Vintage Racing?

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by carbking

Glad you were able to use my efforts.

Unfortunately, automobile/motorcycle racing is the red-headed step-child of the card collecting hobby.

The sports collectors shun us, as evidenced by the sections available on this forum (even cricket, but no racing)

And it doesn't really fit into non-sports, but the non-sports folks seem to tolerate us as it semi-fits due to automobile or motorcycle cards which are non-sports.

The amount of activity on this thread definitely shows an interest in the topic.

Maybe, in a perverse sense, it is a good thing for we collectors that there is no more interest. Can you imagine the cost of some of the cards if suddenly the baseball folks all started collecting racing??? Some of the auto racing cards are just plain RARE Some make the T-206 Wagner seem like a "common"! Have collected these things for 53 years. Have virtually all the USA printed prior to 1996 (seemed like a good time to just specialize on certain sets/drivers, and stay away from the artificially low production "collector" items). But still missing one of the Say No to Drugs set.

I also collect stamps, and a deceased friend who was a major stamp dealer had the best (opinion) quote about the scarcity of some of this stuff. His comment: "Jon, not only do you have to wait for someone to die to acquire some of these stamps; you need to waiting in the driveway with cash to negotiate with the heirs!".

Jon.

Good post Jon. I have written often on here that one of the reasons I like collecting racing that there are only a few cards that individually sell for over $500; there aren't any $10,000+ cards. I love the obscure and the impossible to find, even if a card is only worth $100-200.

On the whole, I love non-sports cards or cards outside the big four sports. There is nothing at all wrong with collecting T206 or '33 Goudey, but how many times can a person see the same Ty Cobb or Babe Ruth card listed for sale or at auction?

I know baseball will always be king when it comes to cards, but I could never compete price-wise when it comes to acquiring extreme rarities. With racing cards, I can.

I actually see parallels between racing cards and wrestling cards. This board has some of that niche's top collectors posting on here, and even some extreme rarities of huge stars can be had at prices within reach of collectors. That genre of the hobby really seems to have taken off in recent years, as people are starting to appreciate what is rare and what isn't. Same thing for racing. Unless you actually follow the '72 STP set, who would know that the Lorenzen with car card is a virtual impossibility to find.

[Bored5000]

I don't remember if I posted this publicly or just in a PM with a couple board members. But when I won the auction for my Lorenzen with car card, I met the seller in person, since he only lived 30 miles from me. He also offered me a Lorenzen portrait card. I had lost the auction for the portrait card he was selling, but he said he had another one.

When I met the seller, he told me that he had won an automobile lot at an estate auction that included one Lorenzen with car card and 12 of the Lorenzen portrait cards. I agreed to pay $450 for the portrait card, and my heart kind of sank when he told me how many of them he had found. The seller did not have any idea what the cards were and initially thought they were worthless garbage after being unable to find any information online.

The Lorenzen portrait card used to be very tough to find as well, but with the addition of 12 new copies into the hobby all at once, anyone willing to pay the buy it now price for that card on eBay can have one. I know the same thing happens a couple times a year with 100-year old baseball cards, but it is always amazing when such a "find" of rare cards occurs.

[carbking]

I have posted in other areas, but still in wonder as to why there is no Paula Murphy card in the STP set.

Rather than post all of the "evidence" why there should be, I will allow those who might have an interest to discover this on their own.

Jon.

[Beansballcardblog]

Jon,

I echo Eddie's sentiment and am also thrilled to have you as part of the thread. I have seen your posts on the non-sports forum and have read many of them repeatedly. I've also visited your site a couple of times.

I'm (very slowly) working on the T36 and know that you have completed it. I'm excited to learn anything from you about the set that I can, over time.

For those interested, I have picked up another T36 since my last post. For anyone interested, click here!

Have a great weekend, everyone!
-kin

[carbking]

Kin - thank you.

If you REALLY want a challenge, try doing a "master" T36 set (4 backs for each front, total 100 cards). It took me over 40 years! Each front has backs advertising either Mecca or Hassan and printed with either factory 30 or 649.

If you are doing the 25 card set (back information unimportant) of the T36, and wish to speed up the process, all fronts are readily available in most lower grades.

Jon.

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by carbking

Kin - thank you.

If you REALLY want a challenge, try doing a "master" T36 set (4 backs for each front, total 100 cards). It took me over 40 years! Each front has backs advertising either Mecca or Hassan and printed with either factory 30 or 649.

If you are doing the 25 card set (back information unimportant) of the T36, and wish to speed up the process, all fronts are readily available in most lower grades.

Jon.

I thought $390 for the complete set of T36s that recently sold at Huggins and Scott was a great price for a buyer; less than $16 a card for a complete set. I don't expect everyone to be an expert on 1910s Indy racing, but the listing seemed to miss the boat a bit by not even showing the Barney Oldfield card or mentioning its condition when discussing the key cards of the set.

I know I have mentioned this to Kin previously in a PM, but Oldfield just looks so cool chomping on his cigar in his T36 card.

I would have liked to have gone after that T36 set at Huggins and Scott, but I can't buy every card/set I want.

[carbking]

Originally Posted by Bored5000

I thought $390 for the complete set of T36s that recently sold at Huggins and Scott was a great price for a buyer; less than $16 a card for a complete set.

Wish I had seen it!

Eddie - do you have the 1982 Kidco Earnhardt? I believe his first card.

Jon.

[Beansballcardblog]

Originally Posted by carbking

Kin - thank you.

If you REALLY want a challenge, try doing a "master" T36 set (4 backs for each front, total 100 cards). It took me over 40 years! Each front has backs advertising either Mecca or Hassan and printed with either factory 30 or 649.

If you are doing the 25 card set (back information unimportant) of the T36, and wish to speed up the process, all fronts are readily available in most lower grades.

Jon.

Jon - That is certainly the goal. Not sure I have 40 years left in me, but I'm certainly going to give it a whirl!

[Bored5000]

Every once in a while, someone will post a piece of bodywork on eBay that is purported to be from Gordon Smiley's horrific fatal crash at Indy in 1982. The auctions usually get shut down pretty quickly.

But an item up for auction at Lelands right now seems in pretty bad taste for an auction house. Who would actually bid on half the steering wheel used by Art Pollard in his fatal 1973 crash at Indy?

https://lelands.com/bids/bidplace?itemid=83983

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by wvu_class_of_2001

Jon,

I echo Eddie's sentiment and am also thrilled to have you as part of the thread. I have seen your posts on the non-sports forum and have read many of them repeatedly. I've also visited your site a couple of times.

I'm (very slowly) working on the T36 and know that you have completed it. I'm excited to learn anything from you about the set that I can, over time.

For those interested, I have picked up another T36 since my last post. For anyone interested, click here!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

-kin

Kin, I didn't realize you were up to 21/25 drivers from the T36 set. Nice progress.