Factory Tour, 1986

Wrapping up some old business here, so it’s going to be more show than tell today.

But the pictures are worth it. Presenting - a Breyer Factory Tour ca. 1986!

From Marney’s files, of course. They’re all in black in white, so I’m assuming that they may have been taken for future reference or use in an article or feature. When I had my first article published in Just About Horses in 1985, I recall, photographic submissions had to be in Black and White.

Here are the painting booths, awaiting fresh victims:

First ones up in the factory - the Traditional Black Beauty! The story I heard was that the first models Reeves manufactured fully under their aegis were the #89 Traditional Black Beauties, so it’s possible they may be them. There are no notes on any of these photos anywhere, so I can’t be sure.

There’s also no way of knowing/distinguishing those early Reeves Black Beauties from the thousands that roam the Earth today. Quality control was a bit of an issue in those days, and seams were a little rougher than they should have been, but that’s about it.

Here’s the warehouse:

I work in inventory services, so this is a sight I see often - though the boxes in my case are usually filled with car parts, electronics, or paper towels. Be still my heart - is that a case of Polled Hereford Bulls (#74) down front? I think we’re going to need to ask for a SKU check and run a variance report on that…

Here’s what I’m assuming is the packaging/fulfillment area. Among the sights I see are Phar Lap, the Lying Down Unicorn, Stormy, the Bay Shetland, the Family Foal, the Black Beauty Family, and some Corrals down front:

Ah, the mysteries contained in those freshly wrapped shrinkwrapped boxes! You both knew - and didn’t know - what you were purchasing. The box would say "Phar Lap" - but would he be awesome, or awful? It was like a retail version of Schrödinger's cat.

And here’s my favorite picture of the group:

I had no idea Ron Burgundy had a brother who worked for Reeves. Huh.

No actually, that’s Tony Fleischmann. They have plenty of awkward and slightly embarrassing pictures of me in their files, so having one picture in my files brings a little more karmic balance to the universe.

Factory Tours

Even though there’s no snow on the ground, I can tell it’s still winter, because I’m way more cynical than I ought to be. I tried remedying it a bit by taking the dog for a walk, but an encounter with a spiritually unattractive neighbor wiped all my progress away.

As evil as she may be at heart, Vita is still a darn adorable dog on the outside - and with other people. She’s like a canine version of Gunther the Penguin, from Adventure Time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k84GYej4_io

It is unfathomable to me that someone has determined her to be uncute.

I’ve already had a factory tour - a million-billion years ago, in New Jersey - and looking over my records of what I managed to score over the past year, I’m not hurting in the rarities department either. (I did darn fine, in fact. Better than I thought!)

But a lot of other hobbyists haven’t, and didn’t, so in my current frame of mind, it was only natural that my first reaction to reading about the Breyer Kids-Only tour/event (http://www.breyerhorses.com/kidstour) was: how are the "adults" going to goof up this up, too?

The model that comes with the tour package is "not exclusive" to the event, but no mention is made of what could be lurking in the warehouse - or serving as giveaways and prizes.

Regardless of the quality of the goodies, wherever goodies are made available, mayhem usually ensues.

There’s probably some sort of legal issue that rules the following concept out, but I’ve always wondered why they couldn’t have "factory tours" on a regular basis. You wouldn’t have to throw in all sorts of bells and whistles: a quick tour of the facilities, a walk-through of the archives/sample room, a painting demo, ending with a stop in the warehouse to pick up a little "souvenir" of your visit.

Kind of like what DC Comics used to do: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Even though most production has moved overseas, I think a mighty large percentage of hobbyists over the age of 14 would love the opportunity to see the place where Breyers are (at least) conceived - whether there were any goodies involved, or not.

I almost got a chance to "do" the original Breyer Tour, back when it was in Chicago. Alas, it was canceled at the last minute; I think it was the same year that they were purchased by Reeves, so there might have been some conflicts there. The closest I ever got to the actual factory was the inside of Marney’s garage, a year later during Model Horse Congress.

The notion that you could "score" a test color or sample during the tour was sort of out there, but it wasn’t the primary motivation for going: all of us wanted to see where Breyers were born. Everything else was gravy.