Old Antique Toys: Special Installment-Mr. Bill Krejci "Toy Restorer"

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Special Installment

Mr. Bill Krejci

"Toy Restorer"

Part 1

I have the honour and privilege to introduce you to Mr. Bill Krejci. I'm sure, he'd prefer being called "Bill", and I'll use that name later on. If you've been following my toy blog, you will have read that right now I'm only selling, because the current US recession (which I don't think is over) has slowed down my sales. So rather than buying more toys with my sale money, I've decided to reduce my inventory. However, I digress.

I decided to call on fellow and lady e-Bayers for help. I'm running out of my own toy photos and topics since I've only been selling for about 10 months, and have limited my selections to just a handful of companies. These have been Hubley, Wyandotte, Tootsietoy, Arcade, A.C.Williams, Manoil, and a tinge of a few other manufacturers. I've learned a fair amount about these toys, since there are older books around that you can find about old toys. And, as I mentioned once before, the old books never go out-of-date because most of the toys I sell have long since been out-of-production.

My next instalment was to be about Smith-Miller toys. These are fine toys that are very collectible, and thanks to the latest owner, Mr. Fred Thompson and his son Tim, the company has been going strong. In my haste to ask e-Bayers if they would allow me to screen-capture their Smith-Miller toys, I e-mailed about 20 people very fast, and didn't realize that not all of my e-mails were being sent to Smith-Miller listings.

Bill Krejci calls himself a "Toy Restorer", however, I'd prefer to call him a "Master Toy Restorer Craftsman", as I called one of my previous "special guests". When I realized that Bill was a restorer rather than having listed Smith-Miller, I decided to ask him if he would be amenable to being a "special writer" for my blog. As seems to be him fine character, he said yes right away. I didn't realize how much material he'd be sending me, so I will be continuing this instalment (through Bill) later in the week. So without further writing by myself, I gladly present to you Bill Krejci.

"I forgot to tell you that my name is Bill Krejci. I am a retired welder, mechanic, metal artist. I was forced into early retirement by a motorcycle accident in '01.

Here are some more pictures. The first is a pair of '60's Tonka VW's. They went to a lady in Australia. Next, a late 60's Tonka Mini-Jeep customized with modern style wheels. Next is a 60's Tonka customized as the Love Bug which went to France. I made all the decals for this one too including the correct Herbie California licence plate. I plan on doing a limited run of 10 of those for Christmas ebay sales this year. Next after the Herbie bug pictures is a 60's Nylint Uhaul pickup and trailer. The tailgate on this trailer was missing so I fabricated one out of a Nylint horse trailer tailgate. The decals are from Rick's Toybox. The trailer has a custom spare tire carrier I built for it. Next, photos of my Tonka firetruck ladders. After that, a '65 Tonka Ford F100 pickup and Uhaul trailer. I think that is about the extent of my restorations to date. I have many, many more planned and in various stages of restoration currently in my shop. I hope you find these helpful!

Bill

E-Bay ID f100s

E-Bay ID f100s Copyright 2011 Bill Krejci

E-Bay ID f100s Copyright 2011 Bill Krejci

E-Bay ID f100s Copyright 2011 Bill Krejci

E-Bay ID f100s Copyright 2011 Bill Krejci

E-Bay ID f100s Copyright 2011 Bill Krejci

Stacey,

I forgot to add something on that last email. I made all the decals you see on the truck, including the front grille decal. The side decals took 3 or 4 days of solid work on my computer to replicate. Also, these were the first ladders I ever made and that's what started me in the business of making replacement ladders for the 50's Tonka firetrucks."

"I found a few more photos. The first is of a Buddy L Hiway Maintenance dump truck. Before and after photos of a "55 Tonka Gambles pickup, Before and after '54 Tonka fifth wheel truck. Blue 1939 Marx truck with car carrier. Last of all, 65 Nylint Ford Econoline pickup. I believe that is it! There are just a couple that I remember doing that I don't have pictures of. There you go!"

