# Yard sale saga: Zingers, stockers, and... Bowlamatic? (wandering O/T)



## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

OK, so this neighbor down the block has big yard sales pretty regularly. I stop in and look, because I can't bear to pass a yard sale without stopping, though I know there's usually nothing there for me. This time, though, a friend from another nearby neighborhood has brought some stuff over to sell, and my attention is drawn to a huge old bowling alley toy that looks like it MUST be from the '60s. Hmmm, we're in the right time period here... Sure enough, on the table are two boxes of slot stuff (they were open at the time):










The pizza box is marked 10, the big Eldon box is marked 25. After a quick peek through, I offer 30 for the lot. Sold. Here's what I got. Eldon box first:










Close-up of the good stuff:










Of the set cars, only the blue Plymouth has a chassis. The Riviera body is a cheap rubbery plastic, and the chassis says Cragstan on the bottom. The yellow Corvette body seems to be made of the same cheap rubbery stuff, probably the other car from that set. And the Rolls is a Motorific with leaky batteries. The little dude standing on the blue platform moves his arm up and down to wave a flag when I move the lever under the platform, but I have no idea how or where to connect the wires attached to the platform.

And the pizza box:










I'm assuming these are Zingers. They don't have screws holding the body on, and there are 3 little gray plastic guide pins between the two boxes with the cars in them. Haven't played with them yet, will post pics if there's anything interesting there. I thought the little MM flag towers were pretty cool, since they both work and I've never seen them before except for in pictures.

So my wife rolls her eyes when I bring the stuff in, and a little while later when we pass the same yard sale to head out shopping, I point out the big bowling toy that caught my attention earlier. "Isn't that cool looking?" I say. "You can tell it's from the '60s. Look at the box."

So she asks, "Well, did you look it up to see if maybe it's valuable?"

Hmmm. Never thought of that.

At our first stop, the drugstore, she runs in to pick something up and I start searching "eldon bowling" on my iPhone. By the time she's out, I've decided we have to go back and have a second look at this thing.










The woman recognizes me and laughs when I tell her it's been bugging me all morning. Her husband comes out and shows me how to work the thing; it comes with 12 pins, 3 balls, a direction sheet and an original Eldon score sheet. It's very cool... you turn the crank on the left and the pinsetter moves down. Then you place 10 pins in it and turn the crank till the pinsetter lifts. Put a ball in the little guy's hand, shoot it like a pinball, knock down whatever you can. Then start cranking again, and the pinsetter lifts the pins that are still standing and that other piece sweeps any pins laying down into the catcher behind the alley. Also, it sends the ball back down the track to you. Then do it over again. Amazing little piece of machinery. How could I resist? It's here in the basement now.

Too bad kids would rather bowl with a Wii controller these days than fiddle with something like this...

--rick


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## Marty (Oct 20, 1999)

ALL very Kool stuph!! Great score!!

Marty
Marysville, OH


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

Updates:

Bad news first. On both Atlas cars, the axle gear is stripped on the inside and loose on the axle. The motor runs good on one of them, but I can't get the other to turn over at all and I have no idea why. I seem to recall that Atlas arm windings are fragile, so who knows...

Good news: the Eldon Fury runs good, and I was able to rob a motor from an Eldon junker I had around (one where the motor clips directly to the body) and find a couple tires to make another complete Eldon chassis. I just noticed for the first time that these Eldon stockers have this cool rear axle arrangement where the crown gear is two-sided, so you can snap the axle out, slide the gear across, and snap it back in the other way for a different gear ratio. Between that and the sliding-wheelbase deal on Eldon chassis, I think they're pretty neat little pieces of machinery. 

Speaking of neat Eldon machinery, this bowling alley thing is absolutely fascinating. I'll try to get my daughter to help me shoot some video later...

--rick

edit: dumb question for Eldon experts. Did the stocker sets come with 4 chassis, or just 2 chassis between the 4 bodies? I was thinking I needed 2 more, but since it's only a 2-lane set, I guess it would make sense if it only came with 2...


