Some recent pickups: firewood stand, monkeys, flamingoes, and camper parts!

Hey everybody, Uncle Atom here.  I won't bore ya with everything I've found recently, but here are a few highlights:

I've been looking for something to store firewood in, and I recently found this hoop setup with hairpin-style legs at a local thrift store.  Not bad for $10!

On a day trip yesterday to Charm City (Baltimore ya know), we found a few things, including these great plastic monkeys for just $5.  I didn't notice until I got them home that they're each different - see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil.  They're perfect for the tiki screened porch!

From the same vintage shop, I also scored my third brass metal framed/lightup/3D picture.  A deer in the woods to go with fat Elvis and the Last Supper.  So it's official, with three I've got a collection. How hooked am I?  I actually paid $27 for this!  I know. You don't need to say it.  Lunatic! Still, if I average the three together, I've only got about $40 tied up.  And they're so Kitschy!

I'm really curious to know what other pictures came in these brass lightup frames.  Could there be one out there with a bullfighter?  Jesus?  Or maybe Marilyn Monroe?  Who knows, but if Uncle Atom spots one, rest assured you will read about it here.

UPDATE - ADDING  THE FORGOTTEN FLAMINGOES:
Across from where I got the monkeys and picture frame I found a local shop carrying new pairs of made in the USA flamingoes.  These guys will go along on camping adventures.

Here's one thing in Baltimore that I came very close to buying - an awesome Delmonico console stereo/record player/television set.  The store owner wanted $100.  We got both AM and FM stereo to play and they sounded pretty good after the tubes warmed up.  But the record player looked like it was missing parts, and it would not even spin.  I did not want to try the TV.  I'm not a fan of black laquer wood,and I'm not interested in fooling with vacuum tubes and electronics - I've got enough projects and I know my limits.  I want one of these that works!  But despite the things I didn't like, this was tempting because it looks so darn awesome.  I mean, I could just sit and look at this and keep smiling.

My big find this week was this mint/aqua stove/oven, exhaust hood, and sink taken from an old truck camper.  I found a 1964 date code under the sink, and the Shasta was built in 1962.  The colors really are nearly perfect for the Shasta!  I spent a good part of today installing the stove and hood.  It's so great to replace the ugly brown stove and hood, and the plain white sink.

  

Luckily the dimensions were very close to the original pieces. I did have to get out my tin snips and cut off about an inch or the back of the exhaust hood I have the countertop pulled and the old white sink out.  As soon as I can get some replacement formica I'll finish installing the sink.

So that's about it for now.  Did anyone else find some great stuff?

A few recent pickups

Here's the latest stuff that's followed the Uncle home:

Thrift store paint-by-numbers, these are big, about 18 x 24 inches. Both from the same thrift store about 2 months apart.  I think I paid 3.99 each.  One more and I'll have a collection!  I snuck these into the house and have them stashed in the man cave because I know my limits - I'll probably never be allowed to hang them on the wall in any of the living areas. That's OK.  Some day when I build my garage, I'll have a top notch gallery.

Big orange ash tray - cool styling. I'll never let anyone use it for it's original purpose, but I do like the occasional ashtray just to look at.

Grabbed this Penn State Nittany Lion mascot statuette at 75 % off the starting price.  It reminds me of my hometown and alma mater - now if it was about 6 feet long, it would look great in a corner of our back yard.

These next few items are accessories for the Shasta camper:

Small aluminum pot that's also an egg poacher - $2.99

Kitchen drawer organizer - 50 cents

Water jug - picked it up for a good deal on etsy.com the other day.  Goes pretty well with the old coolers, don't you think?

Added more vintage water slide decals to the 1962 Shasta - UPDATED

Added more vintage water slide decals to the 1962 Shasta
Originally uploaded by Uncle Atom
Not much new happening here. I'm still clearing brush and dead trees in the back yard. Here's a photo showing some more progress on the decals I'm gradually adding to our camper's windows.

I bought a big lot of vintage water slide decals on that auction site. Some decals didn't transfer very well, but I like the imperfect aged look anyway. I keep a tarp on the camper in winter - the yellow rope you see in the lower corner is attached to the tarp. I'm glad I didn't remove the tarp yet, we actually had a dusting of wet snow overnight.

Here are some closeups, sorry the focus was off on the first couple.  I had the flash off, but the glare and reflection were a problem.  (You can see the photographer's reflection behind the decal.)

The Texas decal seemed to go on OK, but after it dried the longhorn graphic looks like it got blasted by a rifle.

Overall, I'm really loving the way these give the camper a vintage look, just what I wanted.  They look like they've been on there forever.  Now my problem is where to stop, I still have more decals and more windows.  I'm saving a few good ones to put on the Comet station wagon, but I want to wait to do that when the car is back together.  I'm hoping that will be sometime this year.

Hershey Pa. antique car road trip

Apologies for the long drought between posts again.  Work has had me on the road a lot this year.  So what do I do when I get a day off work?  Hit the road!

