Elord told me once that at the height they were turning out 500 a year. Exactly when that started I don't know but it went on for decades.
For a considerable period Star had large standing orders for their machines. Thus they didn't have to advertise. If you found them, they would sell you a machine. All the rest went to a few very big customers.
Star help Mike Dillon get started. Mike's first product was the so-called Super Star kit which converted a Star Universal into a machine capable of reloading 223's. Elord helped Mike develop that.
Mike's first machine, the Dillon RL1050, was meant to be a Super Star kit built from the ground up. Financially it was a blop. That forced Mike into machine machines like his current line. When Mike became the leading progressive manufacturer, he specifically set out to destroy Star. I never understood why.
The Wilkinson family, two generations of which worked for Star, would probably know more. The elder Wilkinson retired to somewhere in the Phoenix area. God only know where. There are about a dozen towns down there. His son, Rob I think, might have gone there too. Might be worth a search to see if there is a Rob Wilkinson in the phone book somewhere.
One last thought. For a long time Star Universals sold for $450 I think. That was a lot more than they cost to make. Star was getting so many orders, however, that they raised the price to $950 to cut interest. It had just the opposite effect.
