Clarence's Car Journal   Entries of the Past

(2008)  (2009)

06/20/10...Nothing could be "fina" than to be in Carolina in the mooorning. This was especially true on June 5th, 2010, as the weather provided early coolness for show-time with a beautiful blue sky sprinkled with white puffy afternoon threats. The annual Air Fair in Hendersonville, NC, was held Saturday and this show was all about old cars, old aircraft and modern experimental-class aircraft. A forgotten camera and a phone camera that cannot transfer photos leaves us here with minimal visuals. Remember to take the memory pill.

Small town shows sometimes produce rare and exciting cars not often seen anywhere else. There were three standout cars at this show--a 1941 Graham Hollywood. This car from the cowl back features a Cord four-door sedan body with the flat back. The frontal portion of the car is unique to the Hollywood and beautifully blends in with the rear portion. My opinion is that this car is better looking than the original 1936-37 Cord 812. Rear wheel drive and a Continental engine (not Ford related) makes for a reliable and easily serviced car. Some of my research material relates that Cord manufactured more units of the original version of this car than Graham did with this later and lower-cost version. The American auto manufacturer Hupp also produced a minor variation of the Graham Hollywood. Take the time to search the net for pictures of this beautiful car.

Another uncommon standout was a right-hand drive Singer. I was in a rush and failed to get info on this one. It looked a lot like the car pictured here which is a mid-thirties to early forties Singer LeMans model. This cool little car is about the size of modern Mini and the first one I ever recall seeing in the flesh. Surely, it would be tons of fun to drive around town and on local country jaunts.

The third car was an absolute shocker. It was a very nice 1982 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce in Italian red. The hood was open so I moved over to take a look. Wow. No engine. Two or three batteries were up front with more hidden here and there in other parts of the car. The owner was nearby and eager to talk about his electric car. He bought a kit and made it happen. The car runs through a regular manual transmission and has a range of around thirty miles. While the range is not overwhelming it is good enough for a person to do normal local errands. And, this car is likely much more reliable than a similar Alfa with original running gear. This car has its own webpage. Take a look at http://www.evalbum.com/2583 .

Next year I hope to bring you a better report with specific photos and more info on the planes. And, you might get some test-ride impressions of a Stearman bi-plane.

06/02/10...Here is a first. I have now driven a car before reading a major publication road test of the same.

In mid-December of 2009 I visited a college friend in eastern NC about an hour's drive from the Atlantic Ocean. Our friendship is around forty-four years now. The first time I ever saw Lane was on campus and he was walking between classes reading a Road&Track magazine. A few days later I was in the cafeteria line and immediately behind him. He had a Car&Driver magazine. We struck up a conversation over the new AMC Marlin. He thought it was hideous. I thought it was unusual and therefore a car to desire. We still talk cars.

Picture was taken later--Spring 2010. Click to enlarge.

Before my drive down, Lane sent me an email saying that there was a surprise waiting for me. Hmm, is he going to give me his old Cub Cadet, a 2010 Citroen C3 brochure, a 2010 Challenger promo? Maybe he had purchased a new car? Doubtful. Lane has two almost new cars now. A few exchanged emails discounted all my guesses.

My goal while driving down in the final short-light days of autumn was to leave WNC early enough to get to Lane's place before dusk. I left a bit later than I wanted and keeping on pace was utmost on my mind for the six-hour drive. I forgot about the surprise.

A daylight arrival was achieved. Lane was not out as usual to greet his guest. And then his head popped out the side porch door. "Wanna know what the surprise is?" The garage door began opening. Well, for sure it was going to be a car! And, there it was, a gleaming white 2010 Volkswagen Golf TDI in two-door style. That's a diesel, folks.

"Manual or automatic? I queried. "Six-speed automatic," was his response.

Surprised I was. Lane normally keeps an upper-trim-level pickup around as well as a German diesel sedan or SUV. He replaced neither of these. This was a third car! That was the biggest surprise.

"Why did you buy this?" I asked. "Because I wanted it," he replied.

We left shortly thereafter to visit some of Lane's friends and I was treated to my first ride in a vehicle of the second decade of the current century. I haven't even owned a car yet from the current century! We discussed plans for the next day. My hope was to have lunch at the Oceanic with a wonderful panoramic view of the Atlantic. Rough weather was forecast and I wanted to watch some rough sea action. We agreed that Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach would be the order of the day.

The next day we toured car dealerships without getting out very often. We saw an uncommon Chevy Colorado V-8 extended cab. That one was worth braving the cold and peppering rainy wind.

We had a great lunch and then started the trip back to Bloomingdale. A few miles out a pit stop was made and my turn to drive finally had come. Lane is not greatly excited about my driving. He is a gentleman to have permitted me.

Once when Lane had a new 1982 Pontiac Firebird, I drove it back from Tennessee, filled with car enthusiasts including Lane. The road at the time was a snaky two-lane highway. There was one last straightaway going up the mountain that gave motorists one last chance to get around slow pokes. There was a slow poke ahead of us. I decided to pass. There was significant grade and too many people in the car. The power wasn't totally up to my expectations. We were fine;  nobody coming down the mountain. Well, then an oncoming car appeared. Backing off is more dangerous in my book than nailing it. And, I could hope that the oncoming driver was not shaving or reading or daydreaming. There was a small tumult in the car, but as I made it back into our lane, I informed everyone calmly, "See, I told you I could make it." It was years before Lane ever let me drive again.

Anyway, I swiveled into the firm but comfortable German seat. It took a minute or two to get the seat in position. I'm not accustomed to modern cars. Then it took me longer to get the mirrors adjusted. The controls didn't seem to be intuitive. I asked Lane how to adjust them. "I can't tell you," he replied, "I just do it." Then it dawned upon me that the adjuster stalk was infinitely variable--not something just linear from the last century. Maybe this is a road test of me!

This Golf had less than one thousand miles on it so when I asked Lane how to use the paddle shifters, he informed me that he didn't know how to use them yet and was afraid to try them out without reading up on it. I wanted to use them badly but  did not want to harm Lane's new car. He'd never let me drive again.

The new VW Golf TDI is the most modern of diesels with direct injection plus turbo power. The dash has a gauge that records lifetime average fuel mileage. When the engine cranks there is not much to clue the driver of its being a diesel--no smell and minimal clickety clackety. As with all the diesel cars and trucks the first roll onto the highway gives the driver a certain steering "feel." Most likely that feel is the weightiness of front end. It's planted.

Check out the lifetime fuel mileage--Spring 2010. Click to enlarge.

My test road was primarily a modern four-lane road with no "twistys." Well, there were a few mild curves on the rural roads near Bloomingdale. Lane and I conversed the whole way. The transmission did such a beautiful job that it was not there to be noticed in any way. That kind of tranny could help me abandon the manual shift to which I have clung for five decades now.

The ride was firm but pretty much the way I like it. The handling is probably great and hopefully I'll get another shot at this car in the mountains of WNC sometime soon. My mountain roads will sort the good from the superb. The Golf TDI, by the way, is equipped with Golf GTI accouterments both in interior features and suspension components. That just about makes it a sports car and a fine one at that.

The road test ended. The next day I returned home to eighteen inches of snow in my driveway.

A few days after arriving home, I read a road test of this car by Car&Driver. They called the performance tepid, but only two seconds off a Golf GTI from 0 to 60. When was the last time I ever screamed away from a traffic light full-bore to sixty miles per hour? Never. The big shocker was that I learned that I had driven a dual clutch tranny. I had no clue, but then maybe that's why I liked the transmission so much. The DSG tranny is more closely related to a current manual transmission than it is to a current slushbox.

Lane, whenever you sell this car, I want an opportunity to buy it.

05/24/10...Part I

I met Brandon four or five years ago at the local gym. In Yancey County Brandon goes by Toby. I don't know what other names he goes by in other counties! Brandon is a people person and gets to know everyone wherever he goes. Brandon is the opposite of me in his approach to things. He works hard and fast and that is just his style. For almost as long as I have known him, he has talked about racing four-wheelers and for the last couple of years he has urged me to come to a mud racing event. There was always a reason I never could get there. May 1 might just be the day.

Normally, my Saturdays are very quiet and I get very few phone calls. On the appointed day I got two phone calls. One was from new friends who wanted to look at a mobile home I had for sale. Another was from another friend who wanted to pick up a riding lawn tractor I had traded him. Would I get everything coordinated in time to get to the mud races?

Well, it all worked out right down to the last minute. I left at 3 PM just in time to get some cold drinks and head to the track about thirty miles away near Burnsville, NC. This put me into a rush. I don't do all that well with being in a rush. I drove right by the grocery store. Well, no matter, I would get my drinks in Burnsville.

As I approached Burnsville I finally saw the sign with an arrow "Big Dawg Mud Sling," but I purposely drove right on by. I needed to get those drinks. The grocery store was on top of the hill just up the road. Along the way in the front of an auto parts store was a Dodge minivan with a "for sale" sign on it. This was not just any minivan; it was a Ram minivan which means a panel van with no windows--always wanted one--and it looked decent. No time to stop so a mental note was made, "Someday I will drive back out here and take a look at it."

Drinks were purchased and off to the races I went. The mud pit (or is it a track?) was brand new. This was the first event at this location ever. A young parking attendant asked me if I was going to run it--my rusty Cherokee. I smiled and indicated that this was just my daily driver. "Ah, just joshing ya anyway," he laughed.

