Old Antique Toys: Bill Krejci

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 And, as I mentioned once before, the old books never go out-of-date because most of the toys I sell have long since been out-of-production.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!"