Advantage Chrysler

This gorgeous Keen was the special run for BreyerWest in 2000. It's his 25th anniversary!

I feel like this is one of those special runs that has fallen in to obscurity so I wanted to share a little bit about him. While I was pulling out some other things in storage I recently uncovered where I had stashed his blanket. That encouraged me to get them out for some photos.

Keen was my first conga and is still my favorite today. I freaked out a little when I saw this special run announced and I knew I couldn't attend. BreyerWest was held on the western side of Canada back then and I was in college on the east coast at the time. This was still the early days of the internet and it wasn't so easy to find event models on the secondary market. I was attending NAN and Jamboree in 2000 that year though, so I found two people who were willing to swap pickups with me (I wanted to make sure I had a backup pickup!).

As it turned out, it was good I worked out two different trades because I was able to get two different models from the run. My first pickup person was doing the live show and those entrants received a copy with a special embroidered blanket. Only 50 of these were given out, making them extra special.

My other pickup person was not showing and she was able to purchase a regular one from the Breyer store. Although IDYB says 1000 were made that is incorrect. Reports from people volunteering and attending the show were that only 250 were made. There were the 50 that were given out at the show and 200 available in the store. My pickup person also told me they were gone the first day because in the afternoon the real horse owner came in and bought out what remained at the end of the day to give as gifts to friends and family - she was so glad she had gone first thing to get one (I was too!).

Many years later there was one that was just sitting on eBay NIB for $25 and even though I had my two already I decided to get him so I could have a NIB one too. He also has a Made in China sticker which I think would make him one of the earliest SRs produced there. Full production didn't move over until around 2002.

Some other fun details about this run. He has the Hanoverian brand painted on the offside and the funny white dot on his right side is there because in the photo that the prototype was painted from the real horse had some foam around where the bit was... they thought it was a marking. Oops.

It would be great to hear stories from anyone else who was there in Canada for BreyerWest 2000!