Updated checklist of my non-sports custom cards

Until now, there has been no place where all of my custom cards could be found in checklist form.  It is my intention to update this posting as new cards are created. Similar checklists for my baseball and football custom cards will also be posted.

Custom card availability. Unless noted, all of my custom cards are available to collectors for $12.50 each, postpaid for one or two cards; $9.95 each for three or more (mix/match). To order, email me at scbcguy@yahoo.com for directions on paying via check/money order, or to my PayPal account.

Civil War News
89   Grays Wiped Out
90   Victory Parade
91   Death at 1,000 Yard
(NOTE: My Civil War News cards are
note available for sale.)

Flags of the World
81   Islamic State
82   Iran
83   Scotland
84   Wales
85   England
86   Northern Ireland
87   Alaska
88   Hawaii
89   Vatican

Hit Stars
89   Johnny Cash

Rails & Sails
201   Chicago & Northwestern Diesel
202   Queen Anne's Revenge
203   U.S.S. Monitor
204   C.S.S. Virginia
205   Orange Blossom Special
206   City of New Orleans
207   City of Miami
208   Bamboo Grove Lounge Car
209   Hiawatha Skytop Lounge Car
210   R.M.S. Titanic (sailing right)
210   R.M.S. Titanic (sailing left)
210   R.M.S. Titanic (night)
211   Alton Railroad Abraham Lincoln
212   Gulf Coast Rebel (GMO RR)
213   U.S.S.Indianapolis

Spins and Needles
81   The Quarreymen
82   Marty Robbins
83   Roy Orbison

TV Westerns
72   Maverick -- James Garner
74   Maverick -- Gentleman Gambler
75   Maverick -- Well-Dressed Strangers
77   Rawhide -- Clint Eastwood
78   Rawhide -- Strategy Session
83   Rifleman -- Lucas' Rifle
86   Wyatt Earp -- Hugh O'Brian
87   Wyatt Earp -- A Legend is Born
88   Wyatt Earp -- Buntline Special
91   Wyatt Earp -- Taming Tombstone
92   Bat Masterson -- Gene Barry
93   Bat Masterson -- County Sheriff Bat
97   Cheyenne -- Clint Walker
98   Cheyenne -- Lonely Man, Cheyenne

World on Wheels
181   Buick Centurian (front view)
181   Buick Centurian (back view)
182   Dodge La Femme
183   Volkswagen Microbus
184   London Black Taxi
185   Schwinn Whizzer
186   Vincent Black Shadow
187   Minerva Town Car
188   Airstream Wanderer
189  Chrysler Town and Country
190  American Moto-Scoot

World on Wheels series continues with AmericanMoto-Scoot circa 1946

Usually this time of year my custom-card making centers on baseball subjects. But this summer I've been more interested in non-sports.

My latest is a continuation of my World on Wheels series. The subject is a motor scooter I saw while watching an episode of American Pickers. In one of their barn scrounges, the guys found a clapped-out hulk of an American Moto-Scoot.

It took a fair amount of google-searching, but I finally found enough data on that scooter brand to make a creditable card back.

The Moto-Scoot company was founded in Chicago in 1937 by Norman Siegel. When he entered the military in World War II, the company was taken over by a group of local financiers. When production was resumed in 1946, the brand name had been changed to American Moto-Scoot.

The company had a broad lineup of solo and two-seat models. I saw several times on the internet that Moto-Scoot had outsold such standards as Cushman and Salsbury, but I never saw any  hard numbers to verify that.

Moto-Scoots were lightweight, versatile and dependable. Built on a 50" wheelbase on a welded tubular steel frame, the bikes could be had with either a Briggs & Stratton or Lauson engine, putting out about 2-1/4 hp.

The Moto-Scoot featured a two-speed Albion transmission with an Amsco automatic centrifugal clutch. The scooter featured such refinements as a kick starter, ignition lock and key and a full one-gallon gas tank.

At 165-180 pounds, depending on model, the Moto-Scoot boasted a fuel efficiency rating of 80 mpg. Top speed was tuted as 40 mph.

Siegel had an innovative marketing plan. While he had a few brick-and-mortar dealerships, and sold the scooters in the J&R Auto Parts chain, sales were primarily mail order, through such catalogers as Spiegel and Montgomery Ward.

One undated brochure on the internet shows prices between $111.50 and $146.50, depending on model.

I didn't read deep enough on the internet to know why the company apparently halted production in 1947 or shortly thereafter.

There appears to be a thriving market today for surviving scooters and parts.

I've got a number of other non-sports customs in the hopper but I'm going to make an effort to whittle away at my baseball backlog.

You can order this card. Unless noted, all of my custom cards are available to collectors for $12.50 each, postpaid for one or two cards; $9.95 each for three or more (mix/match). Complete checklists of all my custom baseball, football and non-sports custom cards were published on this blog in late May. To order, email me at scbcguy@yahoo.com for directions on paying via check/money order, or to my PayPal account.

