Traveling With Disney!

It's winter. It's cold. It's dark. And I'm thinking Summer Road Trip!!!

This week I have an item for you that I've had for a while, but it still brings a smile to my face. It's the Wonderful World of Disney Magazine (presented by Gulf Service Stations) This book was the perfect companion for a road trip to Disneyland (or other places, since it featured different American locations). It was chock full of stories, puzzles, jokes, and (let's face it) Disney advertisements (which we loved).

Now this particular edition (volume one, number four, 1970) focuses on the newly opened Haunted Mansion! It even has a section on America's Haunted Houses as a tie in! So here is a small sample from this fantastic magazine!

The cover has a great illustration of our favorite haunt!

If you read through the contents you will see there is a lot of fun stuff in here!

Ooooooohhhhhh.....Spooky!

I love the skeletons from "Skeleton Dance" dancing across the page...

A little plug for a certain tv show...

Comics? Sure, we've got that!

I'm not sure if the "Monster of the Month" was an ongoing thing, but I think this is a weird choice.

Recruiting the little ones for a ink and paint career?

Even Goofy shorts get a nod here!

Everybody sing along!

And a movie plug!

I like this ad. It just seems happy to me!

How early 1970's can you get? About as much as this back cover!

So there is your taste. There is actually much more. I like the idea of having this in the car as my family made the long trip to Disneyland. The only problem is that I can't read in the car. I get sick as a dog. Still, maybe I could have read it in the motel room on the stops on the way. Anyway, it's a good dream!

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!

Some Minty Fresh Hot Wheels!

Years ago, a vintage toy store opened up a few miles from my house. The owner bought a ton of carded, unopened Hot Wheels dating from the mid 1970's to the mid 1980's. Since he knew I was a "Hot Wheels guy" he asked me to price them. With my Tomart's guide in hand, I went through the several hundred cars and deemed their worth.

In appreciation, the owner gave me eight cars whose packages had become damaged, and that he didn't want to bother with selling (remember he had a few hundred mint packages). Unfortunately now, almost twenty years later, the shop is no longer there. However I still have my "blister pull" mint cars. And here they are...

1978 A-OK

1979 Auburn 852

1980 T-Totaller

1981 Kenworth Steering Rig

1982 Old Number 5

1982 Stutz Blackhawk

1983 Classic Packard

1983 '67 Camaro

Now although my true interest with Hot Wheels lies in the years 1968 through 1972, these still have an honored place in my collection since I can honestly say that none have ever been played with. You just are not going to find better examples of these cars. Therefore, they spend their days safely behind glass.

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!!!

The year was 1971. I had just moved to Garland, Texas from Denison, Texas with my family. I was in the third grade, and it was Christmas Eve. The family was all gathered at my Aunt Sandra and Uncle Duke's house in Irving, Texas for our yearly Christmas Eve Gift Extravaganza! (Ok, it was actually just the Christmas family get together, but to a kid, the first name seems more appropriate). I don't really remember most of what I got that year, but I do remember one item...but let me back up first.

The summer before, my grandparents had taken my older cousin Greg and myself to Arkansas. While there, we toured the Daisy BB gun plant in Rogers. I seem to remember that they had a little museum and a store, but none of it is in real sharp focus all these years later. Now, we flash back forward...

My grandfather handed my cousin and I packages that were about a foot by a foot and a half long and about three inches deep. Now these might have been shirt boxes (groan), except that they had a bit of heft to them. We ripped into them and found that we had each gotten one of the coolest gifts ever! In each box was a brand new Daisy 179 Spitting Image BB pistol!
You see, when we were at the Daisy plant, my grandfather had slipped back in as we were leaving and bought us each one for Christmas!

It has now been 46 years since that day, but for Christmas 2017, I own the gun again. You see, I had been on the lookout for one on eBay for quite a while. I needed good condition and a reasonable price. Those two things don't often go together. However, one came up and I bid, and I won! Here she is:

The Daisy 179 is a pretty good copy of a real Peacemaker.