A central location all the way up was found on the new bleachers which were constructed in such a way that all my stuff (rain gear, sandwiches etc.) had to be held between my feet--didn't want to drop everything about twenty-feet down to the ground. The track was in front of course, but to the back and downward was a steep mountain slope revealing a snaking and beautiful South Toe River and farm fields.

People watching began. Burnsville is a nice small hometown-kind-of community and I sort of drifted back to my high-school days. Most everyone knew everyone and they came in all sizes and some looked confident and some looked anxiously about as they found their seats. Brandon was spotted on the other side of the track pointing to different spots in the mud pit. Some cute high-school girls sheepishly asked if anyone wanted to buy raffle tickets. I didn't because I didn't know what half and half tickets were. A friendly mud racing enthusiast next to me bought five or six. When the numbers were called later on he was holding his tickets so that I could easily see them. By golly, his last ticket was it and worth one-hundred and ten dollars. Next time I will know what a half and half ticket is and will plunk down a little for a chance.

Finally, the races began and four-wheelers were up first. Brandon drew a number and he would be the second one up. The first guy up did okay. How do you judge this when you have never seen a race like this? Brandon's time came. His four-wheeler was brand new and had never seen mud ever. True to form Brandon hunkered down and blistered the track. He ran it just like he does everything else--all out. That includes lawn mowing too.

My tastes are different from most people so I always check out the odd and unusual. It was surprising that there was a six-cylinder class. This would be for me. Maybe the kid wasn't joshing about my Cherokee. In fact, a first generation compact Cherokee similar to mine but with black paint and bright flames won the six-cylinder class event. 

After Brandon had run both his runs, he came up, sat beside me and chatted a while. You hold the track record, "I told him." And then with the words no more than out of my mouth a mud slinger raced by and took about two seconds off Brandon's time. "So much for that," I said. "Ah, Clarence," Brandon consoled, " I still hold the class record."

The picture shown here was my favorite vehicle of the "sling." My dad had a 56 Jeep pickup when I was a kid so this one warmed me up. It belongs to Daniel Ledford and was on its first time out. It runs a big block Chevy engine and managed a 4.223 time. The fastest time of the show was 3.629 so Daniel's time was not slouchy at all. Another favorite was a 63 Ford Falcon in gray primer atop who knows what kind of chassis.

The event ended well before dark and it was tons of mud and fun.

Part II

While walking towards the parking lot, I decided to get into the Cherokee and head back to the grocery store for an apple and a banana. Maneuvering out of the parking lot wasn't too bad but there was a jam up of some sort a few cars ahead of me. An older man in a nice looking older Ranger club cab was trying to turn around. He had parked to the side and was trying to get out. He finally decided to back it out and I let him in front of me. He backed out very comfortably and as soon as he got to the asphalt, took off a whole lot faster than I would have imagined. Anyway, I was on the road again and off to the local grocery store.

On the way I saw the Dodge minivan again. It was still daylight and I wheeled in. It wasn't a cream puff, but it was very straight, had zero rust and the dash pad was not cracked. Most of these things have been driven into the ground by now. I called the number in the window.

"I just came out from the mud sling and I saw this minivan. I'd like to hear this thing run. Are you anywhere close?" I asked. "Why, yeah, I am. I just came outta there myself," the man responded. "I'll be down there in about five minutes." I had to smile when he drove up. It was the same older man I had seen earlier in the Ranger club cab pickup. He was I found out a retired truck driver. No wonder he backed out of the parking lot so well.

We talked a few minutes. The price was within reason. He handed me the key and we hopped in. It not only cranked instantaneously, but the engine sounded crisp. I drove it down the road a few miles and nothing stood out as problematical except for a front wheel bearing.

We had a little bit of trading fun. He defended "worth it" while I suggested, "I'm doing you a pretty big favor by buying this van. You won't have to worry about fixing the wheel bearing." A compromise was made and we agreed to meet on Tuesday to do the money exchange and title work.

I went to a mud sling and came home with a "new" vehicle. Hey, Mama, don't let me out of town again.

04/06/10...What happens if your 1999 metallic-brown Toyota Corolla suddenly accelerates to unimaginably high speeds--perhaps to warp speed levels? Not to worry. Buck Watson knows the answer. It all happened to him recently. At first he was shocked that the car would go so fast; however, being the seasoned biker he was, he realized that he was in for some Saturday night fun and if he just got lucky enough, the ride of his life.

Buck and his Toyota Atom Smasher showed up at Bob's Biker Bar around 1 PM on Sunday afternoon just in time for the opening round.

I happened to pass the bar, saw the car and was lucky enough to get the story and some quick pictures.

04/05/10...Antique malls have never yielded very much for me, but then, I have never really taken the time to do it right. Bruce does it right. He comes up with some great items and only buys if he knows the market value is greater than the asking price. Persistence and knowledge separate the men and women from the boys and girls.

