Since this convention was only a few hours from 
us (Connecticut), we had to make plans to go. We got 
there on Thursday 6/29, and met up with 
a few other early birds. 

The motel had 4 floors, and people were spread all 
over the place. Early on, I found a Service Mdse. 
chrome set, which I had been looking for over the 
past 2 years! We are as current as Epay on first 
editions, at $1 each no less. There are some very 
cool Metroliner repaints out. Surprisingly, we 
weren't able to locate any for purchase. 

The convention did *not* have the real Twinmill on 
display! Some mechanical problems were still being 
worked out, and Mattel had committed the car for 
another show next weekend. This car was supposed 
to be ready 4 years ago for the 30th anniversary celebration.
 

Here is one of the convention cars, a Surfin' 
School Bus. Other cars were a '58 Corvette, 
and a '32 Ford. 

One of the rooms we went into had a bunch of 
side loader Beach Bombs. I started telling the 
kids about the guy that had bought Chris 
Marshall's Beach Bomb, and the guy in the room 
says "That's me!" Turned out it was Bruce Pascal, 
the actual buyer. He was very happy to break out 
the two pink treasures (they were not on display!), 
and let us take pictures of them.
 

The 1st Beach Bomb is an absolute gem! Paint looks 
like it is fresh from the factory, chassis is shiny 
bright. Wheels are at least 90%. The rough looking 
spot above the step is a reflection in the paint, of 
the step! This bus was cherry, I could see how 
someone could absolutely have to have it, even if 
major bucks ($72,000.00) have to change hands.
 

A side by side shows some of the differences in 
the two. The 2nd BB that Bruce turned up has some 
toning, wheel chrome isn't as good. Glass in both is 
excellent. These were brought home by Mattel 
engineers, for evaluation. They got a thumbs down 
due to the high center of gravity, and went into the 
attic for almost 25 years. Given the inexpensive 
materials that went into this $1 toy, it's amazing 
that they have held up this well!
 

A closeup of #2. Toning is pretty consistant, due 
to the paint materials breaking down and/or reacting 
with the zinc in the metal. 
 

Another part of Bruce's collection is redline 
prototypes. This guy goes for the almost impossible! 
He had one of the wood mock-ups on display, and 
various pre-production cars and chassis. He got 
these by contacting Mattel engineers from years 
past, and having them go through their attics 
for forgotten treasures.
 

The sponsor of the convention was Randy's Wooster 
St. Pizza.  www.hottestpizza.com Randy has 2 
restaurants, this was the one closest to the motel. 
All wall space is covered with HW of every description. 
Each table has a HW diorama under the glass, just 
loaded with redlines and other HW collectables. 
Much of the stuf is one of a kind, just made for the 
restaurant, and / or autographed for the owner. 
 

This is a real VW bus, which now serves as a 
restaurant booth. A real RL BB, parked in sand, 
and with 2 real surf boards out the back! 
 

The waitress took this pic. I never really did fit into 
the VW Bus very well! Glass table top had 
great collection of VW related HW items.
 

This adds new meaning to the name "Radio Flyer!" 
This is on one of the walls at Randy's. There were 
other full size cars, including an AC Cobra.
 

This might have been more our size. A real school 
bus, filled with tables and HW related items. No 
dual V-8 engines to take up space! We left the HW 
convention about 3:00 Friday, in order to head off 
to the Summer Nationals in Worcester Mass.
 
 

 This Camaro had to have the nicest paint of any 
car at the show. Flag appeared to be draped over 
both sides of the car. This car showed up for the 
burnouts on Friday night, and the huge slicks and 
no water prevented any major smoke. Or 
maybe the owner didn't want to fry his expensive 
tires. Lots of other cars put on old tires, and smoked 
'em until they blew out! www.summernationals.com
 

 Another awesome paint job. I took mostly video 
at the show, and some stills. This was a time for 
action and noise! The city police basically looked the 
other way for the weekend on car related laws. 
Open headers were permitted, as were tires that 
happened to be spinning and smoking!
 

 Any 2nd generation Camaro was interesting to us. 
This was a very cherry Z-28.

The '58 Corvette is such a classic, I just had to get 
this front view. The fiberglass on this was like new, 
check out the deep red color. Entire car was mint.
 

 A nice Cuda, one that you won't find on the street 
except for this weekend.
 

You got it, this car was driving around the city! It 
was street legal, had a Maine plate and registration. 
Owner (by tree) had about 30 minutes run time on 
the 20 gallon tanks.