Yep, it's a Daisy!

Daisy made the 179 from the early 1960s to the late 1980s, with slight modifications. For a gun with such a long run, they still go for a fairly hefty price, so I was lucky to find this one. As far as shooting your eye out goes, you would have to really work at it. This gun is extremely weak, and really just a target plinker. Still, it looks and feels great, plus you can't beat the nostalgia factor.

So, with collecting, you really can visit the Ghost of Christmas Past. Until next time, keep searching for treasure!

Just Burning Time...

This week I'm going to share something a little different. A few years ago, my beautiful wife gave me a clock for my birthday. Now this was no ordinary clock, of course. This is it:

This is a Mastercrafters 272 Fireplace Clock. This clock was probably made in the 1950's and features a illuminated rotating cylinder that simulates a roaring fire.

Mastercrafters made clocks starting right after WWII and continued for quite a few years. They usually produced "novelty" clocks, and their three biggest sellers were a clock that featured a swinging little girl, a clock with an animated waterfall, and this one.

These can still be found fairly easily on eBay, but as with any vintage collectible, condition and working order is everything. For example, that gold plastic grate in front of the fireplace is often missing, and that will drop the price about 50 bucks.

Mine is complete and still works great! I think my wife did a great job with this find! Until next time, keep searching for treasure!

Little Lost Corgis

Ok, these are not really lost, but I did leave them off of my recent Corgi post. So, in the spirit of completeness, I offer you these!

This is a Raygo Rascal Road Roller. It's about five inches long and weighs about three tons. Not really, but it feels like it!

A 57 Chevy highway patrol car? Sure, why not? This is about the same size as the Road Roller...

If it's good enough for the highway patrol, it's good enough for the Chicago Fire Department!

I might have shared this one before, but I can't remember. Anyway this is the Corgi Juniors version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It's about two inches long and is missing one wing and Mr. Potts. Oh well....

Another Corgi Junior, this Daimler Scout Car has a gunman that flops side to side with gravity...

Finally, we have a Volkswagen Kubelwagen. Although it isn't marked as a Corgi Junior, it is the same size. It also has a lot of neat detailing.

So there you have it! I think that covers all of my current Corgis. However, if I find any more, I'll let you know!

Until next time keep searching for treasure!

Requiescat, Francis Xavier...

Today's post is a tribute to one of the last of the great Imagineers, that we lost in September of this year. Francis Xavier Atencio was instumental in several attractions, but none more so than Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion.

X was working for the Disney Company as an artist when Walt asked him to write for those attractions. X said that he didn't consider himself a writer, but that Walt could spot things in people that they didn't see in themselves. Thanks to Walt's insight, X gave words and songs to both pirates and ghosts! (He once said that he used a thesaurus religiously for the Ghost Host's spiel...)

Here are a couple of autographed items I have from him...

These hang in my office at work for inspiration. I never met Mr. Atencio, but in every interview I ever saw he seemed kind and very excited to talk about his beloved attractions.

He will be greatly missed, especially in a day when Imagineers seem to have lost their way and are more worried about roller coasters and being PC than actually creating anything. (Don't ask me about my opinion of the latest Pirate travesty.)

Hopefully, somewhere Walt just greeted X and told him his new job with the real Imagineers who went before.

Keep searching for treasure.

When Rods Were Odd....

In celebration of the Halloween season, I give you this quick glimpse of a monster driving a Mini Cooper....because, why not?

This is my only example of an Odd Rod sticker. I got it because 1. it was very cheap, and 2. I drive a Mini (although not a cool purple one). When I was a kid my bedroom door had quite a collection of these stuck on it. They came in a packet with gum, like baseball cards. Now you can still find them on eBay for pretty low prices. Even after 40 years, I still think they are pretty cool!

So that's it for this time! Happy Halloween and keep searching for treasures!