NEW YORK – A new set of Topps Allen & Ginter trading cards is out. The success of the series reveals one of the more unlikely reinventions of brands, namely Allen and Ginter. The name is a forgotten tobacco brand heretofore only known to other card collectors and historians. ItMORE HERE
STURDEVANT, Wisc. – Blame it on COVID-19? And say goodbye to another glorious piece of America. This time it is the Evinrude outboard motor, since 1907 a part of U.S. boating life ever since its invention by Ole Evinrude. If American outboards had personalities, Mercury was the speedy one, EvinrudeMORE HERE
HOBOKEN – Newell Brands, formerly Newell Rubbermaid, owns an astonishing array of classic brands. For those of us who like these classics, they are the owners of American crown jewels. These include Sunbeam, Shakespeare, Blue Diamond, Oster, Coleman, Sharpie, Rubbermaid, Elmer’s, Rawlings, Elmer’s Glue, Ball jars, X-ACTO knives, Crock-Pots, DymoMORE HERE
Perhaps it is not such an issue now, but back in the fall of 2010, Hatteras Yachts was advertising the “Hatteras Refit Center” in marine magazines. The idea was that you could take your Hatteras back to the yard, and get it rebuilt. This sort of approach is one wayMORE HERE
Remember the great blizzards of 1966, 1993, and all those other Nor’easters? They made for the need for snowmobiles. Lots. But over the years, fuel prices, competition, and warm winters have put many snowmobile brands off the market. Some brands, like Arctic Cat, returned. The Arctic Cat company was once popular, went bankruptMORE HERE
LOS ANGELES – For fans of cars and Formula One, the Ron Howard film Rush is a feast. The film details the epic rivalry between the 1976 Formula One racers James Hunt of the U.K. and Austrian Niki Lauda. Released last fall, it is just out on DVD. Sports withMORE HERE
If you were at a kids pool in the 1960s (or my wife on Lyford Cay, Bahamas in about 1970, photo at right), you would likely see toddlers swimming about with little bubble floats on their backs. In some cases they were plain styrofoam, but in many cases they wereMORE HERE
WARSAW, Virginia – On display in the window of this Northern Neck town at The Daily coffee shop is a snazzy Martin “40” outboard motor. Once, there were many American outboard brands. While Evinrude, Johnson and Mercury survive, Martin did not. Martin Motors was from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. This motorMORE HERE
Tretorn. The Swedish brand still has that country club allure, made even more exotic by the fact that they are still a bit hard to find in U.S. stores, though now seem to be reappearing. Above, an old commercial for the brand that seems to date from a 1990s revivalMORE HERE
The employment picture is a fright, no matter how nicely the people at Bureau of Labor Statistics spin it. In the last year, my adopted home state of Florida lost nearly one million jobs, and we won’t get them back for years, even if the recession fades. The question IMORE HERE