It's far too easy to forget about "Johnny." Good for you on taking time to check in on him.
Photography by J.A. Ackley
“Bring the trash bags,” I told my brother. “We’re on a mission.” We shuffled down the stairs, waded through a maze of boxes and started at the farthest end of the basement.
Would we find treasure? Would we find garbage?
Yes, we would.
Who knew they once put gravy into cans? Salvageable? Not even close. Apparently cans rust through after 30-plus years. And mice like gravy, too.
Hey, old baseball cards! The basement’s dampness–and some critters–didn’t treat them well. Some cards, though, of hall-of-famers such as Fred McGriff, Ken Griffey Jr. and Tony Gwynn made it through all the years unscathed somehow. My Mets heroes, such as Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling and Darryl Strawberry? Not so much. The mice loved them. So did I, so did I.
Box after box we cleared until we eventually saw a glimmer of metal reflecting in the dimly lit cellar.
What’s this? Could it be?
A late second-gen Pontiac Trans Am.
Nice!
A Series 1 Mazda RX-7.
Fantastic!
An Autobianchi A112.
How eclectic!
And a Porsche 956?!
Wow!
Now if only these cars were roughly 64 times bigger.
I had stumbled upon a box of my old die-cast cars from when I was just starting to learn my ABCs. Who cares if I knew all 26 letters? I could tell the difference between a C3 Corvette and a C2–and that’s all that mattered.
As I journeyed through this trip through time, I started to analyze Johnny–that 5-year-old me. The older I get, the more that little kid seems so far, far away. It’s not that I dislike Johnny–quite the contrary. It’s just that … It’s just that … Well … Life’s busy, you know?
I have no idea if Johnny selected these cars. Guessing from some of the copyright dates on them, I suspect my parents probably gifted some of them. I can only guess their reasons.
My father, the always practical one, owned a Pontiac 1000 when Johnny probably got these. Could it be that my dad bought that Trans Am because he’d rather have that than a modest 1000? I doubt that. I’m guessing all the construction vehicles, tractor-trailers and tow trucks may have been his idea.
My mother, the total opposite, dared to dream big. Want an example? She bought a 1974 Cadillac Eldorado new–there’s not much bigger than that. That Porsche 956 may have been her idea. She also loved odd, so that Autobianchi A112 fits, too.
[What was the car that sparked your interest in our hobby?]
Or, perhaps, Johnny, who’s been known to be quite persuasive (still is), convinced his parents to buy those cars while tagging along for a trip to the drug store, supermarket or the five-and-dime store. (Yes, I am unfortunately that old that I remember a Woolworth.)
Either way, the raddest car collection I discovered stood the test of time (and mice) and will now move into a display case in my office. They’ll serve as a good reminder to check in on Johnny once in a while. He’d like that. After all, he now gets to play with cars, full-size ones, on a regular basis. Maybe it’s time to get that Trans Am, too. Johnny already had two, for some reason. Perhaps he needs a 1:1-scale version.
It's far too easy to forget about "Johnny." Good for you on taking time to check in on him.
I spotted my die-cast collection in the attic last night when putting away holiday decorations. Maybe its time to take them out and take a trip back in time.
The other big thing for us while growing up: Tonkas.
We had a ton of them. Credit my ever-doting grandparents, the fact that my dad worked for a major toy distributor, and the fact we often hit garage sales/antique stores.
When my parents sold the house, though, the Tonkas had to go. Just too bulky to ship and save.
But my parents did box up my Hot Wheels. :)
In reply to David S. Wallens :
I am glad I kept my Hess truck collection. My uncle gave one to me every year for Christmas for about 14 years and I somehow kept them all. Some have had a rough life of being played with but as I got older a lot of them still have the boxes and all the parts. They do take up a ton of space though.
It's fun to keep a few cherished pieces around.
In reply to Chris Tropea :
Man, we had Hess trucks. I think those came from my grandma. We didn’t have all of them, but we had a few. (A few = two or three.)
My Hot Wheels story and, really, I should save this for a column. I should get all of the facts from my dad, too, as I was in like grade school at the time.
Well, here’s the TL;DR version.
My dad worked for a company that owned several toy store chains. He worked in the main office, which was paired with a distribution warehouse.
One day, I believe it was during the holidays, there was a gas leak–and the entire top floor of the building, including my dad’s office, was blown to smithereens!
My dad came home with a (large) box of Hot Wheels that had been “smoke damaged.” :)
David S. Wallens said:The other big thing for us while growing up: Tonkas.
One of my regrets is when I was a teenager I gave my Tonka trucks to my nephews, who promptly destroyed them.
Oh that stings. I’m guessing a lot of ours were from the ’60s as we got them from the pre-owned market.
Whatever you do, don't start "collecting." Walk away, quickly. Real cars are bad enough, but my old rationale of "I may not be able to afford the real thing, but for a buck I can take home this super cool diecast" has gotten me to the point that I have a collection that takes up as much space as a real car. And that space is super valuable space where a real car could actually sit: in the garage. Dumb. Now I'm at the point that I just want rid of them, and I'm not sure I've got the dedication to go through the process of selling them for what they're worth. But then again, I can't really afford not to, either.
So, sure, enjoy those small tokens of memories of Johnny, but do not indulge his inklings to add more.
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