Some Things, Like Toys, Are Built Better Than Others

Herb’s Blog, Herbdate 22813 – 991

Here’s the haps:

So, the two-year-old grandson was here today. They come frequently and I am blessed in that I get the chance to see my grandkids on a fairly regular basis even though I don’t always chronicle every visit. Grandchildren are God’s reward to you for not killing your children. And really, I don’t have a favorite. There are people who do have a favorite kid or grandkid but that doesn’t work for me. They are all my favorites just like each of my kids are my favorites. I see each one of them as a one-of-a-kind, unique individual like all the other ones. I wrote about the question of who was my favorite Sunday School kid one time as well.

“Bumpaw, look! All my cars fit!” Well, first of all, they are not actually all his cars, some used to be mine while others been added to the collection over the last forty-two years. But, possession being nine-tenths of the law, they are, while he is here, his. So are the ones he takes home. We have a five-gallon bucket full of Hot Wheels, Matchbox, Dollar Store brand (it should read, “Dollar and a Quarter Store” now, but that’s a different rant.), some little metal cars that are nothing more than a metal body with axles and wheels, and a veritable plethora of odd ducks. Anyway, the cars he had all fit very nicely into the back of a semi-truck. He was so pleased with himself that he carried the whole thing over to me. This thing weighs ten pounds when it’s full.

He had filled the back of this toy truck with all of these cars. This toy truck is the real deal, though. We have had it since Ben was about two, so it’s maybe thirty-seven years old or more. It was made mostly of steel, in the U.S.A., by the ERTL company, Dyersville, Iowa. I don’t know what scale it is, I’m thinking some of my dearly beloved math geniuses may know.

The whole truck together is about 22 inches long and 7 inches high(-ish). The trailer is 16 inches long and the back doors are approximately 5 inches by 5 inches.

The truck is a replica of an International Harvester and the cab is 8 inches long.

The bottom is stamped with the manufacturing and patent information.

This truck has been ridden on, stood on (I know. Yikes! Get down off of there baby.), driven in all manner of conditions, used and abused by countless children. My kids, their friends and relatives, daycare kids, babysat kids, and now grandkids, and there doesn’t appear to be any end in sight.

It’s outlived the company it was originally branded for, Schultz Brothers variety stores. If you are my generation or older and possibly the next generation down, you will get the term, ‘dimestore” or “five and dime.” I told a younger person the other day about going to the dimestore and they thought it was like the dollar store only everything was a dime. In Wisconsin, they were direct head-to-head competition for Woolworths and Ben Franklin and were very popular. You could get anything there, but the Brach’s Candy they sold by weight was the best. whether you got one or two pieces or a bag full, they weighed it out. They had 51 stores in 4 states when they announced bankruptcy in 1988.

Kmart had come to town. Everywhere.