Schwinn Whizzer newest World on Wheels custom

Some months ago I saw an episode of Pawn Stars that included a Schwinn Whizzer motorized bicycle. 

I don't recall such a "store bought" contraption from my childhood, but guys in the neighborhood were always tinkering with putting motors on their bicycles and cobbling together go-karts, etc. There was even a rumor that a kid on another block had built himself a hovercraft that actually got off the ground.  From the perspective of 50+ years and a rudimentary knowledge of physics and mechanics, I now tend to disbelieve that claim.

The retro look and even the concept of the Schwinn Whizzer "Black Phantom" seemed like a good fit for an addition to the 1954-55 World on Wheels card set. I've previously done five other WoW customs (see my blog entries of Aug. 29 and 30, 2014, and Jan. 1 and 21, 2015).

As I've said in earlier postings, I could probably do a couple of dozen more World on Wheels customs off the top of my head, but I think I'll hold those in abeyance while I pursue more seasonal card projects in the baseball and football realms.

I expect that when the calendar turns to 2016, I'll be more motivated to add to my WoW offerings, as well as some other non-sports issues.

New to World on Wheels: VW Microbus

In my "what if . . . " musings after I buy a Powerball or Mega Millions lottery ticket I sometmes get to daydreaming about the first vehicle I would buy.

Lately, the answer is a 1960s Volkswagen Samba, more often known as the Microbus.

I was recently surprised to see on an episode of Pawn Stars that a really nice restored example can be a $100,000 car in today's market. Oh well, when you win $100MM, what's $100K?

Sometimes I think I'd hunt down the white-over-green microbus that was featured on several episodes of That '70s Show near the end of its run.

But if I had cash in hand, my real first choice would be a white-over-light blue example like the one that sticks in my memory from my early college days.

As a freshman at the University of Wisconsin Fond du Lac, a branch commuter campus, my English professor was Dr. Michael Pikulef -- "pronounce it 'pickle-ef'" he'd said on the first day of class. 

Mike, as he insisted we call him, was almost the stereotypical liberal college instructor of the early 1970s, but that meshed well with my own philosophy at the time. 

I realized that I was really in college at my first party not long after school started. Besides the usual hippie chicks, pot- and pillheads and artistic poseurs, Mike was at the party.
Partying with the prof! I wasn't a high school kid any longer.

When booze ran low, a collection was taken up and Mike said he'd drive. Heck, he may have been the only one over 21 in attendance. I volunteered to go along. We got into his blue VW microbus and headed to a nearby bowling alley where we bought a case of beer, and to some other place I no longer remember for a gallon jug of cheap sangria.

I was really taken with that VW. You sat way up near the windshield and it had a tall stick shift lever. The bus had a particular engine sound that I can still hear today.

Some day I'd like to have me one of those.

That's why my latest World on Wheels custom card honors the venerable hippie wagon.

It's interesting that Mike Pikulef has almost no internet presence. I've found a couple of 10-year-old mentions of a Michael Pikulef in connection with the Village Playhouse in Wauwatosa, Wis., but that's it. I wonder what became of him?

Iconic London black taxi on new WoW custom

Back in 1990 then-president of Krause Publications Don Nicolay called me into his office. He floored me when he asked me to name my own reward for the continuing success of the sports collectors' periodicals that I was in responsible for as publisher.

In particular, he wanted to acknowledge the success of Baseball Card Price Guide, which had debuted in 1988 and -- virtually unprecedented in the world of specialty magazines -- which had been profitable from the very first issue.

By 1990, the sports division accounted for about half of KP's revenues, grossing around $18 million.

After giving the  matter some thought, I told Nicolay that I would like to take my wife and daughter on a tour of Great Britain. Which we did that summer, spending two weeks in England, Wales and Scotland.

The pubs and castles were a highlight for me. The one thing my wife wanted to do was have a ride in a London black taxi cab. So one morning the doorman at the Kensington Gardens Hotel hailed a cab and we climbed in. Today, 25 years later, I honestly don't remember where we went, but it made me feel good to be able to provide such a simple desire for my spouse.

In the spirit of that encounter, I've now added a card to my World on Wheels customs of a circa 1948 Austin FX3 black cab.

There's really not a lot else that I can say about the new card. So I'll just give you a look.

World on Wheels custom: 1955 La Femme

There are many vintage cars and other vehicles with which I have a more personal connection and for which I will be making custom cards in the format of 1954-55 Topps World on Wheels, but for my third such card (see #1-2 on my blog from Aug. 30) I chose to work up the 1955 Dodge La Femme.

La Femme was Dodge's attempt to capture the market for autos that would appeal to women. Some of their sales literature said the car was created, "By Special Appointment to Her Majesty . . . the American Woman".