One impetus for me to visit Bruce recently was to see his two newly acquired true dealer promo 1960 Edsels.

First off a true dealer promo 1960 Edsel is not a common item. The true promo version has a detailed plastic coaster chassis whereas the retail trade versions have black metal chassis with friction motors. The Edsel brand began with introduction of the 1958 Edsel line on September 4, 1957. Edsel failed to capture America's fancy in 1958 or 1959. Most likely Edsel dealers were doing everything possible to stay afloat and not buying dealer promo models was probably one small tactic.

In addition the Edsel brand was ended on November 19, 1959. The entire commercial lifespan of the Edsel was a mere twenty-seven months! The result was a rather limited number of 1960 Edsel true promos. Bunches of 1960 Edsel retail trade frictions were made. Probably more of them were made than  full-sized ones!

Bruce's two Edsels are quite beautiful. One is Polar White over Cadet Blue Metallic and the other is totally tasty to me in Polar White over Sea Foam Green. The toy store retail versions came mostly in generic colors.

When Bruce bought the Edsels, he didn't buy the other promos in the booth. On a given day the budget doesn't answer all of one's desires. He didn't forget about them and after the next pay day, he went back hoping to acquire the siblings. They were there and he surprised me with some new additions.

He brought home a 1960 Lincoln Continental, two 1960 Mercurys and a 1960 Comet two-door--all true dealer promos. This, too, is amazing. Even though the retail trade versions are fairly easy to find, the actual dealer coaster versions aren't common at all. Accurate colors are part of the allure of true dealer cars. The detailed chassis are as well. The Continental is Polaris White; the Mercurys are Tucson Turquoise over Aztec Turquoise Metallic and Sultana White over Marine Blue Metallic; the Comet is Sultana White.

All these cars came out of the same antique mall booth and most likely all came from one dealership or associated dealerships. Wouldn't it be fun to know what dealership/s, where and when?

Thanks, Bruce, for having me over and sharing these high-quality, special finds.

People continue to find great items out there. Be persistent. Be rewarded. Go get em.

03/31/10...This past weekend I went down to Georgia to visit Dave and his cats. We planned to do some prep work on a few 1954-55 Kaisers. For this trip I pre-arranged a visit for us with a collector in Dave's area who has bought a number of promos from me over the span of a decade or more. We all looked forward to this meeting at Bruce's place.

04/02/10...PS. Faithful reader Paul Cella has just reported that he has a PMC International Metro delivery van with advertising on the side that has the "professional-amateur" look. He will provide more info later. Thanks, Paul.

03/20/10...Here are some examples of the stuff a promo dealer with ADS can get into. And people wonder why I never get anything done!

Box Number One: Last year I bought a collection of early and mid-fifties promos. The promos were shipped in a huge box, individually wrapped along with a various assortment of empty original promo boxes. As is usual not all the boxes corresponded to all the cars. I always wonder if the "missing" cars are still somehow still with the source. Anyhow, as a dealer I have to figure out how to match cars and boxes. There are lots of clues and things usually fall into place with  inevitability there being some cars left without boxes and some boxes left without cars.

One box really presented a challenge although not at first. A black/white "Pontiac" box was left over. The one 1954 Pontiac in this purchased collection had a box that matched by color. I noticed when I got the collection that this promo box had a color name that I associated with Buicks but just figured that Pontiac used the same names that year. The extra boxes waited a while. Finally, I came to the point of putting the "Pontiac" box up for sale. I looked for Pontiac Carlsbad Black and Artic White colors and could not find them from 1952 through 1954--years that AMT used the garage box for Pontiacs. 1955 Pontiacs were made by Ideal/Johan so no need to search in 1955. Then I checked out 1954 Buicks. Holy cow, these colors were Buick only and did not correlate with 1955; 53 Buick promos were Banthrico . I had a crazy box here. It said "Pontiac" but had Buick colors. All this made me wonder whether a Buick or Pontiac came in this box. Did the 54 Buick (from this collection) come in this box and did the 55 Buick come in the box that I put the 54 in? With quite a few cars with unmatched colors, a person can go nuts trying to figure all this out. I decided to sell this box as a "wild and crazy" box.

Box Number Two: I goofed up. Nuttin new. The box shown here was originally identified by me as "definitely 1961." Wrong. It turns out to be the box for retail trade 1963 Ford Galaxie 500 XL friction hardtops. No mid-year fastback promos were ever made either as dealer cars or frictions. If I had paid closer attention to the models offered on the bottom of the box, I would have found the correct year right away. Thanks to the sharp-eyed Jay Szaras for setting me straight.

