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Coffee with the Crew
Topic Started: Feb 10 2008, 11:42 AM (855 Views)
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A very welcome opportunity presented itself to me yesterday. I've been feeling extremely stressed out these days, and wound up with the perfect remedy falling square in my lap.

Some of the boys wanted to get together for a cup of coffee, and you know what that means! ;)

So yesterday morning I headed up to meet with Dadvball and ECchopper (Dave Antonelli had some lame excuse about a wedding anniversary or something :angry: ;) ) I stopped at a TRU along the way, of course, where I started my day by scoring two Head to Head Ford sets at $2 each. I also made a quick stop at a WM next to the Target where we were all supposed to meet at, but found nothing of interest there (at least not at 10AM, that is). Met up with Bill at the Target next door and we went inside with his son Brandon. This is the Target that former HT sponsor "Toy Pallet" Ben works at, and we'd hoped to say hi to him and see what goodies he had in the back, but alas it was his day off :( We were sooned joined in-store by Rob, and then headed off to Danielson for a tet-a-tet with the rest of the Peeps.

We met up with Mark and Dave (Dads Coronet and AquaXK8, who was temporarily renamed Forest Green Grand Cherokee for the day), at the Toy Loft run by our Johnny Jam friend Jack. Bill hasn't been out with us very much the past year or so, and had never actually been to Jack's shop, which was well stocked with some of the very latest series of JLs (we had just missed the deadline for Jack's being able to order a couple of inners for us to bust open).

We had a ball yet again at Jack's shop, though after two years of visits, his older hobby stuff is pretty much picked through by us. Still, there were some very cool Johnny's to be found, and Jack always charges us less than Wally's or TRU does. Mark actually was able to add three new cars to his R,W & B collection (which now includes a R,W & B Beanie Baby mascot as well!). Myself, I picked up an older yellow 2002 Monte Carlo from Classic Gold ($2) and a Calendar Cars black Buick T Type. Also picked up a little sumpin' sumpin' for my pal Dave A. and found a very unusual Russian Skoda in the used car "dollar" bin!

After everyone bought a little something from Jack's, we retreated to a local coffee shop where the usual exchange of RAOKs took place. Mark had a big ol' box of cars for me, Dave/Aqua had a semi-detampo'd Dodge Monaco to add to my BWF collection, and Bill Hicks gave me a beautifully decalled MB Alfa Romeo, done up to look like a vintage club racer from days of yore. And Rob passed along a Jesse James Skunkworks BWF. Somewhere along the line I also acquired a beautiful BWF Dodge Ram West Coast Chopper/Muscle machines release.

Plans were discussesd for Nick's upcoming PA event, and we then busted open a future Johnny Jam event car to discuss possible plans for it's design. Alas, the snow began to fall heavily, and Dadvball needed to head back for a deadline, so the group broke up from there, but we weren't done shopping by any means. Dave and Mark stopped at a Wal Mart together on the way home to pick up some strippers (wait, that doesn't sound right, does it?!!!). Rob, Bill and I hit a WM in Putnam, then made tracks for the Apple Valley Hobby Shop, where we were treated to more new Johnny's, including the vaunted Lightning Rods series. We were shown a shopping cart full of JLs at 2/$5, but nothing struck our fancy there. Rob managed to swipe an old Revell Rat Rods BWF T Bucket from under my nose when I answered a phone call from Dave Antonelli, who was having the time of his life at Home Depot instead of playing with us!

We headed back to our cars at the Target so Bill could take his son to work, and Rob convinced me to go back into the WM I had seen nothing in earlier that morning. Lo and behold, I found something I had been looking for since Christmas; some of those BWF plastic transporters with the 24 cars inside, that I had been waiting to see go on clearence for less than their $19.88 selling price. I have two that I bought at thrift stores and use to store my now-loose non JL BWFs, and wanted to pick up one or two more. They had just two left, marked down to five bucks each!

While we were in the store, we got a call from Bill saying his son didn't have to be to work after all, and he could now rejoin us.We quickly regrouped and headed to the TRU I started my day at, and then hit the WM next door before finally heading off to grab a well-deserved pizza to finish off the day. Just as we were leaving the Pizza Shop to call it a day, we were treated to a real live episode of "COPS" (bad boyz, bad boyz; watcha gonna do, bad boyz!")

A very determined police officer entered the pizza shop and went right to the back near the men's room door. "He's not ordering one to go", I thought to myself, and when a scruffy looking character exited the men's room, we found out that the cop was there for a different sort of "take out". He was joined by a second officer as they headed towards us near the exit at the front of the store, and very nearly barreled into one Bill "oblivious to the commotion" Hicks, who was trying to dump his trash. The officers paused as they approached us, and the cop slapped handcuffs on the perp, saying - in a voice that sounded all the world like a game show announcer - "Yoooooouuu, are under arrest!". It sounded so funny I had to laugh :P The charge, we heard, was "larceny" and we each felt a tad guilty, knowing the "steals" we each had found ourselves that day :lol: They escorted their new friend outside to yet a third patrol car, and Bill, Rob and I decided that we each had just capped off all the fun we could handle, and parted ways.

It was great getting to go out with Bill once again, after a very long absence, and getting caught up with him again. And it's always fun seeing Mark and Rob again, as well as yet another reminder of Dave B's wonderfully dry sense of humor. Always a pleasure, gentlemen. Once again I am blessed to remember that I'm so close to so many great board members, and have so many cool places to hunt for diecast with these great guys.