La Femme made it into production as the result of positive reviews of the concept car La Comtesse that Dodger had presented at the 1954 auto shows. Too, Dodge had learned that by 1955 it was the lady of the house that most influenced the color and luxury options on most new car purchases, so the company figured it could go a step further and make a market in a car designed exclusively for the fairer sex.

In essence, La Femme was a tricked-out Royal Custom Lancer two-door hardtop coupe. It was available for 1955 only in one color scheme: Sapphire White and Heather Rose. The Lancer badging was replaced with goldtone script "La Femme".

Inside, the car was upholstered in tapestry fabric with pink rosebuds on a silver-pink background and there was pale pink vinyl trim everywhere. 

Feminine touches included a pink calfskin purse with a brushed gold medallion in a pocket behind the passenger seat. The carry-along shoulder bag contained a face powder compact, lipstick case, cigarette case, lighter, comb and change purse in faux tortoiseshell plastic. The accessories were all by Evans of Chicago, a maker of women's fine garments and accessories.

In a pocket behind the driver's seat were a rain coat, rain bonnet and umbrella made of vinyl matching the upholstery.

The car featured Dodge's Red Ram 183-horsepower V-8 and the two-speed PowerFlite push-button automatic transmission.

The La Femme option package came at a cost of just $143, bringing the MSRP to $2,518.

A color change to Misty Orchid and Regal Orchid and a revamping of the interior appointments were made for the 1956 La Femme.

Company records apparently do not indicate the  number of La Femmes sold in 1955 and 1956, the only two years the model was offered. It is believed around 2,500 were sold combined in that time. 


Apparently a lack of aggressive marketing retarded demand. There was little print, TV or radio advertising, and few of the country's Dodge dealerships had a demonstrator in the showroom. A single-sheet brochure was all the dealer had on hand to promote the concept.

Marque specialists estimate that about 40 of the 1955 model La Femme survive, and about 20 of the 1956s. I saw one of the 1956 La Femmes at a car show once back in the late 1970s. It was immaculately restored and even a quarter-century after it rolled off the assembly line, it was still a real draw for the ladies.

Custom cards update 1954-55 World on Wheels

Yesterday I told you how a chance encounter with a stack of World on Wheels cards is a used book store rekindled my interest in card collecting.

On Aug. 13 I reported on the first of what is going to be an on-going custom/fantasy card project to create non-sports "cards that never were" from classic 1950s and 1960s Topps (and other) series.

Today I'm presenting the first of what I anticipate will be more than a handful of cards I'll be making in the format of Topps 1954-55 World on Wheels.

I may have mentioned it on the blog in some of my 800+ postings since 2009, but for one year of my 31+ years at Krause Publications, I served as executive editor of the Old Cars division. From Sept., 1978-Sept., 1979, I was editor of Old Cars Weekly newspaper, the Old Cars Price Guide magazine and the start-up monthly newsstand magazine Car Exchange.

Because I've always been a car guy, I look back on that year as the best of my time at Krause. 

Sports cars and luxury imports were never my thing. (I did have a Thing, actually three of them; 1974 Volkswagen Things.) I was more interested in vintage vehicles from Model T and other brass-era autos to late-1940s woodies, virtually everything made in the 1950s and the muscle cars of the mid- to late-1960s.
For most of the years between 1971-2001 my daily driver was a succession of 10-year-old Cadillacs.

Having neither the money nor the mechanical aptitude to seriously pursue old cars as a hobby, my interest was mostly voyeuristic. Today I could afford to indulge myself with a few pieces of old iron, but I'm too stove up to get in and out of bucket seats, to operate a stick shift or crawl under a car to change oil. And I'm a believer that if I can't drive a car, there's no use owning it.

I'd make an exception, though, for the car I chose as the subject for my first World on Wheels customs. 

I first encountered the 1956 Buick Centurian dream car in the spring of 1979 while on a backstage tour of the Sloan Museum in Flint, Mich. Press junkets like that were one of the big reasons my year at Old Cars is so fondly remembered.

The rocket-inspired Buick dream car is widely covered all over the internet, so I won't detail it here. If you're like me, I don't have to explain the attraction of a sporty silhouette, bubble top, fins, chrome and expanses of mid-century color scheme fiberglass. If you don't "get it" at first glance, nothing I can say here will sway you.

In keeping with Topps' original card set, I created my custom WoW cards in both a red-back and blue-back version. While Topps used the same pictures for both red- and blue-backs of its high-number (161-180) series, I decided to splurge on two views of the Centurian.

I could make a new WoW custom every week for a year and never run out of ideas that don't stray too far from Topps' original concept. However, I want to do some more TV Westerns and I've got plans to dabble in a few other favorite non-sports issues from my childhood; not to mention my on-going efforts in the fields of baseball and football custom cards. So, I'll probably limit my car cards to just a handful for the time being.

Watch this space in the coming months and you'll see them first.