# Step-dad's attic junk - worth my time?



## partsguy (Jul 10, 2013)

Well I am clearing out (well I damn near have finished clearing out) 75+ years of junk spanning almost three generations. My step-dad's hosue is up for a remodel and is being pushed by my mother on getting things done. I hosted a very large sale at his house to sell off just about everything except the furniture! Lots of stuff sold and lots of stuff got thrown out or hauled away to Goodwill. In the attic I found his old high chair, a baby walker thing, and a stroller with an old fashioned roof that flips up and pops off with chrome "dog dish" style wheels. I sold the high chair but the walker thingy and stroller had little interest. Before I haul these away to the junkyard for scrap are the worth my time to get pics, sell, and SHIP? He was born in 1963 so they are at least that old.

They are both in pretty good shape. The stroller is almost pristine mint condition while the walker is good but needs a cleaning and some polish.


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## partsguy (Jul 10, 2013)

Also, talk about irritation, they kept the TRASH in the house (tax returns from the 1950s, bills from the 80s, 50yr old baby clothes, teaching papers from the 50s-70s, etc.) but the GOOD stuff was left to rot in a shed, the attic, or get musty in the garage. OR believe it or not, thrown out. I found a piece of trim from a pedal car but the pedal car is nowhere in sight...yet they kept a damn baby walker? I hope to never clean a hoarder house again!


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## ridingtoy (Jul 10, 2013)

I'd be curious to see pics of the stroller and walker. People do collect these older strollers and other baby gear items from the 50s, 60s, and 70s that are in decent shape.

Dave


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## sqrly (Jul 10, 2013)

^^^  Says the guy with the tricycle avatar.


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## partsguy (Jul 10, 2013)

I'll get pics next time I'm down there. I had the sale for three days (well two and a half it rained for a bit the first day) but I realize the right buyer maybe just wasn't there. What hurt was the fact I accidentally scheduled the sale on the same day as that big sale that goes through several states evry year AND there was another community sale that same day.

Gas is $3.49 here and I drive a V6 so hopefully these things are worth my time. It is a 40 minute drive from my place.


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## island schwinn (Jul 11, 2013)

i would think you could sell those items easily.i see the beat up old strollers at car swap meets for 250-300 bucks and they actually sell.of course,this is cali and people pay crazy prices around here.


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## ridingtoy (Jul 11, 2013)

sqrly said:


> ^^^  Says the guy with the tricycle avatar.




Yep! I've got a collection of several strollers and prams from the 1960s to early 2000s. They're from US makers like Hedstrom, Peterson, Welsh, and Bilt-Rite, and European makers like Silver Cross, Peg Perego, Maclaren, Simo, and Emmaljunga. I've also helped other stroller owners find parts (even fixed a few for people) for their more high end or older models. On occasion, I'll find a nice one cheap at a flea market that I know is popular on the resale market, buy it, clean it up, make any minor repairs, and resell it. One lady asked me to find her a set of replacement wheels. They were very hard to find in the size she needed to fit her stroller and it took 5 years to locate a set. She was really happy to finally have identical replacement wheels on her carriage again.

Dave


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## sqrly (Jul 11, 2013)

ridingtoy said:


> Yep! I've got a collection of several strollers and prams from the 1960s to early 2000s. They're from US makers like Hedstrom, Peterson, Welsh, and Bilt-Rite, and European makers like Silver Cross, Peg Perego, Maclaren, Simo, and Emmaljunga. I've also helped other stroller owners find parts (even fixed a few for people) for their more high end or older models. On occasion, I'll find a nice one cheap at a flea market that I know is popular on the resale market, buy it, clean it up, make any minor repairs, and resell it. One lady asked me to find her a set of replacement wheels. They were very hard to find in the size she needed to fit her stroller and it took 5 years to locate a set. She was really happy to finally have identical replacement wheels on her carriage again.
> 
> Dave






After re-reading your coment, I see that I had miss read.  I thought you were saying that nobody collects strollers and such.  I thought I was pointing out something hypocritical.  I was wrong.  Sorry for the mix up, I should read better BEFORE being a wiseass. LOL


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## ridingtoy (Jul 12, 2013)

Oh, no worries. Yeah, that would have been hypocrisy with a capital H on my part with all the stuff I've collected like that. I wasn't quite sure what your post meant, but figured you were just giving me the business in a friendly way about collecting such things.

