The GO sounds of H.O.A.!

So, as usual, it's been a loooong time between posts, but this time it's not my fault. This post was held up waiting for an eBay package that took forevvvver to get here. Another future post is gonna be on my biggest purchase since starting HOA, but it's currently being repaired by more skilled hands. There's a hint to what it is in one of my pictures this post.

I've been wanting the Revells "Go sound of the slots" record ever since reading about it in the fantastic "Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth" book, and I recently scored a copy. It's a Slot car themed surf/drag record mostly penned by the late Gary Usher. You may know Mr. Usher for his work with the Byrds and the Beach Boys. He co-wrote "409", amongst other hits...that's even his car revving up at the beginning of "409". Most of the songs on here sound like a second rate Beach Boys, unsurprisingly...but my favorite song here is actually a faux soul number that reminds me of the Who's cover of "Please, Please, Please". It's also one of the few songs on this record NOT written by Gary Usher...but I bring him up because he'll surface again later in the post. Anyway, hear "My Little Slot Coupe" here.

Also in this picture is a record by a band called The Revengers. I found it at the local Salvation Army, and I can't find ANY info on it. from the label I've gathered that it was a local Coldwater, MI band in the 60's, and it was recorded in the Holland, Michigan area, but that's all I can find. The a side is decently done country-ish rock, but that's not really my bag...Listen to the surf instrumental "Revengers' Theme" here.



Lastly, we have "The Big X-L" by Ougie and the Ougots. I found this randomly in a pile of my dad's albums that he hasn't listened to since the 60's...but he claims he has never seen it, so I assume it belonged to my uncle Christopher, who was killed in Vietnam. All I've been able to find on these guys is one picture online, and I learned that they were from Georgia. Big X-L refers to the Ford Galaxie 500/X-L. Check it out here.



The kid's record player pictured I found real cheap at our local antique mall along with the Lesley Gore record. The record on the turntable is a beat-to-hell copy of J. J. Barnes' "Baby Please Come Back Home"/"Chains of Love". Some of you may know "Chains of Love" from the Dirtbombs' cover of it on "Ultraglide in Black". The green and white Platter Pak is from UHF in Royal Oak, MI, and the monster button is from the vintage clothing store next door. The orange swirl Platter Pak I scored on Ebay, after losing out on many others of the same design. I wish it was in better shape, but whatever...It's still awesome, and it's in use too.



The Humdinger Monster was apparently a 1 quart shake. In my quickie, half-assed research I found some neat Humdinger Monster puppets from '66 and an ad, but nothing saying who made the Humdinger.



Lastly, My newest eBay score...more Gary Usher madness! This JUST arrived on my porch today. I still need the other 2 Mr. Gasser albums...and I REALLY need the Weird-ohs and Silly Surfers LPs...if anyone's holding.

Raiding Dad's Stash pt Deux: Sniffin' Glue

Well, hell. I took a bunch of pictures of model cars my dad and my uncles built back in the late 50s and 60s, and my crap camera won't let me take pictures close enough to see detail. Everything looks fuzzy. I'll have to ask one of my photographer friends to help me I guess...so models have joined my Hot Wheels collection on the back burner for now. Thankfully, I have a scanner, so here's some neat model car box art, mostly from 1960-62. I have some of the accompanying cars, other boxes are empty or fulla parts. I found these in a leaky barn after my grandma died, and I'm really surprised they survived in such an environment as long as they did.

This first box is for the '36 ford 3n1 kit. This is the side of the box, because the front just shows the boring stock version. I have 2 of these boxes, and one and a half of the models. Both models were built as a hybrid of the 2 styles shown here, and both were painted blue. I assume one belonged to my dad, and the other to my uncle Christopher. Oh yeah, as always, you can click the picture for a better look.



This is the 40 Ford. The box is in great shape, and the graphics are killer. I have at least 5 of these in different stages of decay, but only one box. When my grandma died, there was model car stuff scattered EVERYWHERE(she had 4 sons that ALL built models!). Nothing was in order. I've spent time here and there over the years trying to sort what I have, but that's literally hundreds of thousands of mismatched parts. I'd like to restore some of these some day. Luckily, a lot of these got reissued over time, so restoring some, like the 40 Fords, wouldn't be to hard. Unluckily, the prices on new model cars are OUTRAGEOUS!



Here's a detail from the side, showing the totally bitchin' racing version.



The hot rod option on this 32 Ford Roadster is really killer...



...as is the racing version. I wish I had enough spare parts for this one. I only have a smashed to hell body, the windshield and one stock rear fender. Bummer.



I love how the hot rod version to almost every kit back then was just flame decals and moon discs. This kit is from the transitional period when competitors AMT(aluminum model toys) and SMP(scale model products...inventors of the 3 in 1 kit) were merging into one company. I have the body of this, and a 59 El Camino reissue, which I'm considering merging into one, one of these days.



I've got a lot of parts to this kit. So many, that I was starting a rebuild, but while doing a research, I found out that this version of this kit just got re-issued a couple weeks ago, so I'll probably just buy a new one when car show season starts in May.



Here's the side detail, showing some of the many possible combinations you can build with the available parts.



Well...there ya go. Not too informative, and I'm sure to my non-car crazed readers, probably rather dull...but I think it's cool, and I've got lots more to post in the future, including some models I've personally built, but I think I'm gonna take a break from car stuff on here for a little while. At least until the Coldwater car show. I dunno what to post next. My house is getting some major work done, so a lot of stuff is packed away for a while. There's a noticeable layer of dust on everything. I'm sure it's safe to breath this all in. Hmmm.....