6 replies to this topic

[Lone Wolf]

Never know what you may find digging through my stash. While looking for something else I found this letter I kinda forgot about. I have talked about the incredible Polk's warehouse dig here before. Here is the letter I wrote to "get in" Very few were allowed entrance, only if Nat liked you. Pretty cool in the fact that's it's signed by Nat himself, a pioneer in the slot industry with his brother.

 

Notice the line about charging 1967 prices. I struck a kind of friendship with Nat and he only charged me 30% of the original prices! He told me he bought everything for 10 cents on the dollar when the fad crashed in'67.

 

 

[Joe Mig]

Hmmm well before Email ea.

[don.siegel]

Were you able to talk with Nate about the early days of slots Joe? 

 

Don 

[Jaz]

Soooo?

 

Wadjaget?

[Lone Wolf]

Jeff, there's another older post here explaining what I found.

 

Don, at that time, probably around 1988 I had no interest whatsoever in any slot cars other than H.O. I had never raced on a commercial track and didn't really have any 1/24 cars. I was heavy into H.O. collecting and had thousands of cars. I did not even know a 16D from a 36D and had never even taken a Mabuchi can apart. All of my interest in 1/32 - 1/24 cars has been in the last 5 or 6 years.

 

I went to Polks mainly for H.O. stuff. There was not much H.O. stuff left. I did score a bunch of larger stuff mainly for resale.

 

On my second trip he let me look upstairs. There was a locked room enclosed in chain link fence. Could only go in there if he really liked you On a huge board were hundreds of NOS hardbody kits by Cox and Monogram. I bought a bunch for for under a buck and sold them for $10 each which was a great profit at the time. Remember, no internet, sold them at shows. Yes, I sold Cox and Monogram Chaparral bodies on the card for $10. I am taking a wild guess that they may be worth just a tad more today Sadly I dumped them all

[stumbley]

 

"Look at this. [holds up a silver pocket watch] It's worthless. Ten dollars from a vendor in the street. But I take it, I bury it in the sand for a thousand years, it becomes priceless! Like the Ark. Men will kill for it; men like you and me."

 

 

There's nothing that doesn't get priceless with enough time...

 

[Superbird]

Hi folks!

 

Yeah, stuff got squirreled away in lots of places. 

 

I remember being at Al Pappa's place (an old supermarket building) in '67, after the old EMMRA track had closed. We were impoverished kids playing at slot car racing. We needed parts and he came out with a bag full of Gar VIc Pink Panther 36D motors! He sold them to us for 35 cents apiece. Al was just the most wonderful guy.to us. We invented a lot of custom dragsters and road machines around those motors.  

 

Around that time he also had a bag full of "buck motors" which we bought for some low price. They were 16Ds painted a sort of mustard tan color and black end bells(?). The can size and end bell were non-standard, maybe a little shorted top to bottom (i.e. the flat sides with the rectangular holes in them). As the name suggested the motors were not hopped up to speak of but they were a newer design then most of the Mabuchi 16Ds of the time. They had poor or simple bearings which limited them. No balancing. And, oh, yeah... they burned up pretty well after a few hours of heavy use. This was before the newer Mura motor line got going.  

 

Kool stuff,

Superbird