Want to hear some GREAT news?

2147 Views 31 Replies 9 Participants Last post by LUW, Jun 29, 2005

LUW

Discussion Starter · Jun 27, 2005

Gateway Global Brazil is no more. Terminated, kaput, finito. :ranting :ranting :ranting The company was under new management for about some 6 months now, and they had this briliant idea of subcontracting another firm to handle the shipping of the goods here to Brazil. They managed to subcontract a company (that had wonderful prices!) with fiscal AND legal problems, so this huge container having thousands of models is stuck at the docks because Customs refuses to liberate it until this company gets their act together. So everything that should be released here to Brazil by AUTOart from December last year to March is rotting in a container on a dock in the port of Santos (São Paulo). Since almost everything in that container is already sold, GG was in deep caca. I talked to my dealer today and he told me that they went under a few days ago. Fecking great.

ullhair

My Merc 190E Evo and my rally Quattro are in that container. That also means that there's no chance of me caving in and buying the Le Mans GT3. No 328 Le Mans bimmer either. And of course, no 787B. :ranting

Just great.

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G

· #2 · Jun 27, 2005

man , that sucks

so how they gonna get the goods distributed, since they are alredy "paid for". Noone wants an empty wallet without a full diecast shelf

and does this mean no more AUTOart for brazil?

G

· #3 · Jun 27, 2005

I would be more than happy to pick any of those cars up for you if things don't work out. :cheers

G

· #4 · Jun 27, 2005

Wow!?!?!?

Luciano, maybe that goes back to our conversations about AUTOart not too long ago.

Well for those who preordered items via cc, atleast they are protected.

I am not really big on preordering in this industry and this is one of the many reasons why.

G

· #5 · Jun 28, 2005

Sorry ot hear Luciano! Makes me wonder if they actually have proper protection against humidity and temprature for these models in the containers?

gundam40

· #6 · Jun 28, 2005

man, that sucks, Luciano! I hope AUTOart does something about this, PRONTO!

G

· #7 · Jun 28, 2005

That's definitely bad news. Did you get your money back for the models you didn't get? Perhaps you didn't need to pay upfront for your orders? :confused

LUW

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jun 28, 2005

Guys, I think I gave the wrong impression. I didn't pay a dime, but a lot of dealers had given a sign to reserve the models they wanted. I had pre-ordered my cars but didn't pay anything for them. From what I understood, this "sign of deal" was really small money, what made the company go under was the fact that since Decemebr it has been surviving by selling only old stuff that it had in stock, and they came to a point where they couldn't pay their employees anymore. Think of GG Brazil as a dealer that only sells AUTOart products; if it doesn't get the goods, they don't sell.

Darrick, it sure has to do with that talk we had. The market is not what it once was. Everybody is being affected by the way the world economy is right now. I know that the increase in prices was an after effect of everything that is going on in the world right now, but we can't forget that diecasts are nothing but toys. They are not necessities, so if the price increases, the demand will go down. I was afraid it would happen here, but GG Brazil's SNAFU, though not related to this economic situation, just made things happen sooner. Now we have to wait until some other company thinks of importing AUTOart's cars, so at least until next year, South America will not recieve anything from AUTOart. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention: GG Brazil dsitributed AUTOart's products to the whole continent. :ranting

Souky, as always, your a real friend. :cheers

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Ronan

· #9 · Jun 28, 2005

That is such a pain Luciano, I wonder what will eventually happen to those models in the container??? :confused

LUW

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jun 28, 2005

My best guess? If they don't disapear in time, they will just rot. That actually happend to a Porsche 911 once in the late 80's. Right before importations became legal again, a guy tried to bring a 911. I'm not sure what was his problem, but he had some disagreements with the law, and the car got stuck in the docks. The car was finally liberated some 20 years (!!) later, and of course it was totally trashed and was sold as scrap metal.

cobalt1959

· #11 · Jun 28, 2005

These containers haul all kinds of different stuff, and they endure tons of abuse. Alot of them leak. Alot of them have had noxious and/or toxic chemicals in them. I'd say unless it's a brand new container that had never had anything shipped in it before, I would be trying my best to get the freight out of them as quickly as possible. Sorry to hear about your models Luciano. . .

Road Runner 72

· #12 · Jun 28, 2005

Ouch , sorry to hear Luciano, I hope something can be worked out for the future, & if you also need any help from this side feel free to ask.

:cheers

LUW

Discussion Starter · #13 · Jun 28, 2005

Who knows what else is stocked in that container? Eddie is right. the thing will be sitting in the sun, exposed to salty air and lots of humidity, and who knows what kind of chemicals can be in there. If the cars stay there, they may all look like Ertl's Camaros in a couple of years. What a waste.

LUW

Discussion Starter · #14 · Jun 28, 2005

Road Runner 72 said:
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Thanks Mike! :cheers What really gets me pissed about all this is that ALL those cars will suffer one of two faiths: they will rot or they'll be stolen. For pete's sake, give them to poor children then!

ullhair

G

· #15 · Jun 28, 2005 (Edited)

I believe it was Jeff telling us about how some models stay in shipping containers for years and they are fine.

I asked him about this as I was setting my cabinets up in the Garage. maybe he can explain a little better than I can.

Delta_Farce

· #16 · Jun 28, 2005

Sorry to hear about this Luciano,

You should check eBay though and see if there's a seller named saopaolacustoms. They might have some cool stuff comming up soon (bad joke sorry).

Hope it works out though buddy,

Mark

LUW

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jun 28, 2005

DiecastX said:
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I really can't believe they'll be fine. think about it: they will be exposed to a LOT of heat (Santos is h*ll-hot), humidity and worst of all, salty air. I really doubt these containers are air tight, so I think the models won't fare well if they stay where they are for more then a year.

LUW

Discussion Starter · #18 · Jun 28, 2005

Delta_Farce said:
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Mark, thanks for the tip. The problem with these sellers who operate at eBay are usually overly-expensive. Besides, if he doesn't get his models directly from abroad (and if that's the case he won't get nothing in large quantities), the only way for him to get them is/was through GG.

G

· #19 · Jun 28, 2005

LUW said:
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I can't be for sure myself.

I am sure Jeff will explain it better than I can as he was told this by someone who has visited AUTOart Warehouse in Cali.

G

· #20 · Jun 28, 2005

You know what I wanted to ask, how is the market in Brazil?

Is it strong to the point whee there are an abundance fo collectors and retailers(brick and mortar types) or is the market relatively small?

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