[78-L] Average age

[Steven]

From: George Anglin
> Bought my first car, a 1936 dodge coupe in 1960 when I got my license. 
> Still have it 50 years later and after two engine rebuilds, a paint job 
> and upholstery, still drives like a dream. Bought my first record in 1957, 
> Leo Reisman on columbia "Cause I Feel Low Down" and flip "In A bamboo 
> Garden" Hundreds of plays and still sounds priceless. Nuf said. Packard 
> Marmon
>
I wish I still owned a few of my first cars!

Not counting my very first (a wrecked Cadillac my dad foisted on me...?!) 
the
first car I owned was a 1951 Cadillac 60 Special Fleetwood...2-tone dark 
green
over light green. Great car...except like all GM V8's of that period, 
suffered
from "vapour lock" if it was shut off and restarted. Had power windows,
which fascinated my high-school classmates! Traded that on a 1962 Pontiac
Tempest (a rolling disaster...the engineers created a 4-cylinder engine by
"cutting in half" the V8, forgetting fours are inherently OUT of balance and
suffer from vibration!); it "self-immolated" a couple of years later! Then I
bought a 1958 Impala convertible...beautiful car (and now valuable!) but
VERY unreliable! In late 1965, I rode Greyhound up to Chicago, where
Courtesy Ford sold Mustangs for $0 down...bought myself a '66 Mustang
convertible. Put about 150,000 miles on that over 10+ years. and then
retired it; it was destroyed by vandals, though, after I parked it! GREAT
car...well worth the $2800 it cost me!

The Cadillac, the Impala and the Mustang would now be worth about
$50-75000 apiece, if they still existed...?!

One of the first 78's I bought was Lombardo's Columbia of "Sweethearts
On Parade"...vocal by Carmen. I learned how to sing that tune using
his vibrato/tremolo...copying the record! I encountered an "antique
store" selling 78's for a quarter per each, and bought 20 or so; bought
a few more at Goodwill, and then bought a 78 collection there which
was probably donated by the survivors of the original owner. It was
c. 150 78's, all well-notated; I bought virtually all of that bunch!

Thereafter, an acquaintance/antique-dealer-wannabe of mine bought
about 4,000 78's at a local auction. I was by NO means an expert, but
I knew more about 78's than he did! He asked me to go through the
discs...and told me I could take all the records I wanted for free!
Among the records I grabbed were BOTH of the records of the
"Lang-Venuti All-Stars" on original Melotone discs!

Around 1974 or so, I started seriously collecting 78's, and
discovered "auction lists!" I bought thousands of 78's from
Peter Leavitt (no idea what has happened to him.../!). As
well, I bought a huge number from Toronto's Don Keele;
he had a store, Don's Discs, and sold 78's VERY cheaply
(as well, the prices went down as they were picked over!)

By the time I moved to Toronto, Canada (1977) I owned
a couple of thousand 78's. Over ensuing years, I increased
that number; in the last several years I was able to buy a
few large lots VERY inexpensively so I now own around
60,000 78's!

Steven C. Barr