YOLT Toyota 2000GT @ Dezer Collection
Gebruder Gumbold
San FranciscoPosts: 549MI6 Agent
Cheers All,
Some interesting pics of the YOLT 2000GT at the Dezer Collection in Miami. You can't get too close to her, but as the building was relatively empty, I braved the rope, and got in a few detail shots.
This has always been for me an evocative shape, hearkening to some early Maserati designs of the 1960s. The Japanese were, and still are, great admirers of Euro and British design, as the 240Z was a homage to the E-Type Jaguar, etc.
Lots of things to look at on this car. I have seen a few coupes in the flesh at various concours events, and I hear tell that there is a chap in LA who does the conversions. He has all sorts of drawings and film seen specs on the YOLT car, and can convert your GT to Bond spec...for a huge sum...
2000GTs are rare, at best, and fetch very high prices at auctions. I used to have a 1/24 Japanese kit, I believe it was Bandai or Nitto, that I found at a very old hobby shop in SF- now gone! Oh yes, what is happening to hobby shops worldwide? I used to spend hours there in my youth on a Saturday, getting building tips, or just roaming around. I always had the dream of opening my own shop in my retirement, but, alas, the internet has done them in. Besides, this damn new generation does not seem to want to do anything with their hands.
Enjoy the pics...
Some interesting pics of the YOLT 2000GT at the Dezer Collection in Miami. You can't get too close to her, but as the building was relatively empty, I braved the rope, and got in a few detail shots.
This has always been for me an evocative shape, hearkening to some early Maserati designs of the 1960s. The Japanese were, and still are, great admirers of Euro and British design, as the 240Z was a homage to the E-Type Jaguar, etc.
Lots of things to look at on this car. I have seen a few coupes in the flesh at various concours events, and I hear tell that there is a chap in LA who does the conversions. He has all sorts of drawings and film seen specs on the YOLT car, and can convert your GT to Bond spec...for a huge sum...
2000GTs are rare, at best, and fetch very high prices at auctions. I used to have a 1/24 Japanese kit, I believe it was Bandai or Nitto, that I found at a very old hobby shop in SF- now gone! Oh yes, what is happening to hobby shops worldwide? I used to spend hours there in my youth on a Saturday, getting building tips, or just roaming around. I always had the dream of opening my own shop in my retirement, but, alas, the internet has done them in. Besides, this damn new generation does not seem to want to do anything with their hands.
Enjoy the pics...
Comments
Thanks for the pics -{
Where and what was the name of that hobby shop?
Some other great Bay Area hobby shops were: Todd's Toys on San Bruno Ave in San Bruno, and, still around in San Mateo is Talbot's Toys, although their hobby section is 1/10 of what is used to be in the heyday.
The best is the Loose Caboose in Napa: an old fashioned fully stocked hobby shop with a little man behind the counter who dresses as a train engineer. Sheldon Cooper in later life!
For my birthday, Amanda let me spend a whole hour there, and tell stories about each kit that I had made as a kid/teenager.
Bless her...Oh, and there is an original 1972 Pinto that the owner drives daily. Precious.
Some of the very best worldwide that I have been to are:
1. Mickey's Model and Hobby Shop, Sunnyvale Ca. largest selection of Britains and solders in the world.
2. Under Two Flags, London. Was closed the first time I went there. I was crushed. Finally got there 2nd UK trip!
3. LeCimier, Paris. Jean Vuyet was a treasure. My mother hoofed it there to buy me some Charles Conrad prints, which I still have, in 1984. I think he fled Paris when the Muslims went crazy a few years ago.
4. (forget the name) Of all places, this hobby shop was in the Greyhound Bus Terminal in NY. Astonished at their selection.
5. Le Petit Soldier Shop, New Orleans. They even had REAL uniforms, helmets, etc. To hell with Bourbon Street, I stayed there!
6. Musee de L' Armee, Paris. Used to be a real hobby shop until about 1985, but still has cool stuff,
7. The Black Watch, Los Angeles
8. Brookhurst Hobbies, Los Angeles
9. San Antonio Hobby Shop, Mountain View, Ca. Largest supershop I ever saw. They literally had everything. It was the size of a Safeway!
10. Die Ecke der Soldat, Belgium. Great paints, and a really nice chap there. Had Zinnifiguren flats too.
11. Modeltoys Luton UK. Had an amazing RC selection, and plastic and wooden kits.
12. Cant remember the name: in Torino on Cso Julio Cesare, near the train station: a diecast selection to rival St. Martin's in London.
Well, that's it for my hobby shop experience. I miss them all. I miss the owners, and other builders who I would run into, and stand there with a model building magazine and discuss different kits, tips, etc. Most of all, I miss having a place to go to that was, well, innocent, and I thought would always be there.
If I win the lottery, I will open up a hobby shop and hide from my wife...
Wow, you worked at that hobby shop in Tanforan?! I loved that place! It was just outside of Emporium and I remember the display cases included a B-17 and a WWII era aircraft carrier from the Battle of Midway with planes that utilized clear discs for spinning props. My parents bought for me from that place both the 1/144 scale Enterprise Shuttle atop a 747 and a 1/72 scale Columbia Shuttle. I think we also bought a 1/16th scale funny car from there.
I haven’t been to the Hobby Co. on Geary in a while, but I began going there when they still had a branch on Sutter. My regular places are Talbots, where I order supplies like paint and diorama material, and of course Franciscan Hobbies, where I’ve gone to since they were in a smaller space across the street. I was saddened by the demise of San Antonio Hobbies, where I once bought a 1/16th scale Toyota 2000GT by Fujimi that I modified into a convertible (for you know what). I just learned recently that another favorite, D&J Hobbies, survived the most recent economic downturn but had to move Campbell to a smaller place in San Jose. My mom used to be coworkers with the lady that owned Chan's Trains & Hobbies on Van Ness and through her, we'd buy large Tamiya kits at wholesale prices.
As for toy stores, my favorite has always been Jeffrey’s, where I’ve been a regular at at Serramonte Mall, Westlake, at the Ghirardelli Bldg and at the present time, on Market (that was on 3rd around the corner) and yes, I vaguely visiting the Cannery location, it was on the 2nd floor I think. They had very decent stock of kits, including the more expensive ones from Japan and Europe and it was there where I got my first Corgi DB5 and TV Batmobile and Batboat trailer combo during the 70’s. The Jeffrey’s at Serramonte closed and was replaced by King Normans, then by KB Toys and with a diminishing focus on the hobby aspect accompanying each change.
Nowadays, I collect pre-assembled vehicles in different scales and would avoid any sort of modeling if possible, but with my other hobby of 1/6th scale action figures, I will sometimes need to do modifications and when I go to either Franciscan Hobbies or Talbots, the employees sometimes ask why I only buy a brass tube here or some plastic sheets there, but never the actual kits, lol.