A friend and I spent the day Friday at the annual Antique Automobile Club of America annual fall meet and flea market at Hershey Park.  The weather was beautiful, and there were acres and acres of parts, automobilia, old bicycles, scooters, motorcycles, minibikes, and plenty of miscellaneous too.

You can find a lot of stuff that's not car parts, and if you like to people watch or want to get ideas for dialog for your next feature film or novel, go there!

Here are a few shots I took.

Mercury made this unusual "glass-topped" Sun Valley model in 1954 and 1955.

You see people carrying the wildest things.

All kinds of wheeled vehicles show up for sale, including this fire truck.

My big expenditure was a trickle battery charger to use on two of my old cars to keep the batteries from dying from lack of use.  There's some twisted logic in spending $100 to keep car batteries from going south before their time, but I get tired of having batteries die on me.  With this thing, I can maintain a very low charge to the batteries between starts.

We looked at cars for sale in the "car corral" and there were some real beauties.  My favorites are the 1957 Ford Thunderbirds - the last of the two-seater variety, and only that year had tail fins. (I just realized I didn't shoot any 57s, but here's a nice 56 in the corral).

I have a couple shots of the headlights and taillights on an early 60s Chrysler Imperial, which was immaculate. I love the beautiful details on these old cars, and the Imperial was among the most outstanding for detail inside and out.

Notice how these Imperial headlamps are not molded into the front tend but appear to float?  Very cool and unusual.  Sorry I didn't get more photos, but the owner wasn't there and it was too early in the morning to get decent images.

My best find of the day?  Tough call.

This autographed Miss Teen Detroit photo is cool (check that dress!)

 From what I know, the winner of Miss Teen America in 1967 was given a new Mercury Cougar.

These Esso Tiger bumper stickers must date from either 1968 or 1972 as they look like they were distributed around the time of a presidential election.  I love old decals, and I'll probably use one of these on my 1967 Cougar.

Another Cougar item was this unused contest flier - pretty cool unusual item.

Somewhere around here I have one of the plastic give-away cars shown here.

My other great find was this 1964 Mercury towing specifications brochure - it will be helpful when I finally have my 64 Park Lane convertible back on the road, because I want to use that car to tow the Shasta camper.

Here's a selection of photos from the day:

I didn't find it among this collection of auto emblem...

but I did find the Mercury script I was missing for the hood of my 63 Comet wagon with another vendor.

Somebody had welded this Mustang fastback's doors and front end into a single piece and made a funny car out of it.  Very unusual, because funny cars used a lightweight fiberglass version of the body.

A Datsun 260-Z

A very cool van owned by one of the vendors

This old van was huge, driven from Quebec!

I love the old Caddy's with chrome Dagmar bumpers

And since it was Hershey, there was the Kissmobile

If you made it this far, the Uncle(?)  sends a kiss your way...

Stick Em Up! - - Vintage Waterslide Decals

When I got into old cars I found that if you're working on a project car but continue to drive it, you can divert attention from rusty or worn chrome bumpers by slapping on some vintage bumper stickers.  I have used presidential election bumper stickers from the 1968 and  1972 campaigns - they always attract attention and put a smile on peoples' faces.

So I already was interested in accessorizing my old cars.  Picking up my 1962 Shasta camper put me on a slippery slope for hunting vintage accessories that would work with the Shasta.  In one of my frequent keyword searches on the auction site, I came across vintage water slide decals and thought, that's what the camper windows need! 

The first sticker on the Shasta was a vintage Disneyland decal. (BTW, we're planning to add liners behind the camper curtains at some point, so for now, please forgive the fabric design showing through and overlapping on the curtains.) 

I've added Washington DC and Pennsylvania decals, and I plan to add some more as I find them, and I'm also planning to use some vintage water slide automotive decals on the windows of my 1963 Comet wagon.  You see these on old suitcases a lot too.

I try to limit how much I'll spend, because some sellers want a lot for old stickers, and I found with the Pa. and Wash. DC decals that age can make them difficult to apply to a vertical glass surface.  Both decals are either missing a small piece or have a wave in them, but who needs perfection?  We're going for fake patina here.

Here are some decals I'll probably use on the Comet:

Our 1962 Shasta Airflyte camper

I've had this camper for about 3 years -- I got interested in old trailers as a natural accessory to old cars.  Eventually when I have the 1964 Park Lane convertible done I plan to use it to tow the Shasta.  I'm still not done with the camper, but after replacing some water damage to the birch wood paneling I finally got the camper back together and gave it some new paint. (To replace paneling correctly the whole outer aluminum skin has to come off - it's a lot of work!).

Here's how it looks now, it still needs plumbing repair, countertop and table need new formica, and I have to decide if I'll keep any propane connections.  I'm thinking of installing a window air conditioner that I can slide out when using the camper and store in the spot where the stove once was.  So far, we have tested the new mattress cushions with an overnighter here in our driveway. I still have to get some wiring connections sorted out before I try towing it with our pickup truck.  We plan to try it out on a real camping trip next year.