can be had as low as €70 here.

I knew a guy who went deep on this, 80 boxes at rrp!

These are very widely available in the UK and will be around for a while if the T1 is anything to go buy. It looks like this guy's money is tied up for a very long time. I only have the one for my collection and it's way to early for me to buy in quantity. I made the mistake of buying 22x T1s at RRP 4 years too early (and counting!).

7 hours ago, TabbyBoy said:

These are very widely available in the UK and will be around for a while if the T1 is anything to go buy. It looks like this guy's money is tied up for a very long time. I only have the one for my collection and it's way to early for me to buy in quantity. I made the mistake of buying 22x T1s at RRP 4 years too early (and counting!).

22?! my goodness!