This isolation isn't all bad. It took a few days but it finally gave me a kick in the butt.
When I was a small boy, one thing I loved was when the local Shell bulk agent delivered heating fuel to our farm. I always stood outside with him as he patiently filled our oil tank in the basement through the pipe that came out the basement wall. I remember him talking to me as he faithfully listened with one ear to the vent pipe so he could hear when it was almost full. If he screwed up, it overflowed in our basement!
Anyway, I went to town with my dad one day and we stopped at the Shell, likely to pay our bill, I can't say for sure. The man there encouraged dad to fill out a draw ticket for the toy tanker they were giving away. I never thought much about it after that. I'm guessing it was likely a couple of weeks later, sitting at the supper table, the phone rang and after the call dad gave me the news that I won the tanker!
I must have put a hundred thousand miles on that thing out in the dirt on our farm! Over the years it got very worn out, even had a minor accident (I think it had just a tiny scrunch under a car tire, not awful but enough that it had to get some minor dent repair and of course I had to repaint it then. I was a kid, so originality meant nothing, I made up some stencils that said "GULP OIL" as a joke of course referring to Gulf Oil. Eventually I outgrew it and it sat in the attic but I would never give it away.
Likely close to 10 years ago I decided to look at them online and I almost fell over at what I saw. Not only could I buy reproduction decals to repaint it and make it original, but even rough ones were selling for $200-$400 US and I saw one mint original sell on ebay for over $1400 US!
Today I dug it out and did the metal work. The tandem undercarriage on the trailer had a bit of a twist and was also pushed up into the tank cavity a bit, presumably from all the years leaning on the tank while I drove it. The hubcaps are mostly shot so I'll have to find some sort of replacement but it's still all numbers match! Just needs a headlight, it's gone missing but they are just those snap in chrome plugs, I'll find one easily.
Next step, find some paint that matches the original yellow and red, then I can strip it bare and repaint it. I can't wait to have it done!
Any idea as to who made it? I loved the old metal toys. You could really develop a patina on them.
That truck is a pressed steel type, like a Marx or Tootsietoy. If it is of Canadian manufacture (quite possible) there was a company called L'il Beaver that made metal toy trucks.
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67 Chevelle Malibu Sport Coupe, Oshawa-built 250 PG never disturbed.
In garage, 296 cid inline six & TH350...
Cam, Toronto.
I don't judge a man by how far he's fallen, but by how far back he bounces - Patton
how will you ever get that thing safetied? Seems like it may be an expensive project! Only return will be personal satisfaction-certainly no money to be made LOL!!
Any idea as to who made it? I loved the old metal toys. You could really develop a patina on them.
That truck is a pressed steel type, like a Marx or Tootsietoy. If it is of Canadian manufacture (quite possible) there was a company called L'il Beaver that made metal toy trucks.
It's a Minnitoy, made by Otaco. Apparently they were made in Orilla, Ontario.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
how will you ever get that thing safetied? Seems like it may be an expensive project! Only return will be personal satisfaction-certainly no money to be made LOL!!
I know someone who will sign off on it, (under the table!)
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Any idea as to who made it? I loved the old metal toys. You could really develop a patina on them.
That truck is a pressed steel type, like a Marx or Tootsietoy. If it is of Canadian manufacture (quite possible) there was a company called L'il Beaver that made metal toy trucks.
This is the reproduction door decal. As far as I can find online, these are a perfect repro.
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
Bummer. I just checked my supplies. I thought I had a pack of wet sanding paper and I don't. Now I have to figure out how to get sandpaper tomorrow. Hopefully I can get some delivered.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Same old story, hidden body work! It has 2 different areas that have some filler. Do body shops still use "Green Stuff"? I think that's what it was called, it's like a glazing putty? I found some of that in a couple of spots. At least it's rust free, no surprises there! Tedious work, I can't believe guys do this for a living. I've always hated body work.
And now I was able to confirm what I remembered as far as paint colours but I wanted to make sure, it's likely about 50 years since it was painted. It's the same as the one I pictured farther up this thread, yellow with a red bottom. Being it's Canadian, I guess it has option D99! Interesting thing is, they also came in all yellow and this one was painted all yellow first, then the lower two tone red colour was sprayed over the yellow as seen in a couple of pictures.
Getting there with the paint stripping, it's tedious. I plan to do some of it with the sandblaster (very carefully, from a distance).
