1:18 Scale GMP 8001B (Black Chrome) 1987 Grand National (GMP 10th Anniversary)

The Front Side of the Box says:

How It All Started, Tom Long, GMP President

It was 1991 and I was working as a manufacturers rep selling industrial fasteners and assembly equipment. My real interest has always been car related, especially racing. Of course, living in the South this meant stock car racing sprinkled with unlimited Saturday night short track action. AS NASCAR was exploding, so was the beginning of related collectibles including die cast. A good friend, Brian Thomas started Unique Designs Collectibles handling the die cast Matchbox, Revell, and other related merchandise. Sales were brisk. We noticed that the drivers of the Busch Series were not very well represented so I made a trip to Charlotte and started knocking on doors. Before I knew it, I had a handful of agreements signed by teams to make 1:64 scale replicas of their transporters. I then made a deal with The Ertl Company to supply these models which was later rescinded due to a conflict with another customer. So there I was with good license no supplier when enters Mr. Stan Gill of RCI fame. Stan told me about a new mold they were opening and would like to supply our new company Peachstate Motorsports. This was in early 1992 and in October of that year our first shipment of the Harry Gant / Mac Tools transporter replicas arrived. Thanks to the good Lord, my wife Barbara, and many friends and collectors, this first release of 10,000 pieces sold out. AS RCI/RCCA became Action Performance Companies, a great story by itself, Peachstate decided to open their own molds in China thanks to the help of a great friend, Dick Nelson who’s name is not unfamiliar in this industry. Soon, we opened other molds like the 1:18 winged sprint and the vintage dirt car series. Then muscle cars like the Buick, Nova and Pontiac. And now we have three factories producing models from over forty different families of molds, some models with close to four hundred parts. In December of 1992, we started Georgia Marketing & Promotions, as a wholesale division. My brother Mark came on board and did a great job of establishing dealer network that is still the core of our wholesale business today. Peachstate has blended into Georgia Marketing so we are now known simply as GMP. We are still a small company of only nine dedicated employees (whoa re really more like family members) operating out of about 13,000 square feet in Winder, Georgia which is about fifty miles north and east of downtown Atlanta. We are close to Road Atlanta, Lamer Raceway, and Atlanta International Raceway in Commerce. We are constantly expanding our lines based on collector feedback. Our philosophy has always been to listen to the collector and do whatever it takes to make them happy. The best product in the world will sell for a little while but true success comes from satisfied customers. Our plan for the future is to continue making collectors happy.

The Back Side of the Box says:

GMP Mission Statement

Offer the best *value possible in accurately detailed die cast models through exhaustive research and development followed by rigidly controlled manufacturing. With this process firmly in place, GMP feels the ultimate goal of satisfying our customer, the collector enthusiast, will be achieved! In order to achieve this goal, the inital phase must be to listen and act on the collector’s input. The final measure of success is the collector’s response of satisfaction and joy derived from their GMP replica. It is also our goal to reach out to as many collectors’ interests as possible by diversifying subject matter… another function of listening closely to our customers!

* Note: We understand the definition of “value” as follows: Val-ue (val-yu) n 1: a fair return or equivalent in money, goods, or services for something exchanged. The new Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

In other words, value does not mean the most expensive… and we believe service after the sale is just as important as the product itself, an essential ingredient of “the value”!