Log In
Members
Home
Add Reply
Add Topic
Offline
Does anyone know where the last Pre-64 Model 70 off the assembly line resides? Is it in private hands or in a museum somewhere? Would imagine it’s worth a pretty penny due to its pedigree.
Online
I wouldn’t pay any more for it just because it is the last pre-64 model 70. It is nothing more than a curiosity. The earlier model 70’s exhibit better workmanship, as well. I’d rather have one from the ’30’s to the ’50’s. If someone has some free searches, however, it might be interesting to see how the last pre-64 70 letters, however.
There is still an assembly line producing them. For proof, just look at the Rock Island Auction catalog for their premier auction the last 3 days!
I honestly doubt anyone could even tell for sure the serial number of the last pre 64 built in the plant. I can assure you there were pre 64’s put together after the intro of the later model. I know for sure some receivers/parts were squirreled away in the custom shop.
Steve
mrcvs said
If someone has some free searches, however, it might be interesting to see how the last pre-64 70 letters, however.
There are no surviving records that would have that infomation.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
You guys need to take things into perspective. As "Pre-64" is a collector’s term, at the time I doubt the Factory would have seen any significance to saving or setting aside the last "Pre-64" Model 70.
As far as they were concerned the 1st Model 70 built in 1965 wasn’t any kind of a different Model 70 than anything they had produced before. They were in the business of making and selling guns.
Maverick
WACA #8783 - Checkout my Reloading Tool Survey!
https://winchestercollector.org/forum/winchester-research-surveys/winchester-reloading-tool-survey/
Obviously Winchester didn’t know what fervor they would create when they dropped the Pre-64 Model 70 in favor of rifles built in 1964; however, the ensuring uproar was hard to miss. However, I suspect Winchester did have an eye for preserving certain rifles. The firearms museum in Cody has quite a few Models 70 that were one-off experimental types or early versions of a particular caliber gun. Winchester also had a habit of pulling certain serial numbers off the line and turning them into presentation guns. I think that was the case with Model 70 500,000. Then too, private collectors are always looking for that oddball gun. If I remember correctly, the story about the discovery of Pre-64 Model 70 Serial # 0001 (or was it 0002?) hanging in a gun rack in the back of a Texas pickup truck was big news a few years ago and many collectors were after that piece. Like the last of anything in a line, I imagine the last Pre-64 70 would have some added collector value, if for no other reason than it marked the end of an era and the beginning of another. So, I guess my point is this, whether Winchester recognized the value of the last Pre-64 Model 70 or some private citizen just happened by luck to buy it, surely someone has tracked it down by now. Which brings me back to my original question, where is it?
It is well documented that the last Pre-64 Model 70 was SN 581471 built in October 1963. AS far as I know, its whereabouts is not known. I would guess that it went out the factory door and was sold just like all the rest including SN 1.
SN 2 was sold several years ago. I handled it at a gun show where it was priced at $50,000 but did not sell for several years as the price was reduced–last I saw it advertised was for $20,000.
I also handled SN 1 Model 12 that surfaced in MN several years ago. It was also at a gun show–priced at $25,000. Winchester made these guns to sell and they pretty much all did.
1 Guest(s)