Thanks to each of you for a badly needed day with my "boyz".
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roadwarrior
Station Wagon
Thanks for sharing Rich,sounds like a fun day of hunting with a great bunch of fellow collectors :thumbup:
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Deleted User
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In the light of day, I can now see that I need new glasses. That Russian Skoda I thought I bought is actaully a Maisto Ford Granada :wacko: :P
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jedimario
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RAWR
Great story, great scores!
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Swifty
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The Mustang II is a Mustang too!
Sounds like a fun time, and great scores! At first I thought your Skoda was a Matchbox, but a British Ford Granada isn't bad either. :thumbup:
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Dadvball
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Dadvball
It had been quite a while since I've been able to hang with the 'Crew', so I welcomed the opportunity yesterday. On top of that the home computer is down so there's little checking in on the various boards.
Anyway, it WAS a great time. As usual, these guys come loaded to the gills with goodies to pass around. I wish I could keep up with them. As we all know, there are some class acts out there that give the rest of us collectors a bad name. These guys are as far away from them as you could possibly get. I am very fortunate to have friends like these guys, just as I'm sure many of you guys and gals feel about your collecting buddies.
So, I just have to say thanks to you guys for dragging me out of the house and getting me back into the diecast spirit.
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DadsCoronet
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DadsCoronet
Always worth the 100+ mile round trip to see these guys. We always look forward to seeing each other. Wish it could happen more often.
Took some pics in Jack's store. I took home 13 JLs from his store! :D

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That's AQUA XK8 (David) browsing the pegs.

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jedimario
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RAWR
Looks like a great place :lol:
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be77bt
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be77bt
*In Memory Of*
:lol: Looks like that store knows how to put out the stock so you can buy them. :thumbup:
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roadwarrior
Station Wagon
I'd drive a hundred miles one way if there was a store like that to shop at :thumbup:
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Dragnet_Supporter
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SUV
That store has more johnnys than I see in a year around here...make that two!

Cool stuff, thanks for sharing, guys.
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DadsCoronet
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DadsCoronet
If you call Jack ahead of time, he'll order whatever new JLs that are available. He'll even order extra cases for you if you want to buy a whole case (which he'll give you a good deal on). He's expecting to get the Road Trip cars in (singles); I'm tempted to order a case....
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70XR7
Midsize
Hey!!! Surf Rods and old Speed Racer series!! On Cardboard!! Sweet!!!
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Deleted User
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70XR7
Feb 13 2008, 01:05 PM
Hey!!! Surf Rods and old Speed Racer series!! On Cardboard!! Sweet!!!

You need some, Mike? I can pick them up for you next time over.
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ZINGER FREAK
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Microcar
Hey Mark I see a couple of Postal trucks I've been looking for hang'n on the rack!!!
Unfortunatly I can't see myself driving 1,000 plus miles :D
But I know that you all had a good time :thumbup:
Jeff :wave: Ride On!!!
I guess I need to start a Southern Die Cast Club :lol:
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Dragnet_Supporter
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SUV
BTW, does anyone have any of those Road Champ police cars they could post pics of? I've never seen those, and was wondering what the quality is like up close.
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Supraman
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Swifty's @Work Alter Ego
Dragnet_Supporter
Feb 13 2008, 10:39 PM
BTW, does anyone have any of those Road Champ police cars they could post pics of? I've never seen those, and was wondering what the quality is like up close.

I'm not sure if you're a 1/64 scale only collector, but the Road Champs cars are 1/43. As such I don't have any to give a quality report, but they definitely won't fit with JLs. Matchbox, MotorMax, and Realtoy all have the current Crown Victoria Interceptor in their lineup. Unfortunately none of these are in realisitic liveries.

There's another company that does quality 1/64 rescue vehicles in real liveries:

http://www.speccast.com/ I can't find the police cars on their website, but they do manufacture them as seen here: http://www.policecarmodels.com/164cars.html

http://www.code3.net/ 1/64 emergency vehicles in real liveries.
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Deleted User
Deleted User

ZINGER FREAK
Feb 13 2008, 09:34 PM
Hey Mark I see a couple of Postal trucks I've been looking for hang'n on the rack!!!
Unfortunatly I can't see myself driving 1,000 plus miles :D
But I know that you all had a good time :thumbup:
Jeff :wave: Ride On!!!
I guess I need to start a Southern Die Cast Club :lol:

Jeff, if you're serious, I can pick up the ones you need my next trip through. I'll be sending a box out to you soon anyway, so I can just drop them in that box.

Robert, I can take pics of those Road Champ Police Cars as well. They've been there forever. Sean is right; they're 1/43
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Dragnet_Supporter
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SUV
Rich, couldn't tell from the pics about the scale. I'm not sure I would buy that scale, but what the heck, if you can take some close up pics, I wouldn't mind looking at them.
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Dragnet_Supporter
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SUV
Supraman
Feb 13 2008, 11:03 PM
Dragnet_Supporter
Feb 13 2008, 10:39 PM
BTW, does anyone have any of those Road Champ police cars they could post pics of?  I've never seen those, and was wondering what the quality is like up close.

I'm not sure if you're a 1/64 scale only collector, but the Road Champs cars are 1/43. As such I don't have any to give a quality report, but they definitely won't fit with JLs. Matchbox, MotorMax, and Realtoy all have the current Crown Victoria Interceptor in their lineup. Unfortunately none of these are in realisitic liveries.

There's another company that does quality 1/64 rescue vehicles in real liveries:

http://www.speccast.com/ I can't find the police cars on their website, but they do manufacture them as seen here: http://www.policecarmodels.com/164cars.html

http://www.code3.net/ 1/64 emergency vehicles in real liveries.

Thanks for the links :thumbup:
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