E-Bay ID f100s Copyright 2011 Bill Krejci

Buddy L Hiway Maintenance Truck

E-Bay ID f100s Copyright 2011 Bill Krejci
Buddy L Hiway Maintenance Truck

E-Bay ID f100s

'55 Tonka Gambles Pickup - Before

E-Bay ID f100s

'55 Tonka Gambles Pickup - After

E-Bay ID f100s

'54 Tonka Fifth-Wheel Truck - Before

E-Bay ID f100s

'54 Tonka Fifth-Wheel Truck - After

E-Bay ID f100s

'65 Nylint Ford Econoline

E-Bay ID f100s

'39 Marx Truck with Car Carrier

Friday, October 28, 2011

Part 2

I like to ask my guests for their bio so that a personal touch is added to the installment.

"I was born in the spring of 1959 in Great Falls Montana. I loved cars even as a small boy. The first vehicle I can remember riding in was my dad's mint green 1962 Ford F100. I remember him trading that in on a 1967 Ford F150 Ranger in the summer of 1969. It was a beautiful black pickup with a red interior. I can still remember the price on the windshield; $1,700 and the mileage was a little over 14,000. I have been drawn to Ford pickups ever since. Particularly the early F series trucks. They have been nicely replicated in Tonka and other pressed steel toy companies back when real toys were made from steel. In 1983, shortly after I was honorably discharged from the Navy, I took a job as a finish carpenter's apprentice on a large construction job in California. We were building a 26,000 square foot mansion in the El Granada hills. It was there I learned to apply the high-gloss wood finish on all the doors, trim and the main entrance. A metalsmith or should I say; metal artist who was employed there was in the process of building the 27 foot tall chandelier that spanned all three floors and needless to say, I often watched the progress with great interest. The big change came as the end of this job marked the beginning of a new life for me. I went to work for Oliver Hurtley. This was the same man who built that massive chandelier and he employed me as his apprentice. He was contracted to do ornamental ironwork on one of Neil Young's California homes. After a couple years, Oliver retired and turned the contract over to me to finish. I did ornamental iron and custom metal art for Neil Young for the next four years. I worked for a couple different welding/fabricating shops over the years and had my own welding shop for awhile before my near fatal accident in 2001 that left me paralyzed from the waist down. I have been in a wheelchair for over ten years now and that is largly why I gravitated to antique toy restoration. Their smaller scale is much easier for me to handle from a chair. I am currently living in North Idaho with my wife of 27 years and our 2 dogs; a yellow lab named Buddy and a Syberian Husky/Heeler cross named Foxie. We raised 2 sons; Will-25 and James-21. James was just married this summer."

"Ok, here is a neat firetruck I restored for a friend of ours in appreciation for some work he did on our house while I was in the hospital recouperating from a near fatal motorcycle crash in '01. This firetruck was given to him as a small boy in the early 40's as a gift from his grandfather."

I've restored a few toys, but when I look at Bill's work, my saying that I've restored a few toys is like saying that I can swim (compared to Mark Spitz - a 6 time Gold Metal Winner in the Olympics)

Bill is truly an "artisan".

When I received these photos in an e-mail I said to Bill that "You certainly know how "to work wonders".

"Now I can understand why people who buy those "normal and "real" cars pay 6-digit figures for their fully-restored cars." This reminds me of the old Julio & Gallo slogan "we won't release our wine before its' age" or something to that effect. Looking at this work, I felt that Bill will take as much time as he needs before he says that the work is finished!

For more interesting information About Bill, the toys, and his work

please go to:

http://reviews.ebay.com/Identifying-Pre-70-apos-s-Tonka-Jeeps?ugid=10000000005294368

(The above address is a great review and article about Pre-1970's Tonka Jeeps)

http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBaylSAPl.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=f100s

(The above address is Bill's Home Page)

I want to thank Bill for writing this blog installment (instalment for Canadian readers) and for all of the effort that he put into helping me with my Blog. Putting the quotes and photos together, certainly gave me an appreciation as to what the word "restoration" truly means. Thanks Bill for your help.

Stacey Bindman

2 comments:

Stuart Judd said...: Excellent!! I remember as a child an aunt in Canada sent me a Buddy L earth mover, these were quite uncommon in England then (many years ago!!).
I wish I still had it.
Those fire ladders are a work of art.
Stuart; October 27, 2011 at 2:07 PM
Stu Midler said...: Another Stuart?! I've known Bill Krejci for a while now, and I have to say his personality matches his work...always top quality, honest, and highly polished! What a talent; And he's a great person.; November 2, 2011 at 8:58 AM

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Special Installment-Mr. Bill Krejci "Toy Restorer"

2 comments: