Art & Inspiration hobby shops, models, and juvenile car enthusiasm

When I was 11 years old, my folks moved to a new neighborhood, and I made friends with a kid a little older than me. He had a collection of hot rod models built from balsa kits, and a gas engined tether car or two. Through him, I learned of a hobby shop a couple of miles away.

I became a regular at that shop, buying and building balsa models first, then plastic models (most of which I customized), and still later slot cars. The son of the proprietor was, again, a little older than me, and kind of an instigator among the neighborhood kids. By the time I could drive and join a car club (with the hobby shop kid as president), I was already deeply into hot rod & custom lore, magazines, drag races, car shows, the whole enchilada.

I suppose that I would probably have ended up as a car junkie without the influence of that shop, its proprietor and customers, but it was certainly the incubator in which my passion developed.

It was a few more years before I studied transportation design at Art Center, and still more before I went to work in the toy industry. In both art school and the design business, I met more enthusiasts with similar inclinations, and that enthusiasm snowballed. I arrived at Mattel Toys when Hot Wheels were in their introductory year, and had the good fortune to work on them (a little) and Monogram models, too, which Mattel acquired during my time there. I ended up working in the toy industry for 35 years, most of that time involved with developing toy and model cars.

It's clear to me, both from my own evolution and from a professional perspective, that model kits and collectible toys drew several generations of boys into the automotive hobby, and that the designs of those kits and toys shaped the tastes and preferences of the kids in the process. Since the mid-'50s, there has been a synergy between the real worlds of auto racing, hot rodding and customizing, and the make-believe world of toy and hobby products. Certainly, many of us learned about Ed Roth, the Snake and Mongoose, and a multitude of racers and builders because their work was available in miniature.

Regrettably, it's also clear that much of this is in decline. The model kit business has not dried up altogether, but it's a pale shadow of what it was fifty years ago. Collectible toys like Hot Wheels still offer some replicas of real vehicles, but mostly they have become fantasy vehicles directed at kids who are little more than preschoolers. Perhaps the successor to the automotive segment of the leisure industry is the video game biz, and pre-teen boys are still under the spell of fantasy products like Gran Turismo and other games of its ilk.

Sad, to me, that the hobby shop has gone the way of the high school auto shop and the neighborhood drive-in restaurant. How the heck are future generations gonna learn what we're all about?

 

That's why, when someone (especially a kid) asks us a question about our cars or makes a comment, stupid or not, we MUST educate. All the stories about being pissed or thinking someone doesn't know shit about cars, because they ask a question, is bullshit. If this type of behavior continues, we'll all have our cars parked in our own personal museums. Then we'll have to charge admission, but who would pay? After all, they were called stupid when they didn't know what year it was.

 

The prices have gone nuts. the old kits where 2.50 in the 70s are 15-30$ and the paints were 10-15 cents and good old glues.gees we would sit all night building- painting and customizing .no video games then.learned alot about cars.great topic.

 

50 Fraud - That sounds just like me except the hobby shop owners kid was my age. Turned into my best friend. Still see him. At least reconnected recently.

In there garage they had a 1936 (I think) Buick Roadster and a 1939 Willys Coupe. Both had been off the road since 1954 (this was 1962). The roadster has been restored, someone else owns and restored it. My friend said the same guy still has both cars but nothing has been done to the Willys.

I couldn't wait for the new kits to come out. I always preferred the hot rods but built some customs too. Used to enter the model contests at car shows for the sometime free/reduced admission. Even won a couple of trophies.

Fred - I have a T (I know you do). I always talk nice no matter how silly the question. I get asked what year a lot. I tell then fiberglass replica of a 1923 T. I add that it is not exactly stock. Lifted many a small kid into the T so they could sit in it too. You never know!!

Bill

 

Yep ,Modern technology sucks ,The new generation is a computer generation .My dads generation was educated by books on building things .We were raised partying our asses off .Im 41.Its a shame it costs about 40.00 to 50.00 to build models ,Ive got a few and I would like to build them .My car comes first .And by the way I hate video games ,That was another past time I did share Smokin fat ones and playing videos what a waste of time .Younger youth .

 

I have notice this in the past year, I'm 40 and back in the late 70 thru the 80's I was building model kits 1 or 2 a week, and then my adult life took over, Bars girls cruising, and now the kids are in ther teens and I have more time to just sit and enjoy life I have notice all the thing that I enjoyed as a kid are going bye bye, use to go to K-mart and see Model kits, now you see maybe 5 or so, I went to hobby lobby the other day to get glue for my son to put a air plane together and saw a gasser 55 chevy and bought it, but man the price was $20 Far cry from the $4.99 when I was a kid. Board game's are next to get the axe. But I think as my gen starts to slow down and sit back, I think it will pick up again. Maybe. But at $20 a pop I can't buy 1 or 2 a week.

 

Funny you posted this while I was wrighting my post, Our Gen must have been really into partying.

 

Tony, I long for the days of the hobby shop. We had Anderson's Sporting Goods in West Arcadia (CA), Macabob Toys in Pasadena, etc. etc.
The box art was not only beautiful, but it was what grabbed you and got you to buy that kit. The airplanes, ships, Army tanks and of course, the cars...wonderful times, for sure. In the past ten years I've bought almost every kit that I had as a kid. I was a terrible model builder, but a terrific dreamer...that box art was just gorgeous...still is

 

I almost forgot Shugert's...1957

 

This story is sad but true. There's an 8 year old that lives half a block from my shop and walks by often on his way to friends houses, rides his bike past frequently and comes in many times if the front doors are open. He wants to help me or ride in the cars or paint a car. I've let him do some harmless sanding and answer all his questions. He wanted to ride in the 52 sunliner so I told him he could when I was finished with it. I finished the paint work and it was going back to the owner less top, interior, and all trim. Last spring I rolled it out early one morning planning to drive by the school bus stop ( 1/2 block from my shop ) pick him up and maybe drive 3 blocks and back to the bus stop hoping that some of his buds might even see him in the car. When I stopped and asked him if he was ready to go he said he couldn't because I might steal him. I'm afraid to even take pictures of him with the cars and I keep the front doors open wide when he visits.

 

I grew up in a suburb of Detroit, building model cars. Got into it in a big way, eventually even spent a couple of years traveling around the mid-west with a company called Promotions Inc that put produced the Autorama and World of Wheels shows. My job was to set up and run the MPC model cars contests at the car shows. Model cars were definitely my entry into the car hobby, and I still collect Hot Wheels, and occasionally build a model once in a while. It’s a lot cheaper way to express my creative ideas than building a 1/1 scale car.
I have some very good friends who are widely regarded as master model car builders who wound up in executive positions in the real car companies. They would tell you that it was their love for model cars that led to their very exciting and lucrative careers.
I sometimes wonder these days if there is a political effort to discourage toy companies from developing toys that encourage kids to get interested in cars. There are people in powerful positions in this country, and indeed all over the world that would love nothing more than to see personal vehicles outlawed completely. My starting with the children, and taking away anything that stimulates their creativity with regard to cars, they develop a generation of people that have no interest in cars whatsoever. 50Fraud, you being an insider in the tow business, do you think this could be true?
I also agree with Fred. We must all exercise our patience and never miss an opportunity to educate a youngster about our hobby. If we don’t, we will be the last ones to know how much fun it is.

 

Try this website for model kits.
http://www.jimnohio.com/
I just sold several "HAMB friendly" kits to Jim, the owner. His prices and shipping costs appear to be very reasonable.

Rick

 

Maybe I getting old but you know what I miss now that you said the word AutoRama, do you remember when you use to see all the venders with car patches and belt buckels and hat pins and custom Hand painter plates, and the trailer with all the rat Fink type car t-shirts. Man I never see that stuff anymore. Use to always come out of the Cleveland Autorama with 2 or 3 model kits.

 

Kids today don't know what to do when the power go out, I know this as we lost power one night not to long ago and My kids were board, I broke out the board game's and said lets play by candle light.

 

My first "job" was at our local bike shop / hobby shop. I used to go down there and see all the new models,and maybe save up to buy one--I was like 8-9 years old! The store owner had small model contests every now and then--and I always won something.He offered me a "job"--new model came out-he'd give me one,and tell me to build it just like the box art--give me paint and glue ,too. I'd work all weekend and give it back on Monday or Tuesday,so he could put it the window.After a week or so,he'd give it back to me--so I got to build models for free! Don't build as much now--too busy doing 1:1 cars now, but still collect some now and then.

 

My grand mother, and then my mom after her owned a small town 5 and dime that sold fabric by the yard, buttons, pots and pans, flower seeds, greeting cards... mostly stuff for the wives of the farmers in our small community, and the city library...all 4 shelves of it. But she also had a comic book rack and candy counter... 7th heven for a kid as it was, but then a traveling salesman (none other than Wink Martindale!) came in and offered a line of toys that included model cars. .99 cent kits. What I wouldn't give to have all those glue bombs back. Who knew? Currently I have 60-70 built cars, and almost as many boxed kits. When I go out to pasture I'm gonna finish every one of them! Thanks 50Fruad, for contributing to a life long delinquency. I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

I think model cars died out because cars began to suck. When I was a kid it was a thrill to buy a 70 Cuda or 67 GTO model like you saw on the road because the cars were bad ass. But, How many kids want to rush out and buy that Nissan Maxima or Honda Accord model and tear into it ? Same with Hot Wheels.........If the auto industry kept on building amazing cars, I don't think it would have died out.

 

I love to talk models, when I was a kid we had a store called Ray's Discount on the far east side of Aurora, Il. This store had one of the best selections of plastic model kits 1/24 th scale around. They were $1.75 to $3.00 each. That store burned down in the early 70's. My son grew up building models with me and we would go to a local model show in Boulder Hill sponsored by the Golden Mile Car Club. We met the one and only Voodoo Larry as he was building models back then. You see he has some of the coolest cars and a great shop these days. My son has always loved models and built a model room in his basement. Here are few shots of the models he left at home when he moved out yeas ago, he started building at age 3 and never stopped. Me as well. not as many as I used to but still love to do it. Any one in the Aurora area remember Aurora Cycle and Hobby in down town, Fred Bell I think was the owner and owned Al Thompson s record holding Dragster. That was a real hobby shop with a drag strip track for your H.O. and slot cars.

 

There are a few cars out that still feed the imagination like the new Challenger,Mustang and Camaros well as the different variations of those cars. Someone said above that he thought that there are guys who would like nothing better than to see the personal mode of transportation go away and I have to agree with him.

 

Yeah, now there are a few decent looking cars out there. But what about 10 or 20 years ago. A model of a Chrysler K car was not too exciting.

 

That is indeed a sad but true reflection on todays society and life in general.......it's a shame for those growing up, they are missing out on so much.


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I see this sort of nonsense quite a bit. If it wasn't for cool car and bike owners in my youth, I wouldn't be as broke or happy today. I let kids sit in the truck and put them on the Harley whenever they show an interest. Their paents are always thankful, and it's kind of awesome to hear them to tell their children how nice that man was as they are going on their way.
It's obvious sometimes who the jerks are and

 

Man, isn't that awful...I know what you mean.
Today I don't even want to be around kids because of what could be said later.
I had two of my photographers accused of "touching" a girl at an elementary school as the photographers were taking the school photos that day.
The principal of the school called to say that there had been a "incident".
My two photographers were both women and both in the late 50's and they were crushed when I told them that I got a call from the principal.
I mean CRUSHED!
The next day the girl recanted her story and admitted that she made up the story to get attention!
In the meantime, both women quit working for me over what happened.
Although they needed the money they never wanted to be around kids again.

 

I see this sort of nonsense quite a bit. If it wasn't for cool car and bike owners in my youth, I wouldn't be as broke or happy today. I let kids sit in the truck and put them on the Harley whenever they show an interest. Their parents are always thankful, and it's kind of awesome to hear them to tell their children how nice that man was as they are going on their way.
It's obvious sometimes who the jerks are and how touchy they are about their store bought rides.

