Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/04/28/extremely-satisfying-1960s-ton.html
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Now I want to see them take it to Antiques Roadshow.
Not that it matters without the box. I met a guy in the parking lot when we went who was told that his extensive model railroad set was worthless, but a couple of the beaten up original boxes had value.
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Sorry, wanted to like this, but IMO you can’t top the bad-ass look of organic rust and weathering on a Tonka truck. It was already awesome.
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Makes me wonder why you don’t see sandblasters on late night infomercials. Pretty much perfectly satisfying to watch. I suppose price points would give you a dangerous cornballer class device but what is not to love.
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I prefer the before look
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Does he do house calls?
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I too really like the look of the original Tonka, but I have to thank you for pointing these out. The autoplay follow was a 1920s Dayton train and my 4yr old was fascinated by the video. Here’s hoping it gets him out of his current loop of “kids opening toys and playing with them” choices for YouTube material. Speaking of which, many of the toys on his channel seem to have a less pleasing patina than the Tonka and are much improved [0.02$usd] by the restoration.
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This is one of those situations where you have to decide whether the true calling of a toy is to be played with or if it is to sit on a shelf to impress other collectors.
John Lasseter credited the idea for Toy Story 2 with an epiphany he had when he was scolding his kids to be careful with the collection of vintage toys in his office. After a few minutes of “…be careful, that’s old/rare/valuable!” he realized that he was talking about objects that were literally put on this earth for the sole purpose of providing enjoyment to young children, and he was the one who didn’t have proper perspective.
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I could be wrong but I think what @Ratel was getting at is that on antiques roadshow it’s the old beaten up piece that’s valuable. The restored one isn’t worth anything.
I’m all about the playing with toys thing though. My parents have this old metal pickup truck that was my grandfathers. It’s been quite thoroughly played with by four generations of kids now. My son loves it. I’ve heard it’s a pretty valuable toy on eBay. I’m pretty sure it’s more valuable where it is now though.
Reminds me of a story I heard about a couple in NYC with an investment grade wine collection. One day they said screw it, let’s drink this stuff with our friends. They started having more people over, more dinner parties, and a lot more fun.
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Actually I was wondering if they would confuse it for being “mint”, which usually is preferable for toys (but, again, less important than the box). I think to hope to fool them you’d still have to yellow the whites and put at least some patina on the metal. An evening in a pot with a tea bag world probably do it.
That’s what I’m saying too; whether this kind of restoration is a good or bad thing depends on whether you think it’s better to have an awesome toy for kids to play with or to have a valuable museum piece that sits in a display case.
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This video has 8 million views. I think he’s made back any reduction in the truck’s value with his YouTube bucks. Personally, I prefer fresh paint over rust and grime.
I like making pristine models look like this.
OK, maybe not as bad as this.
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Thing is, these days you don’t have to worry about toys being restorable. Once they break, they’re broken for good. How do you fix cheap broken/torn plastic?
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Maybe more like this:
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the value, monetary or otherwise, of restoring the truck doesn’t interest me. what i love about almost any restoration video is the ability, the passion and the meticulous attention to detail that restorers apply to whatever they are restoring. and it seems like fun. that settles it, forget astronaut in my next life. i wanna come back and be a restorer.
I wasn’t ready for a sudden hit of nostalgia, but I used to play with a tow truck just like that at my grandparents’ house.
3D print a replacement part? Obviously there are limits - but what would you have done with the windscreen of this truck if it needed more than just a polish?
My comment was more general than specific to this topic. If the entire Tonka truck was made from plastic, it would be much more difficult to restore to this degree. I guess you can 3D print the entire toy/object, but then that’s not really restoring it.
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