Its an age-old trope everyone has heard: the story about the little ol’ mom & pop hobby or toy store out there off the beaten path in “small town America” that hides a treasure trove of antiques waiting to be discovered. Well, let me tell you, dear readers, trope though it may be, such places do exist, and last week while driving from Denver to Gunnison for work, I found one!
I had passed by this shop along the highway in a small down called “Johnsville” a couple of times and wondered about it, as it had signage on the front specifically calling out a selection of model rockets and slot cars. However, it’s a two hour drive across valleys and into the mountains from where I live, and since I was always going that way for work I didn’t figure I’d ever have the time to stop there while on the job, nor did I think I’d ever make the long trek on a weekend day just to see what they had. But last Tuesday I was running ahead of schedule-a rare occurrence in my industry!-and this time I decided to stop in while passing through.
What I found inside this little unassuming shop would BLOW YOUR MIND!!!
At first it just seemed like a nice little shop that had a few things but nothing really special. I asked the proprietor if he had any Auto World Ultra-G’s and he directed me to a case on the far side of the store where, sure enough, there were some very nice unsold early release T-Jet 500’s in jewel cases (not clamshells) and there were even a couple I thought I’d pick up, a ’70 Boss 302 in “Grabber Blue” and a ’70 Hemi ‘Cuda in “Plum Crazy” purple. After selecting this I walked up to the counter to pay for them and the guy who ran the place says, “So, you like T-jets. Anything else you’re looking for? I have a bunch of old ones; I bought a collection a while ago.”
My eyebrows raised. “Well, I would like to have one of those Mercedes 300SL roadsters in white,” I replied, just thinking of the first one that came to mind of those rare rare models that I’ve haven’t yet dug deep enough to acquire.
He disappeared into the back of the shop and returned with a box FULL of early Aurora Vibrators, most of which didn’t even look used! There were 6 of those 300SLs in that one box alone! I got the white one I wanted, and for good measure also picked another red one with the rare red hardtop, but perhaps the biggest score was a pristine ’59 T-Bird in bright yellow that doesn’t look like it’s ever set wheel to track! After seeing this, I said: ”So, what else do you have?”
He smiled and said, “I have another shop in the back. My wife is back there. Go back and see her.”
Leaving the 2 Auto World 500’s I’d selected at the counter, I walked out the front door and around the side of the shop to another small building behind it with an ad announcing it was a sign maker’s shop. I pushed open the badly cracked glass door and introduced myself to an older woman sitting at a counter. “I heard you have a collection of old slot cars back here,” I said. “Yes, we bought a collection; we haven’t gone through it all yet, but you’re welcome to look.”
She took me back behind the counter…and my jaw hit the floor!!!
I have never in my life seen a collection of Thunderjets like this, not even at a swap meet: stacked nearly 4 feet high along a 10 foot wall were stacks and stacks of plastic bins with drawers that slid out, as well as 4 beautiful acrylic cases each 3 feet high and 5 feet wide….and they were all filled with vintage Thunderjets…THOUSANDS of them!!!
As I marveled at what I was looking at, the couple told me the story: that this was the lifetime collection of a man who had devoted his life to slot cars, who has passed away roughly a decade ago and they were finally able to acquire his collection…and yes, everything was for sale!
I walked into that little shop thinking I’d be lucky to find one thing I wanted; when I left, I was nearly $700 poorer, but laden with a score I could never have dreamed of! Everything I have ever wanted was there, and if I went back with $7000 it wouldn’t be enough to get my pick of it all. Alas, I am not made of money…but I am going back!
I spent the next 2 days in a motel room at night after the work day was done, chomping at the bit to go home so I could try out all my new toys, and during this down time I began to hatch a new plan…
The result of finding this treasure trove is that I’ve started off in a new direction, opening a new chapter in my interest in slot cars.
This new direction is a diversion and it’s likely to be temporary. I am, at heart, a 1:64 guy, not a HO guy; I always will be, because I’ll always come back to my Matchbox collection. But the early HO scale T-Jets are now sparkling my eyes. I have a box full of original Aurora T-Jet chassis in various condition that I’ve been planning to sell, but when I came back from this trip I dug into that box and embarked on a project to go through every one of them with all the right tools and methods to see if I could get them running again.
It took 2 blissful nights of cleaning, swapping parts, oiling, and assembling, but I was finally able to get all but 2 of them going, and once I did that, I turned my attention to my box of “too small” T-jet bodies, the ones I’d removed from my Ultra-G racing fleets because they were too out of scale with the 1:64 diorama. And so, over the next few weeks, I’m going to be taking a little break from Drag City Raceway. I’m still going to make updates to the diorama and I’m still working on completing my new Trans Am fleet, but for a while I’m going to leave the raceway and head out on the “HO Highway” to another town down the road…where there’s a new track being built!
WOW, this is absolutely incredible. I’ve seen some cool mom and pop shops which tend to have more of the unusual fair than the standard stuff you find in the other stores. This place sounds amazing and I can’t believe you found all of this great stuff. So, you have found a new dimension to explore. That sounds awesome and I’m excited to hear about this other town and new track of which you speak!