 

Apologies for the double post. Hit a wrong key I guess.

 

I've been an off and on car modeler all my life. I don't think the hobby ever really dies but it does go underground. Various elements of ordinary life have caused me to stop and then resume building.
I'll agree that hobby shops in genreal are not what they once were.
One thing the internet does provide is access to the car model hobby. In the past few months I've found quite a variety of sites and groups dealing with model cars. On several forums I've seen posts by folks getting back to the hobby. The HAMB has a active social group of modelers.

 

I got my 1st slot car set at age 8, and it was "ON" from there.....Yes, today's Hot Wheels are a joke. Also, I heard they're trying to rid High Schools of their shop classes, as it demeans our youth by suggesting they're only capable of "blue collar" jobs. I guess that happened? I loved auto/metal/electric/wood shops in school. I WANTED to be a "blue collar" guy. I never wanted to take my work home with me in a white collar job, much like I hated homework. (If the teachers did their fucking job, there'd be no need for homework.........)
Anyway, without those shops in schools, who's supposed to build our homes and fix our cars. Fucking stupid. As far as Hobby Shops? I love em. There's a few good ones I love visiting from time to time, especially on shitty rainy days. Hmmm, now I know what I'll be doing today. Anyway, in Socal.......3 really good ones I like

Burbank House of Hobbies (Burbank)
Pegasus (Clairmont-near Pomona)
Prestige Hobbies (Stanton near Knotts Berry Farm)

 

I believe my introduction to toy cars at a very early age was a huge factor in my progression toward becoming a full fledge gearhead. I played with them exclusively, ignoring all other toys. Then came the day I bought my first model car kit. Even though I cherished the time spent bonding with my Dad in the driveway tinkering with the family sedan, something magical happened as I was building my first model car kit. Reading the directions, learning the name of the individual parts, and seeing how they fit together fasinated me. To me it was like I was actually building a real car, even if it was on a smaller scale.

If we want young kids today to show an interest in cars, it is up to us individually to take control and introduce them to the world we love. Buy a kid a subscription to a car magazine. Take a kid to a race track. Get them their first model car kit and watch their interest grow.

I plan on exposing my one year old grandson to as much car stuff as I can. I've already taken him on a tour of my garage and showed him what an engine looks like.

 

As a kid, every penny of my allowance went to Hot Rod magazine and model kits. I loved the Roth cars and built all of them. As an adult I tried to re-assemble the entire Roth/Revell line. In the process I learned a ton of model and hot rod history. It took 3 years and thousands of dollars, but I finally got em all.

http://kaparich.homestead.com/rothkits.html

It was a great time in my childhood and gave me the skills and vision to become a motorhead adult. I'm grateful for model kit styrene in my life.
I just saw a news article that said One in four kids in America sleep with their cellphones so they dont miss a text. I feel sorry for those poor little bastards.

 

Ah the memories of cruising the hobby shop. I got started with the Highway Pioneers and never could shake the habit. I still have many of my old parts and partial builds that I hope to work on when I'm too old for the real thing.

Ya think the safety police would allow a kit today that told the youngster to use a match to heat the end of the plastic axle and then mushroom the end to hold the wheel on? 98 cents and 2 cents tax for an even buck. It only took 4 quarters from the back of the washing machine that mom pulled out of dads pants.

I was blown away when AMT brought out the 32 Ford roadster 3 in 1 kit. I had built most of the 58 3 in 1 customizing kits. They were pricey...1.49 plus tax.

I bought my son a few of the snap together kits when he was young but he never got into it. Video games! I spent lots of hours building model kits and listening to rock and roll on the AM radio in my room.

The mail order hobby shops (and Speed shops for that matter) killed the brick and mortar shops with all of their over head of rent and heat etc.

It really is amazing to me that there are so many of us that went through the same experiences a continent away. The television wasn't shoving this stuff down our throats. We found it on our own.