by Fred Hendricks
People sometimes view toy truck collectors as “plumb crazy.” And then, you meet Dave Blair, a professional plumber, who is also a toy truck collector. Dave restores sanity quite nicely as both an accomplished plumber and a toy truck aficionado. On a visit to his local Tractor Supply Company store a number of years ago, Dave discovered a 1/50 scale Caterpillar D10N, built by Ertl, that was for sale. He was infatuated with the little gem with great details and nicely constructed. “After admiring that Cat D10N at Tractor Supply, I came home and told my wife, Angie, what she could buy me for Christmas. Angie asked me over and over, ‘You don’t really want that do you?’ Evidently, she was checking whether I was still a plumber or if I had gone “plumb crazy.” The nice piece became a gift and I’ve been collecting toy trucks and construction equipment ever since,” Dave shared. Collection Evolves The original gift of the Cat D10N stirred the collecting juices for Dave. He soon started exploring avenues to learn about construction equipment. Through that pursuit, he discovered the Toy Trucker & Contractor magazine. Dave recalled, “With my new-found interest in scale model construction equipment, I began searching the Internet to see what I could learn. I was amazed at what was available. In that search, I became aware of the publication, Toy Trucker & Contractor. I quickly learned through the magazine about the vast array of not only construction equipment, but also trucks; trucks of every imaginable kind.” To read the rest of this story, subscribe to TT&C at: http://www.toytrucker.com/subscriberenew.html or buy the online version at: http://toytrucker.epubs.forumprinting.com/publication/?i=282082 |