The wide assortment of trucks on display in Bernie Mackey’s collection. ​

Bernie converted this 1/16 scale GM school bus into a pulling rig. ​

Shown is a special piece in Bernie’s trove, as it goes back to his youth. Bernie played many hours with this 1/16 scale International truck built by Ertl. It has been maintained in good original condition through all these years. ​

Jimmie Dobson’s first collector’s passion was for fire trucks – the old, full-size versions. His son, Jeff, loved toys, particularly NASCAR. To say Jimmie caught his son’s enthusiasm for toys would be an understatement. Jimmie admits he got carried away. After 50 years of collecting, his third museum has 25,000 square feet with 16-foot walls packed floor-to-ceiling with more than 12,000 toys in all scales, as well as 60 real fire trucks.
“It’s Bay City’s (Michigan) best-kept secret,” says Steve Schrumpf, board secretary for The Antique Toy and Firehouse Museum, a 501(c) nonprofit organization. 
“I’m getting to the age, where I want it to be here forever, so I turned it into a foundation. I want it to be part of the community,” says Jimmie, 86. After starting the foundation in 2000, he made his private collection public in a new museum a few years later. Collections inside continue to expand as other collectors seek a home to preserve their treasures. 
In addition to the toy cars and trucks of all models, there are doll collections, including a recent Betty Boop collection. The vastness and diversity of toys attracts people from all over the United States and the world.

On fire for fire trucks
When Dobson returned from military service in Korea, he was an assistant fire chief in Bangor Township in Michigan. 
“I got the yearning for a fire truck and started to collect them,” Jimmie says. “I got carried away, and by 1970 I had 140 of them.”
Since then, he has sold many of them, but his collection includes an 1824 hand pumper, steam pumpers, horse-drawn pumpers from the 1800s and motorized trucks as old as a 1916 Republic, believed to be the oldest operating truck in the world. 
Toy collectors may be familiar with the Retro 1-2-3 Covington Fox model fire truck. It was based on the Covington Engine No. 5 fire truck that was once in Jimmie’s collection. He has since sold the truck, but Jimmie has the large-scale model and all of the models Retro 1-2-3 has made. 

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Disassembled and primed 1957 Tonka stock truck. ​

​From restoring farm trucks to building a 3/8 scale Army tank, David Chastain may be a “jack of all trades” when it comes to modeling, but he humbly sees himself as a “rescuer of old toys.” 
“I just cannot stand by and let an old truck or construction equipment toy go into the trash. My enjoyment comes in bringing the toy back to life,” he said.
David was born and raised in Summitville, Ind. His father, Ralph, was a multi-generation farmer, so David learned lifelong skills at the knees of his father and Uncle Philip. 
“I learned welding, metal fabrication and basic machinery, first by watching, and then by doing, to create, repurpose and think outside of the box, fixing broken equipment and keeping machinery running. The farm often purchased properties with old houses, and I spent many hours learning construction by rehabilitating these houses with my dad and uncle,” he shared. These skills later proved invaluable in scratch building models.
David’s interest in model building came early to him. “During the summer months, my family often traveled. My interest was piqued on one particular trip out west when we visited a machinery museum with a miniature ride-on steam train. That train inspired me to build my first ‘model’ car from scrap lumber in my dad’s shop. It was rudimentary and rough, but it had four wheels, two axles and steered with rope,” he said.
Like most farm boys, David played with toy tractors. “My mom, Sue, always laughs when she tells how I scooted around on my knees ‘planting’ the dining room carpet, farming the pile with my Ertl John Deere tractors and implements,” he said. He had his fair share of outdoor toys, too, such as his toy pickups and construction vehicles. “I remember playing in the sandbox with a Strutco bulldozer. Some of my other toys included a Tonka fire engine, a Nylint crane, and a Tonka car carrier,” he said.

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Red-and-black striped Peterbilt 379, pulling an East dump trailer. Clyde customized this model with a stainless steel bumper, rookie bars attached to bumper, red CB antennae with white tip and stainless half fender and visor. The black Peterbilt 379 TMC Transportation model is pulling a customized step deck flat bed with a steel I-beam load. ​

Clyde Coffey of Livingston, Tenn., has only built one truck diorama—to honor the memory of his grandfather, Clyde Cantrell, whom he called “Pa.” 
Pa recently passed away, so Clyde was eager to share some stories about him. “Pa drove trucks, hauling cattle primarily. Some of my earliest and fondest memories were riding with Pa. I rode shotgun on nearly every run he made to Memphis. Riding with him, I naturally fell in love with semitrucks,” he said.
Pa always found time for Clyde, so it just seemed natural for Clyde to dedicate his first diorama to his grandfather. Clyde built the truck diorama as a Christmas gift for Pa in 2013. Clyde wanted to include all the things that were dear to Pa, so the diorama sports a ’55 Chevy Bel Air model, a Peterbilt 359 model, and a farm scene just like the ones Clyde and Pa used to see on their road trips. 
Clyde added, “I tried to add a lot of detail, including the hot pink lettering of his name on the door and the teal green color on the sleeper cab. The diorama is 1/64 scale and about 1 foot wide and 2 feet long. I used cotton for smoke, toothpicks for fence posts, and thread for electrical wires. I glued dirt and sticks in place and then dull coated them to preserve them. I had some trouble building the trailer for this scene. I could not find an existing model that replicated his trailer, so I scratch-built the trailer and customized the truck by adding a stainless Texas square bumper, a drop visor, stack extensions, styrene diamond plating for a deck plate and a toolbox.”
Customizing comes easy for Clyde. Following high school and several years working in a local factory, Clyde attended machine tool technology classes at the Tennessee College of Applied Technology in Livingston. While there, he gained the skills needed to customize and build 1/64 scale models. He completed the building construction program, picked up some supplemental welding courses and an HVAC course, and obtained his Class A commercial driver’s license. He currently works for the city of Cookeville as groundskeeper/building maintenance.
Clyde has about 200 models in his collection. Most of his models are DCP 1/64 scale models. “Naturally,” he said, “I started my collection with Peterbilt models like the truck Pa had. But over the years, I’ve added many Kenworths and a few Internationals and Freightliners. I also have Top Shelf Replica livestock trailers. Of the trailers, cattle wagons have always been my favorite, but I’m quite fond of MAC half round dumps, too.”

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