Mr. Fix-It (A Master Toy Repairer)

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Mr. Ira Gladstone
(Montreal,Quebec,Canada)

Mr. Fix-It

(A Master toy Repairer)

       I live in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Whenever anyone needed a small appliance repaired, we'd go to Mr. Fix-It. My wife and I have a 30 year-old GE electric toaster that needed repairs years ago. So, naturally we went to Ira Gladstone (Mr. Fix-It) to repair it. Personally, I wanted a new toaster, but my wife insisted on keeping the old one - it worked better and made better toast. Naturally, I lost this argument, and 15 years later we still have te toaster. I still want a new toaster!

    Ira stopped fixing small appliances, because I assume it wasn't profitable enough, and the newer small appliances were getting "cheaper" and disposable, like most everything today! Ira decided to do repairs, and so his transition was my luck. He doesn't often repair toys, but I asked him and he said yes.

    Just to go back a bit, Ira's father was in the business of repairs, and Ira's son does some work as well, but Ira is the one that I've always seen. Anyway, I knew I'd get a great result form the toy that I gave him to repair. He's backlogged for months, so when he said he'd work on my toy in 2 months, I didn't blink an eye. Actually it took 2 1/2 months, but when you're dealing with a master craftsman, you don't argue, and besides, I had plenty of other toys to sell on E-Bay.

   I've been trying to get Ira to sit down for an interview, and he said to phone him next week.  So if he'll be available, I'll expand on this instalment.

   When I went to pick up the toy (a Hubley pile-driver), I had trouble remembering which bendable arm was created and installed. I had purchased this toy with only 1 bendable arm, and asked Ira to create a new one. About a month ago, when I visited him to see how the new piece was going, he was still looking for the right piece of metal to make the new part from. Anyway, when I walked into his store on Monday and saw the toy, I couldn't tell which part was the new one! The 2 bendable arms were so alike that I couldn't   tell the original from the replacement. 

    The old expression "you get what you pay for" certainly applies here. When I walked in to Ira's store, there was a huge chandelier  in a huge wooden crate that had arrived, I assume to be repaired or restored. Ira's always so busy, that I didn't want to ask about the chandelier. I thanked him , and will phone him next week to see if I can speak with him for 20 minutes to expand this story.

    So for today, here's a nice Hubley pile driver. 

   The truck  by itself measures 11 1/4" (L) x 4" (W) x 5" or 285mm x 102mm x 128mm

   When the pile driver on the truck is fully extended and erect, the height of the structure and truck measures 14 1/4" or 368mm.

The Toy Itself

     As you can see, this 1960's Hubley truck and pile driver has lots of nice detail. So below, have a look at see the great detail in this item. The toy is missing a pice of cord that allows the 2 rectangular weights to be elevated to the top. The original toy kit came with black wooden posts that could be "hammered into the ground). I'm sure, whomever buys this item on e-Bay will make his/her own posts.

     To answer the obvious question as to which part is the new one - it's the entire bendable arm on the right side of the truck.

So thanks as always for visiting, and reading my blog, 

even  when for the last month, I haven;t had any toys for sale.

I sold them all as the summer is slow, and the weak U.S. economy does not help. I haven;t bought any toys lately, and I'll see in the fall or winter if I'll start up again.

And as usual, have a grteat day, wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman