Part 2 - Another Great Treasure Find - Both Man and Toys

Sunday, January 15, 2011

Part 2

Another Great Treasure Find

(Both Man and Toys)

     Yesterday, I introduced you to Mr. Don Kubik. Today, I wanted to continue, as both Don and his toy marvel restorations were both very interesting.

Don's  Interesting "Business Card"

1. What is the difference between “restoration” and re-painting?

   The biggest difference is the quality and the amount of work that goes into the toy.  Re-painting might simply mean spray-painting over the existing toy, or even using small brushes. A “restoration: means that there is a high quality to the work. First of all, the paint is removed to expose the bare metal. Then small dents or deep scratches are filled in, sanded, and then painted. At the end of the process, decals are then added to do the final restoration.  When sold, I described them as restored. I also use high-quality automotive paints, which have improved greatly over the years.

                    2. How long does it take you to restore a toy?

It varies with the toy.  As an example, I’ve sold a lot of a particular truck such as a Coca-Cola truck. At other times, I customized a “Pepsi” truck.

                 3. How much research is needed to restore a toy?

I personally like the 1:16 scale for presses steel toys. Restoring toys is a step-by-step process. I’ll check to see if the toy needs any restoration, or if I can “customize it”.

(Don explained to me that his “customized” toys are made from different toy parts and manufacturer. I f you look at the image below, you’ll see the high quality of his work.

Tonka also did private labels for their client before leaving  

Minnesota.

Don certainly knows his toys. He mentioned the name Winross, and I had to check up on it. Winross manufactures toy trucks and haulers for company promotions. They also made “retro” models such as 1950’s style trucks. Naturally, “Tonka” collector “purists” might question where the Winross toys fit in regarding toy collecting. Some of the toys in a batch run might be emblem-free, others would have the specific company logo on the truck and cab. And some toys might be sold to workers at the plant. Because toy factories needed to run continuously to make their specific toys, toy companies would contract out to smaller toy companies to make Christmas gifts for their employees. Tonka,Buddy L, NYLint would all use smaller companies to produce a specific toy for their employees for Christmas.

4.  What toy was the hardest to sell?

I personally like the Yellow wrecker truck (please see below).  It came from an industrial arts shop, and 5 of them were made.  I purchased 1 and sold it. 3 years later, I came across another of the 5, and purchased it.

5.  Do you make your own parts?

No. 

What I’ll do when I’m “customizing” a toy is to salvage different parts from different manufacturers.  I’ll go to flea markets or shows, and look for toys that are missing parts. I’ll buy them and use the remaining parts to restore my custom toys. I’ve altered parts of 1 toy to fit my other custom-built ones.

I’ve also purchased parts from toy parts seller and manufacturers. However, nowadays, toy parts have become very expensive, much more than back then.

Also, the cost of chrome re-plating has soared to 3x what it used to be.

     6. Do you still discover new things today, after having been in    this business for almost 20 years?

There is a Sparkeeta toy that I thought was a Smith-Miller Ford Truck. However, it had different-sized windows and wheel-openings. There are 2 different-sized cabs that were made by Smith-Miller that I had purchased for the Sparkeeta trucks. BY the way, Sparkeeta was a soft drink soda bottler.

Can Anyone Help?

    I got an interesting e-mail from Don yesterday, after he proofread what I had placed on Blogger and OK'd it . He had an interesting item that was a gift to him from a client and friend.

Someone who had worked at GM  in GM's fabulous design shop had given Don's friend the beautiful toy below. Don then received it from that person who was also a client and friend of Don's. DOn received this nice toy 25 years ago!

   He asked me to add it to today's blog with the intent that perhaps one of my readers might recognize this item and provide information on it. It's certainly  beautiful, and I would hope that someone out there might be able to provide an answer to this interesting item.

    

                                         You can contact Don at his e-mail address below:

                             atoyluv@yahoo.com

Thanks for dropping by, and usual,

Have a good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, whereever you may be.