Remember when?

[oldcars]

Remember when, you were a kid and your parents took you to your 1st hobby shop and you couldn't believe all these car kits that you never knew exsisted. I bought all my models before that day at SS Kresge in suburban Chicago back 1961. Darn I'm old. LOL

Al

My mother worked at the last Kresge in the country until it closed(Kansas City, Mo.). Used to buy all my models back in the 60's there and at Katz Drugstores. I wonder how many of the younger(under 60) ones know that the "K" in K-Mart is the the "K" from Kresges. Just a little trivia. Thanks for the memories Porscheman. Richard

[Tom Geiger]

I had an unusual upbringing. My father was a US Army officer, often attached to NATO, so I grew up around the world. We were in Izmir, Turkey from 1966-68 and the only model I remember from that era was a Studebaker Avanti kit that my dad had bought before we moved from the USA since he really liked the car. It never got built, but we used it as a template to build a Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby car as an Avanti. I still have the 2nd place trophy, but not the car. Turkey was like midevil times back then so there was nothing to buy locally. My grandparents would mail me Matchbox cars.

We moved back to the states for 1968-9 and my mother, sister and I lived in Jersey City, NJ near my grandparents because my father went to Korea. My grandfather would pick me up every Friday after dinner and I'd go stay at my grandparents house to watch color TV with them. We'd watch the Friday evening line up and then I'd get to watch my morning cartoons. Then my grandfather and I'd go out for the afternoon. We'd walk up the boulevard to the Two Guys department store, which had a pretty good hobby department. There we'd have a hot dog for lunch, then I'd get to pick out something for me and something to bring home to my sister. I could get a model kit, or two Hot Wheels cars. The model I remember most was the '69 Chevy Impala kit, which I loved because there was a Chevy dealer near my house.

In 1969 we moved to Pirmasens, Germany where we stayed through 1973. In the time we were there the conversion rate between the US dollar and the German Mark took an unfavorable turn, from 4 marks to a dollar to less than 2. Our money was suddenly worth less than half on the local market! We relied on the US Army Post Exchange for most of our purchases. They never had model kits and the few times they did in our stay, they were military models or off brand like Lindberg or Aurora. We'd also get the Airfix 1/32 scale car kits so I became quite fond of those and a few survive in my collection today. There was one hobby shop in town, but with the exchange rate the Revell of Germany kits they had were the equivalent of $10 when US kits were selling for $2. So I only bought them on rare occasion. I remember buying the Herbie Love Bug kit and the Porsche 911.

The PX book store did get Model Car Science Magazine so I'd make sure I got every copy. That introduced me to the big AutoWorld catalog that became my lifeline to the USA and my hobby. Every time I scraped together $6-10 I'd place an order for a kit or two, some brush paints (you couldn't ship spray cans internationally) and often a decal sheet or other goodies. I bought the AutoWorld hot knife and the license plate set. It took something like three months to get the order through the US APO mail system. So I'd often have several orders in transit and on my way home from school I'd stop in my dad's office to see if anything came in the mail that day. The soldiers there got so used to me buzzing the door and seeing me in the camera, they'd not open the door, just say over the intercom "No Thomas, you didn't get a package today." On the days they did have a package for me, the young GIs were as interested as I was in seeing what I got. Those were the good days.

In 1973 we relocated back stateside. My father got assigned to Fort Monmouth in NJ where he finished out his career. This was the first time we ever owned a house. I was in my freshman year of high school and just revelled in going to all kinds of stores and seeing models for sale everywhere. I remember that the first model I bought was the Revell Porsche 914 for $2, probably because I had only seen it before in Germany for $10. I also remember buying Skippers Critter Anglia and a bunch of other kits throughout high school. Both the Anglia and 914 still exist in my collection. The funny thing was that I didn't have any friends back in the US that built models so I lost interest as my stamp collection grew and I found girls and real cars.

As a young adult I still would cruise the model aisle in stores and would buy an occasional kit. When I bought my 1:1 '56 Chevy I grabbed up the Revell version and a '51 Chevy kit for the six. I still have both of those too. Over the years I did amass a few movers boxes full of kits I intended to build someday. I bought a bunch of Mopar muscle cars and tucked them away until the day I would be a good enough builder to do them justice.

Once married and with children, I found Scale Auto magazine in a bookstore in Boston. I immediately subscribed and replied to a classified ad for the Tri-State Scale Model Car Club. That turned out to be my fatal mistake! It got me hooked for life and I've been in the club 24 years!

Now the ironic part. My goal of joining the club was to gain the skills to build those Mopar kits I had stashed. I've long since gained the skills to do them justice, but I've never touched one of them!