Box Number Three: This box is not so much a mystery box as it is just an interesting approach to boxes. It is almost as generic as a box can get. Check off the possibilities or write them in. This is testimony that slush cast models were produced in far fewer quantities than molded plastic cars. There is one mystery here. No references have been found so far that indicate the years of Autobank #1513. 1953 is a good guess as all the brands on the box were produced in 1953. (One might look for #1514 as the box for 1954). The #1513 could have been used in years later as well since Banthrico manufactured and distributed cars after the "real cars" were obsolete. This one was checked off as a light blue Pontiac.

Part of the fun in the collecting thing is putting all the bits and pieces together.

03/13/10

Dear Census People, 

I am delighted to answer your questionnaire. I wish you had asked more questions. I need a traffic light down at the end of my driveway. It was hard for me to answer where I lived. I spend most nights on the mountain, but sometimes I sleep down in the valley in the camper in the garage, unless it is below 15 degrees and then I sleep in the big house. I keep All Bran cereal in the big house and on the mountain. My refrigerator on the mountain died totally dead. Milk keeps pretty good in the toilet tank. I didn’t have a stove up there anyway, but I do have a microwave on the mountain and down at the big house. I have a working refrigerator on the bed of my white 85 Ford pickup which doesn’t run. That two-door fridge won’t fit the space for a refrigerator on the mountain and besides the F-150, as I said, does not run. The motor runs but the transmission doesn’t. The truck is in the garage where the camper is that I sleep in sometimes. This truck is rare, you know, the one with the short narrow bed. Someday, I’m gonna fix that truck. How about a bill for fixing up old trucks?

I figure you should count me one-third on the mountain, one-third in the valley, one third in-between and one-third undecided. I know that adds up wrong but I have actually met myself coming in the door so on average the count is real close. Now as for spouses I have none but I am looking, not so much for a spouse but at least a sustainable woman who can roller skate with me at least twice a week. Y'all could fix that by matching me up with one. You do run a datum service after all.

Yours truly and eagerly awaiting 2020,

Zinski Z. Skateworthy

02/16/10...This winter has been a snowy one up on Lucky Ledge. In fact, not one day of winter this year has found the ground fully void of snow in the cracks and crevasses or hiding even on the north side of the decades old boxwoods. Some snowfalls have been accompanied by winds that roared through the gap and became confused on the Ledge and blew south, east, west all at once coughing down my chimney and sending smoke throughout the house. Other snowfalls have dropped straight downward with not a whiff of wind to disturb even a single flake.

An older man's ears don't pick up all nuances of sounds but there is a sound that always accompanies these snowfalls, whether bold or meek, and it is the comforting sound of rasping, scraping, thump ka-bumping. Yes...comforting. It is a yellow International NCDOT dump/snowplow truck and it makes a racket  loud enough even for my ears. I hear him first when he is about two hundred feet from the Ledge. From my reading chair I can see the spiraling round yellow light atop the cab and all the amber, white and red lights that emblazon the otherwise dark night. The truck moves slowly and deliberately and the engine roars as it pushes the heavy snow off the road. He will disappear and the noise with him.

I will see him again in about eight minutes or so. It is eight tenths of a mile of winding around the mountain before he reaches the one hundred-sixty-degree switchback and my driveway entrance. He will come around the bend, lights flashing and  engine roaring. That powerful diesel will nearly stall. The driver will stop, back up a couple of truck lengths, readjust the front blade and move up and around the mountain. Below the truck's dumpgate I see the lighted spreader blades throwing salt onto the highway. If I were closer, I could hear the pinging, peppering and plopping of salt onto the cold pavement.

Comforting that state truck is and so far, dependable. Lucky Ledge road is a primary road into Spring Creek and it is always cleaned first. People's lives depend upon it.

I fall asleep in my chair with a Walk in the Woods which drops haphazardly into my lap...

02/16/52...Bacon is popping and sizzling and white gravy is soon a-making. Buttered toast is browning in the oven. It is dark outside and while the sounds and smells in the kitchen are routine, the rhythms of the day are not. Pop is in and out of our front door mumbling and sometimes clearly voicing curses related to frozen fender skirts, snow chains, missing links and rusty fasteners. We live on the edge of US 19-23, a major highway and gateway to Tennessee and many states beyond. There is little traffic this morning. It snowed several inches last night and flakes are still falling. The land is hushed except for a gust of wind every few minutes which shakes large clumps of snow off the branches of the jack pines across the road. The huge snow clumps land with soft thuds.

My young ears hear a sound down the road before anyone else. It's the NCDOT truck, a 1951 Chevy "Advance Design" dump truck/snowplow, brown and black and almost invisible except for headlights. That Stovebolt six cylinder engine is laboring slowly and evenly. The snowplow is not rasping as it is not all the way down and thus just sluices an upper layer. That 1951 vintage engine can only push so much. The chains on the dual rear tires are somewhat muffled on the not fully scraped roadway. There is no loud clanking on this first pass.

Please, don't prevent me dear Pop, from seeing this spectacle pass. I make myself invisible from adults. The approaching truck and its chains are moaning wamba wamba now. It is coming closer...closer...and then it's here and for real but only for a second. And then it is past with a slow motion Doppler effect changing not the rhythm but the tone of chains meeting a snowy roadway. In the back of the truck are two men shoveling sand onto the roadway. There is the glimmer of one red tail light and one barely glowing light for the shovelers. The truck fades over the rise and a few moments later the rhythm of chains plays to another audience.

Ahhh...the sounds of snow for little boys and seniors too.

01/28/10...First, let's set the scene.

When I was a kid, my parents ran a mostly-outdoor gift shop near Strausstown, PA. As fall became colder and colder the day always came when the shop was closed and we headed south to NC. I attended school in PA until that day (usually in November) and then finished out the school year in NC. I did this through seven grades. The PA school was a five-room building with lunchroom and activities area in the basement. Its name:  Upper Tulpehocken Township and Strausstown Boro Joint School.

Dateline 09/02/1952...I am going to school today. My teacher is Miss Greenawalt. It will be my first day in first grade with another first--a crick in the neck.

Fortunately, that crick lasted only for the day and was not a bad omen. I liked school from day one and already knew some of the kids from Strausstown's dual denominational church--Lutheran and Reformed Church of Christ.

One kid I did not know but met that first school day was Scott "Scottie" Balthaser.  We became friends and saw each other at summer school camps, Sunday school and elementary school after Labor Day. Little did I know that Scott would someday become a living saint.

I lived out in the country and he lived just within view of town. He visited my home at least once. We had different things that interested us and were of the "collecting" type, but the main connection was cars and for elementary kids in Strausstown that meant promos.

The year 1958 was a marker in my life. That was the last year that I would live in PA. The new four-lane US 22 was being "upgraded" to a limited access highway. That meant that a guard rail was going to close out the family business. I left PA that year not fully comprehending that I would never see most of my PA friends again. Over the years there has always been a tinge of remorse for not knowing what became of them.

When the Internet came along, I did a bit of searching for those "kids" and nervously wondered if anyone in PA would remember me if I found them. Not by searching but by accident I stumbled upon one of my Strausstown classmates, Susie. We communicated a bit and still do a couple of times per year. Somehow, no one else seemed to surface.

Dateline...12/27/07...The phone rings. I am napping and caught almost unaware. "Clarence Young, how the h... are you?" boomed the confident voice from my childhood-Pennsylvania. "Scott Balthaser here."

Wow. Truly amazing and he remembered me. How did he find me? In a search for more things to collect, he came upon Clarence Young Autohobby and determined that this had to be the kid he knew long ago.

We compared notes and had several commonalities. Both of us had worked for the post office (career for him/ short lark for me) and had graduated from small local denominational colleges. We both owned Miatas and additionally both owned Swedish cars--Volvo for him, Saab for me. We were enthusiasts of words and thus writers. We also had our own commercial web sites--his being saintobnoxious.com .

Scott still has the collecting bug.  In fact when Scott found my website, he was searching for 55 Ford F&F cereal cars. He didn't know that they were the F&F brand until I clued him in on that. His first actual car was a 55 Ford and he wanted some sort of replica of it. Scott still has a 56 Chevy promo that he got from Himmelberger Garage in Strausstown in late 1955. 

We have corresponded many times by email and by phone since that first phone call.

Dateline...01/07/10..."Scott, thanks for the check and the great t-shirt 'Never Trust a Skinny Beer Drinker.' I mailed out your yellow and black 55 ford promo today. I'm sure you'll like it."

Isn't it amazing that two kids first met September 2, 1952, and on January 7th, 2010, some fifty-eight years later they completed their first promo deal?

Thank you, Scott, the one and only Saint Obnoxious . I am grateful that you took the time to give me that call in 2007. What fun!

01/14/10...This article was first published at Clarence Young Autohobby's website in Autumn, 2003, as part of the short-lived Model Car Journal Online. Let's archive it here at CCJ.

Promo Quirks:  58 Edsel

Nothing is ever easy. This was going to be a quickie article on the two 58 Edsel mold variations. The research started and then there were three variations. Eventually, the possible variations numbered eighteen. At this point in time, eight mold variations are known to exist. 

If you collect 58 Edsels and thought that you had them all, this article is likely going to put you in the hunt once again. 

A chart has been made to sort all this out, but first it would be good to understand the molding variables here. Early production 58 Edsel promos failed to show the cowl vent details  just forward of the windshields. This occurred with both hardtops and convertibles.

Next, comes a convertible characteristic. Most 58 Edsel convertibles do not have sun visors, but a very few of them do exist. A plausible theory is that AMT added sun visors to  the convertible promo mold for kit production in early 1958. After the kits were run, a short production run of promos with the sun visors were made. This theory should hold true even though some kits were run with and without the cowl vents. 

Jay Szaras Photo

Next comes the headlight problem. Early cars featured a simplistic headlamp housing as seen below. For classification purposes this headlight pod will be called Type A. Type A is seen with small headlamps or large headlamps installed at the factory. The size of the headlamps is not a mold variation (It's a parts variation!) and that will not be reflected in the chart below as a mold variation. No large headlamps are likely to be found on Type B or C.

The second type will be dubbed Type B. Notice below that there is more space between the headlamps and there seems to be no deeply set recession for the lights as seen in Type A.

Don Krueger Photo

Later production 58 Edsel promos featured a much-more-detailed headlamp housing. Advanced collectors refer to the Type C version as the "compass points" version as seen below.

Oddly, none of the headlight pod variations were precisely accurate. Here is the real thing.

Don Krueger Photo

Interior mold variations, color combinations and other possible variables are good subjects for another article at a later date. If one considers all mold variables, as well as all other variables, there is the real possibility that a collector could have a hundred or more 58 Edsel promos with no two being alike! This discussion and article is concerned only with body mold variations. The chart below outlines the eighteen possibilities and highlights the eight known to exist.  It will be neat to see if any new mold variables show up.--CEY  

This article brings forward the best information available at this time. There is always the possibility of more facts becoming available in the future.

Thanks to Joe Constantino, Rick Hanmore, Don Krueger and Jay Szaras for research assistance and photos as credited for this article.

01/08/10...Most (that means 99.9%) 1955 Ford Fairlanes were single colors like the one shown on the right. Just for reference note the white  simulated wire wheels.

Jay Szaras, well-known Ford enthusiast and promo collector, has a rare 1955 Ford convertible. It is a two-tone. As a general rule AMT did not produce two-tone 1955 Ford convertibles, except, well, they did and Jay has the proof.

A skeptic might say, "Well, he just took a solid color model and two-toned it. There are people out there skilled enough to pull that off." The skeptic will back down when he sees the original box with all the identifiers stamped on the box which authenticate the car. Jay's car has the more deluxe chrome-plated simulated wire wheels. Thanks, Jay, for sharing this neat item with CCJ.

01/03/10...Over the years I have stumbled upon all kinds of information about promo cars, but never enough. Unfortunately, I sold virtually all this ephemera. One piece I recall was an order sheet for AMT scale model cars. It would be nice to know the exact date of this order sheet but it had to be late 1955 or sometime in 1956. The retailer was given a choice of several cars in two model years. In other words, AMT was attempting to broaden their offerings, I suppose, by offering not only the most current 1956 models but also 1955's.

The first 1955 Ford promos came with a generic plain wheel cover. The toy store versions generally came with unplated white ones. Promos came with plated ones. A variable was a generic simulated wire wheel also plated and unplated.  All early 1955 Ford convertibles had interiors. No two-door hardtop Victorias came with interiors--not even promotionals.

Retail (non-promo) AMT cars came in a standard and a deluxe. The standard ones had no interior and the deluxe ones did. Most deluxe ones had chrome plated wheel covers. Most standard ones did not. With AMT no pattern is always true. The assembly girls may have spiked the punch once in a while.

It's easy to figure out which 1955's were produced either in the summer of 1955 or possibly as late as the first part of 1956. Let's call them SummerFords.

The SummerFords had 1956 Ford wheelcovers. Some of them had this feature plus 1956 "A-M-T" tires. They had to be made during the production of 1956 Fords since they utilized parts from that model. Incidentally, the deluxe SummerFords utilized interiors from 1955 Ford convertibles and this required stuffing the interior with integral convertible boot into the hardtop.  Maybe they hand-trimmed the boot down a bit.

While it is true that in most instances a promo version is the ultimate choice for a collector, the SummerFord Victoria deluxe presents an exception. The SummerFord had both chrome plated and accurate wheel covers as well as an interior and when it was painted in factory colors as the Raven Black over Goldenrod Yellow one shown, then it is clearly superior to the plainer promo.

This article is based upon what is in my head and I am certain there are some nuances that could be refined. If you have further info, I'm always eager to hear it, see it. One area of pleasure within this hobby is new discovery and when you are my age rediscovery.

P.S. We didn't discuss the other cars in AMT's lineup here. If you have a 1955 or 1956 AMT scale model car in black and bright yellow, please let me know about it so that I can do "the rest of the story."

01/02/10...Last year, 2009, on New Year’s Eve I started a counter on my homepage. I checked it a few weeks ago and the number was 12,000 plus. I wondered if it would reach 13,000. It was checked on New Year’s Eve around 6 PM and revealed 12,967 hits and I wondered if it could possibly reach 13,000 in six hours. I contemplated, “I bet people are out partying and it won’t make it and I really want it to make the 13K mark. It’s so close. ” The solution (maybe/maybe not) was a tweet: “Bored? Go to Autohobby for scale model promos,” with the respective link. Guess what? As 2010 came in the counter had clocked 13,002. Thank you, dear readers, and have a Happy New Year.

Here is another plug for Twitter. Recently I got a new follower and he sent me a message, "Please answer my email." I always try to answer my emails. Hmm. What's going on here? I double checked the inbox. No email from this person. Then, aha, maybe it was grabbed by my anti-spam program. The double check was made and sure enough, the email was there and a sale was completed. Otherwise it might not have happened at all. Chalk one up for Twitter.

01/01/10...Nineteen fifty-one was the silver anniversary year for Pontiac. Today few people care about this car even though it was a wonderfully well-constructed automobile. It had six and eight cylinder flat-head engines that were reliable but antiquated in the early fifties. The promos don't garner much attention either but they are worth a brief look anyway. 

One could speculate that there were early and late 1951 Pontiac promos. The early car could be described as one with metal headlights, metal hubs and smaller tires. The later version had clear headlights, gray plastic hubs and larger tires.

There is no denying that there are older style parts and newer style parts, so the speculation above stands theoretically. In the actual production of these cars, however, quite a few mongrels came off the assembly lines that feature varying combinations of the old and the new. 

The following table shows known variations.

Double Click Pictures To Enlarge
Long Crease Front Fender With Clear Headlight	1951 Pontiac Eight	Metal Hub Variation With Small Tire
Short Crease Front Fender With Clear Headlight	1951 Pontiac Eight	Gray Plastic Hub With Large Tire
Short Crease Front Fender With Clear Headlight	1951 Pontiac Six	Metal Hub Variation With Large Tire
Short Crease Front Fender 1952	Engine Cylinders Not Denoted  1952	Gray Plastic Hub With Large Tire

There are two types of chassis to be found on these cars. Some, or perhaps all, of the actual dealership promos (as opposed to retail toy store versions) have metal coaster chassis with no wind-up or friction mechanicals. These cars can often be found with an attached label that reads  "PONTIAC, Mfg. by Aluminum Model Toys, Inc. under authorization & control of Gen. Mtrs. Corp." The second type of chassis is a metal chassis with a wind-up mechanism. 

Larger style tire (left) used by AMT from 1951 through 1955. The smaller tire (right) used by AMT from 1949 through 1951 and possibly as late as 1953.

Altogether, the 1951 can have quite a few variables and there are three more to go. There are two kinds of metal headlights to be found on these cars. One style might be the one also used on 1950 Studebakers and the other as used on 1951 Fords. 

Pontiac dealers could pay extra to have their dealership name and location heat stamped on the top of the car. The photo below depicts a relatively rare Canadian dealership version. 

Photo Provided by Paul Cella

An item almost not worth mentioning is the attachment push pins or screws that were used to fasten the metal chassis to the bodies. It is possible to find these cars (as with other AMT cars of the era) with push pins (screws without a slot) or with screws. AMT used both and often used both types on a single car. It is a variation but not one that really has much interest or material value.

Finally, there was a remote control version available. The retail toy trade version came in a colorful AMT box. The dealership version came in an identical box to the AMT box except that it was white with no printing on it at all. I had one once and it had the word "RED" rubber stamped on the side indicating the color of the car. The remote control car might or might not exhibit all the variables of the regular promos and retail toy trade cars. 

If one considers all mold variables, as well as all other variables including colors, there is the real possibility that a collector could have a couple hundred or more 1951 Pontiac promos with no two being alike! Add to that dealer imprints on the tops and the number rises even more.

1952 Pontiac

The 1952 Pontiac was very similar to the 1951 in styling. The 1952 promos featured the short crease and the long crease front fender variations that were used on the 1951 promos which indicates that AMT modified the 1951 molds to produce the 1952's.  The rear "Silver Streak" is unique for the 1951 and 1952 Pontiac promos. This feature made these promos pretty exciting to young collectors at the time.

1952 Pontiac                    1951 Pontiac

The 1952 has its own parts variations also. The earlier version features gray plastic hubs. Later versions feature the same hubs but molded in white. 

There is the possibility that as with the late 1952 Fords and 1952 Studebakers, a friction version was offered with white hubs. If you have one, let me know. 

The fun with promos never ends. The more you know about them, the more you realize that you have just scratched the surface. If you have one of these cars with variations not discussed or shown in the chart, please send pictures and let's talk about it.

This article was written several years ago and never published. I have lost attributions of the folks who helped me with this. Many thanks to all of you.

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