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05/02/2020 6:56 am
Does anyone remember Jim Wieland from Connecticut??
With the recent conversations about Nostalgic Miniatures I've been thinking about him. MTI used to buy stock from him. My brother and I would visit him at his house in CT. to pick up stock that we would sell at shows. Jim was a real character but I liked him. His house had things piled everywhere. I don't know how he kept track of what he had.
Here's a funny story. He used to ship packages to MTI and it was always a surprise when we opened them. For packing material he would use his trash, sometimes there were even half eaten sandwiches and other garbage thrown in. We always had a good laugh!
Sadly he died fairly young. He didn't believe in paying taxes so his property and belongings were seized by the govt. He had a vast collection and many rare models. It's a real shame that all his models got thrown in boxes and auctioned off or thrown out. Many showed up on auction but were damaged, some beyond repair.
05/02/2020 11:23 am
I remember meeting him at the Toledo toy show.
I think he was selling models out of his car at a motel parking lot. Someone said he was sleeping in it too, rather than pay for a room.
I bought a lot of stuff from him through the years, but after a while a lot of things were not mint though stated as such and I got tired of all the returns I made.
He co-authored a book on Tootsietoys with Ed Force. Jim signed my copy.
05/02/2020 11:37 am
Ed force used photos of many of my brother's and my models in his books. I have 2 books handy. If he did more I must have them put away. Unfortunately my brother and I sold many of the models we had.
05/02/2020 1:10 pm
Jim Wieland
You have jogged my memory about Jim Wieland. Wasn't he a friend of Bob Brennen's? It seems to me I connect those two together. Could be wrong. I remember him from Hasbrouck Heights Toy Show, in North Jersey. You are right, regarding him sleeping in his car. He went so far as to sell out of his trunk, so he wouldn't pay for a table at a show. I only saw that once or twice.
As far as I remember, he traveled all over Europe, or South America, buying odd ball toys, that no one else had. I never dealt with him. He had a lot of cheaper toys that I had no interest in.
I remember receiving these toy lists, you could hardly read, A thousand toys were squeezed into 3 sheets of paper. I had heard he would ship out damaged stuff and then give you a really hard time trying to return them. He would wear you down, so you would just give up. That is hearsay, it didn't happen to me. Please correct me, if I am wrong on any of this.
05/02/2020 2:41 pm
Yes Jim and Bob were friendly. As I said in an earlier post, Bob used to buy stock from him. And I remember him sleeping in his car and selling in parking lots. He was a bit cheap to say the least. I've heard he sometimes sent damaged merchandise. I always went to his house to buy so there was no problem. But his house was an unbelievable mess.
05/02/2020 4:42 pm
Yes, I remember him. Bought some Vilmer and Lion Cars from him.
Probably a Tekno or two. I thought he sold his stock to someone else - a younger guy - who printed up those pages and pages of newspaper listing - all his S American and strange stuff! I think I kept one somewhere.
I think I have all of Force's books - real source of knowledge pre-internet, but we know a lot more about the cars now than Force wrote about... Back then, that was all we had (in the US). I've got their Corgi book on the same shelf! https://www.hobbydb.com/marketplaces/hobbydb/subjects/edward-force-author
05/02/2020 5:49 pm
Was this the fellow who used to publish and send out a newprint massive list of models and toys he had for sale? There were many pages in these lists and I would sometimes find something I needed. (and didn't already have)
John F. Quilter
Eugene, Oregon USA
05/02/2020 5:59 pm
Yes he did
05/02/2020 6:57 pm
I seem to recall....
....a guy named Jeff Bray (but I could be wrong). I'm thinking he was the one you're thinking of, Karl, that took off where Wieland left off?
Skip Johnson
Tonawanda, New York
06/02/2020 4:31 am
That's the one Skip - good memory. Wonder whatever became of him?
06/02/2020 5:53 am
Wow are you guys really sparking my memory cells. And not all are good ones either. Wieland was covered pretty well here. Force was all right though. I sold tables to these guys at my show in Chicago and even bought some cars from them too. Does anyone remember Lynn Becker? Just a thought. I think he got out of the hobby.
06/02/2020 7:25 am
I remember too, now that Skip mentions it.
06/02/2020 7:27 am
Don't know that name - (Jeff Bray, yep that was the large newsprint list guy!)
06/02/2020 7:51 am
Lynn Becker and Dean Criss (I think) ran Becker's Minature Autos.
Formerly Replicars, a west coast upstart to east coast Sinclairs as the two dominant sources of mail-order diecasts in the 1960's. Becker's was sold to Gene Parrill, who as we all know changed the name to Marque Products.
photo no longer available
Now do we know what happened to artist Dale King?