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## alpink (Aug 22, 2010)

great dealio. I need to keep my eye out too. there are so many pickers around here that it is hard to beat them to the yard sales though! nice find and good on you and wife for going back for the bowling game. dang, serious envy here!


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## Marty (Oct 20, 1999)

ParkRNDL said:


> edit: dumb question for Eldon experts. Did the stocker sets come with 4 chassis, or just 2 chassis between the 4 bodies? I was thinking I needed 2 more, but since it's only a 2-lane set, I guess it would make sense if it only came with 2...


Four bodies and two chassis.

If you need anymore help or advice:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Eldon_Slot_Cars/?yguid=81505429

Marty
Marysville, OH


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

Marty said:


> Four bodies and two chassis.
> 
> If you need anymore help or advice:
> 
> ...


thanks! as a matter of fact... i had forgotten all about it, but i'm already a member of that group. gotta put that higher up on the Bookmarks list.

--rick


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## Joe65SkylarkGS (Feb 15, 2010)

Rick I absolutley love that bowling game!!! I never seen one but can't look away!!

What are the actual dimensions?


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

Joe65SkylarkGS said:


> Rick I absolutley love that bowling game!!! I never seen one but can't look away!!
> 
> What are the actual dimensions?


Actually, I noticed a couple of online info sources for it said it was over 4 feet long, so I measured it. Just about 52 inches.

As promised, here's the video:






Crazy stuff, huh? :wave:

--rick


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## Rolls (Jan 1, 2010)

That thing is remarkable!! Love the pin setting machine action!


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

That Bowl-a-matic is unreal!! Remarkable feat of pencil pushing engineering!! The fact it works as well as it does is even more remarkable!! 

Bummer on the Atlas axle gears..  Still an awesome score though!!


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## aurora1 (Oct 6, 2008)

That bowling alley is amazing. Never seen it before. Remarkable it is still in the original box and works and looks like new. Is there a year of issue on the box? If you don't mind, what did you pay for it. Curious minds want to know.


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

aurora1 said:


> That bowling alley is amazing. Never seen it before. Remarkable it is still in the original box and works and looks like new. Is there a year of issue on the box? If you don't mind, what did you pay for it. Curious minds want to know.


The box says 1962, which was confirmed by a couple of websites that mention it. 

I'm almost embarrassed to admit... it was marked 10 dollars. The woman saw me looking at it and debating, and she offered it to me for 7.

Please don't shoot me... 

--rick


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## Joe65SkylarkGS (Feb 15, 2010)

I want! I want! I want!!!! 

Super cool!!!!

Damn it!! Something else to look for now. Thanks pal :freak:


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## Joe65SkylarkGS (Feb 15, 2010)

And I love how it spits the ball out just after it sweeps!! Remarkable engineering!!


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## philo426 (Mar 4, 2009)

I have never saw a bowling game a nice as that one!Wow! talk about good engineering!


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## Bill Hall (Jan 6, 2007)

What?....No pizza?


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## WesJY (Mar 4, 2004)

is it made in USA??? i wonder.. 

Wes


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

WesJY said:


> is it made in USA??? i wonder..
> 
> Wes


Hmm, good question. My immediate response was gonna be yes, as Eldon Toys was in Hawthorne, CA. But then I checked this out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eldon_(toy_company)

So the answer is definitely maybe. Next time I have it out I'll look a little closer for "Made In" printing somewhere on it.

--rick


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

Bill Hall said:


> What?....No pizza?


hahahahaha. the funny part is that i have a couple of small sets i put together to take with us when we visit grandparents and stuff, and they are stored in the same Joe Corbi's Pizza boxes. 

--rick


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## madsapper (Jan 25, 2001)

Very nice find! My wife and I Yard Sale on Saturday mornings. The picker that was cleaning house on slots in my area is not around this year. I have purchased about 10 sets this summer, all with cars. I gotta get around to taking pictures and posting the stuff...


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