Well, another day, another snowstorm! It may be spring on the calendar but its still winter here in the Rockies, and you know it must be winter when I’m in my basement going through my boxes of junk that go back to the beginning of my life. As I have oft said, that’s how this whole slot car obsession started back in January of 2020: trapped at home on a cold winter’s day looking for something to do! Recent forays into the depths of the basement recently produced the few remaining Mattel Speed Machines that I did a post about just a few days ago, and along with those I found a few other nuggets of Zamac from my die-cast past!
The Antique Pepsi Crate
I can just barely remember my mom coming home from a shopping trip-to either a garage sale or a local antique store, I can’t remember which-with this ancient wooden Pepsi crate that she picked up somewhere, and she said “I thought you could hang this on the wall and put your cars in it.” I must have been around 8 or 9 years old at that time which means I already had way more cars than would have fit in this crate, but I remember this thing hung on the wall of my bedroom for some years. Since I always preferred my 48-car Matchbox egg crates for my “nice cars,” the Pepsi crate became the respository for the “outdoor cars.” Finding it today, you can see it still is; at some point in my later years I went on a tear trying to repaint all the wrecked die-casts to make them look “nice” again, which I guess I was dumb enough (at age 12, maybe?) to think that a few jars of Testor’s enamel and a brush would do.
There are several cars in this junk lot I wish I had back in mint condition; those Yatming 1966 American muscle cars are here (a pair of ’66 Ford Galaxies, I didn’t remember having 2 of them) and a rare Siku Ferrari 275GTB are mixed with some Playarts, other Yatmings, and a more than a few messed up Matchboxes of various vintages. As for the “pocket parking” plastic sleeve thing…I honestly can’t remember where that even came from, but its filled with more of the same. Some of these cars date back my early years playing in the park in Temple City at the 1200 square foot house my mom and dad bought in 1977. There’s a part of me that never left that house…even though a quick online check today reveals that, were it go up for sale now, that tiny place would sell for over $700,000!
One car in this junk box that stands out to me is this Matchbox #45 Ford Group 6, one of my oldest cars that I’ve had since I was probably 7 or 8 years old. I absolutely brutalized this poor thing for years, subjecting it to countless rock slides, mud slides, and sandbox sinkholes, not to mention repainting it twice (first light purple, then light blue) and then messing it up again. That it still rolls quite freely on its Superfast wheels after all that abuse is a testament to the quality of the Lesney brand back in their heyday. This has always been one of my favorite Matchbox models – I have many copies in many variations – but this beat up garden variety version has the most memories attached to it of all the ones I own.
1:64 Banger Racers
Here’s an experiment that I think dates from my early teens: trying to mock up a bunch of junk cars as “banger racers” with all the crazy paint jobs we’re used to seeing at such parades of destruction. Actually, I think they came out rather well; its somewhat amusing to me that today, Johnny Lightning has a whole line of “Demolition Derby” cars you can buy new in the package. Why? Just get some old cars out of the junk box or pick up some beaters at a yard sale, then grab your paint brushes and make your own!
Some of these cars were junk when I got them but some got to be that way from my own hand years before, which is why several of these are on my “Get-Backs” list to reacquire…IF I can ever find them! There’s an old Lesney #42 Studebaker Lark wagon in this group and a Hot Wheels Peugeot 505 that’s so beat up its amazing it still rolls…but it does! Its interesting that there are several Majorettes in this lot. I had a few Majorettes in my day, but it seems that most of them didn’t fare too well in my childhood years.
Well luckily for me, the world wide web and “adult money” should get me back some of the toys I should have treated better back in the day, so who says you can’t go home again?
Lest I forget to say it later, a “Hoppy” Easter to my fellow race fans, toy collectors and general gear-heads! Hope you enjoy this day with loved ones doing whatever makes you happiest! Next up: continuing the die-cast theme, I have just taken delivery of another pair of GHOSTS from the past! Stay tuned, dear readers! The fun never stops at DRAG CITY!
What a great post and thanks for sharing all of this. I had that Ford group 6 in burgundy too, it was one of my uncles old toys that I commended. I remember the axes were so bent that it no longer rolled. The little home made derby cars are cool and I love the old crate. Such cool stuff and really makes me wish I had more of my original collection and wonder what happened to them. Like you, I played with mine everywhere and continuously!