A brand-new year. New hopes, new dreams; new problems, new fears. New challenges and new adventures.

And, most importantly, new toy cars and photos to go with ’em!

However, first I’m going to be serious for a moment and address some items here at the site. One: we’ve had our first deletion. There was a page here titled Message to Members. That page covered current members’ concerns about the move of Suncoast Diecasters from a privately-owned web site to this WordPress blog. This blog version of our club site is well over a year old, so by now all members have had a chance to read it; the page had served its purpose and was past its prime.

Two: An even more serious and rather somber item. In 2011 a cherished member passed away. An In Memoriam page took the place of our usual Welcome page for a time, then was given its own link on the old site’s Table of Contents. That page has now been added here at WordPress.

Three: This is more up-beat. In case you hadn’t noticed, for 2015 I replaced our SunRacer/logo image with a brighter, more colorful version. In the heady excitement of the holidays, you may have forgotten what the old one looked like (shame on you!). So, for your edification, here they are, side by side by Sondheim.

Compare and contrast, art students!

Four: You know we’ve had a Twitter feed for some time. We now have a Facebook page as well. Truly, Suncoast Diecasters has become a social media empire!

Five: Very, very, very happy to announce new pages! All the Annual Galleries from the original site have been re-created here. Now you can review and enjoy Suncoast Diecasters‘ rich visual history (and Your Humble Webmaster’s entertaining and informative commentary!) all from this one conveenyent locayshun. (And, just like the Members’ Galleries I mentioned in our December update, these contain disallowed code which needs to be stripped out, so they’re a bit funky lookin’.)

With that, let us hie thusly to the photos!

January 2015

You may perhaps notice that the number of photos for this update is somewhat mild compared to previous ones. ‘Tis very simple: Post-Holiday Financial Compression. Or, “After the holidays, ain’t nobody gots no moneh … Honeh!” True, not much trading occurred during this meeting, but it was an enjoyable regathering nonetheless!

Back in December, I mentioned that I had RAOK’d Big Tractor Mike with a bunch of vehicles from Kenner’s Mega Force toyline (which are Not. From. The. Movie.). In that post, I only showed you a single vehicle and accessory. BTM has since thoughtfully bagged each item, so here’s a shot of the accumulated action:

NO, Ken, this has nothing to do with the movie!

By the way: For those of you who miss an occaisional Suncoast Diecasters meeting, there’s an alternate method for getting in on the tradin’ and braggin’. Big Tractor Mike operates a booth at the 49er Flea Market, 10525 49th St N, Clearwater, FL 33762. I’ll let BTM hisself tend to the details:

Kenny and I are at the 49er Flea Market from dark-thirty (me, not Kenny) to roughly around 12:00pm every Sunday, unless it’s raining cats and dogs.  We are at row I – 25/26, the very last row (farthest east row in the back, next to the parking lot), about in the middle. Look for my green truck and white trailer.  We do the flea market from October to the end of April, then break for the summer months. We have two tables and a trailer FULL of various die-cast models — If you don’t see what you want, ASK!! It could be here somewhere, or in the trailer. Come on down and see me!!

Approximate location of Mike’s approximate location.

Krista has a relative who has some other stuffed animal which has the same pattern as the elephant below. (Parse away, English students!) That other stuffed animal came from Build-A-Bear. She spotted this elephant in a claw game at the Sports Bar. (“How the elephant got in the claw game, I’ll never know.”) After a few rounds — and by rounds I mean quarters — she won the thing. Krista intends to present the elephant to her relative not only as a companion piece for the other stuffed animal, but also for the amusement of pairing the $20.00 BAB doll with this under-$5.00 pattern partner.

This is, in fact, the Elephant in the Room.

Bill acquired this Ford Dump Truck, which is from the 1982 Workhorses series. This one is the Hong Kong version; there`s a Malaysia version as well. The tampo says “Sunset Trucking”.

Don Henley drove this down to the Sunset Grill. No, seriously.

Ken obtained this Porsche 911 Turbo Cabrio by Siku. Its base interestingly lists various technical details about the actual car, such as “8 Cylinder; 3300ccm”.

I’m Siku you saying such things about Ken!

Ken obtained this Porsche 911 Carrera by Siku. Its base interestingly lists various technical details about the actual car, such as “6 Cylinder; 3387ccm”.

I’m Siku you nearly duplicating such paragraphs about Ken!

And here we see that Ken has completely abandoned his toy car collecting hobby in favor of much more genteel pursuits such as latchhook knitting and needlepoint crafting. Gonna miss him. But, I’ll tearfully think of him whenever I hear this song.

Definitely not a Jammer case. Nope, nope, nope. Don’t even think of it as being such a thing. Because it’s not that.

Big Tractor Mike done did me a super-duper big-time RAOK with these three Kenner Fast111s models. And no, it’s not camera flash glare or any such thing; the tag on the middle model is simply damaged.

The Neapolitan ice cream of toy cars!

This is Blazin’ Bandit, KF1’s take on the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. Like Hot Wheels, KF1s offered very well-designed “production” vehicles as well as “fantasy” vehicles.

It’s named Bandit ‘coz it’s *just* like the one Burt Reynolds drove in ”Gator”.

Cam Rammer, a slightly stylized interpretation of the typical Can-Am design, such as McLaren. I’m going to presume that its first name is Cam rather than Can because someone at Kenner realized that it would’ve otherwise been suitable only for San Francisco.

So, how does this compare to Hot Wheels’ McLaren M6A?

And finally, we have Street Boss. Aside from the somewhat cartoonish styling of the fenders, this is one of my favorite types of cars: a very hot-rodded classic frame. The high-volume engine would’ve been cool enough. The in-fender lights and prow-like airscoop in front of the radiator impart a Larry Wood or George Barris quality to the design. Coupled with the classy ’30s-era cabin, the result is just the kind of sweet, wild custom that me likes. Very happy to declare this our Find of the Month!(*) Thanks, Mike!

…Wait, this is *not* the car that Bo and Luke drove, right?

See you at the February meeting!

~WM