Dave


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## partsguy (Jul 12, 2013)

If a junk stroller sells for $250 in Cali, then to you guys this thing should be worth a tousands, LMAO! I doubt its worth that. Well, with the new interest, I guess I'll clean out a space for these things and prepare to transport them here to my place.

I think the stroller still has the original baby toy bar thingy on it too with the beads. There are no holes in the upholstry at all that I can see, it still has the tags on the bottom, the chrome is not pitted in anyway, no dry rot, I mean it is MINT.


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## ridingtoy (Jul 12, 2013)

When you get a chance to pick the items up and snap a couple pics, I might be able to ID the stroller and walker. I've learned certain design features of different baby gear makers just like with the older trikes.

Dave


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## partsguy (Sep 6, 2013)

*Sorry for the wait!*

Here the LONG delayed pics. I've been so busy I kind of just pushed these to the back of my mind. Sorry guys. I decided to have my step-father get the pictures since he seems to go down there nearly every day LOL!


















The baby walker:


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## partsguy (Sep 6, 2013)

There is waaay too much junk in that garage. Is anyone interested in vintage 50s.60s appliances? Say that old 1960 Sears Coldspot fridge on a pallet?


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## ridingtoy (Sep 8, 2013)

Thanks for posting the photos!

The way the seat pad in the stroller is made with the curved leg hole areas, it could well be a 1960s Strolee. There should be a name on the label hanging from the back or a tag sewn on the crotch strap near the snap. My second guess would be Peterson before they joined with Cosco, though they usually had a more square shaped seat pad back then without the leg opening curves. The stroller would have had a metal rung foot rest which would swing up and out as a leg rest for when a child was reclining for a nap.

The walker is a tough one to ID. It looks pretty generic and there were different mfrs back in the 1960s making very similar walkers. Hate to say it, but in the condition they are in I don't believe they'd have a great deal of value, even to a retro baby gear collector.

Dave


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## partsguy (Sep 14, 2013)

Damn. the stroller is in very nice shape, it would be a shame if I had to toss them in the scrap yard baler. No place will take these ancient things as donations so if I can't sell or donate them, the scrap yard is the only option.

The stroller is from 1963 as my step-dad was an only child and that is the year he was born. I suspect the walker is from the same year as well.

Like I said, are you sure the stroller is scrap? Not a spot of rust anywhere and the pics suck but I didn't take them. It shined out in the sun light.


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## SJ_BIKER (Sep 14, 2013)

*any 1959*



classicfan1 said:


> Well I am clearing out (well I damn near have finished clearing out) 75+ years of junk spanning almost three generations. My step-dad's hosue is up for a remodel and is being pushed by my mother on getting things done. I hosted a very large sale at his house to sell off just about everything except the furniture! Lots of stuff sold and lots of stuff got thrown out or hauled away to Goodwill. In the attic I found his old high chair, a baby walker thing, and a stroller with an old fashioned roof that flips up and pops off with chrome "dog dish" style wheels. I sold the high chair but the walker thingy and stroller had little interest. Before I haul these away to the junkyard for scrap are the worth my time to get pics, sell, and SHIP? He was born in 1963 so they are at least that old.
> 
> They are both in pretty good shape. The stroller is almost pristine mint condition while the walker is good but needs a cleaning and some polish.



 any 1959 barbies in that lot? Toys? from the 50s 60s?


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## ridingtoy (Sep 14, 2013)

classicfan1;269414Like I said said:
			
		

> Maybe the metal foot/leg rest piece is stashed away somewhere? It would help a lot if the stroller had all it's parts, since the chrome is still in good shape. If you can find that metal part I'd get all the pieces attached right, vinyl upholstery cleaned up, and offer it on ebay. Even if the foot rest is lost someone might need a replacement seat, hood, tray, or even a better frame for theirs and will bid on it. I'd try that before just scrapping it altogether. Try the walker too for that matter. You never know with ebay buyers. getting a little something for them is better than scrapping and they are fairly easy to pack up and mail.
> 
> Dave


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## partsguy (Sep 15, 2013)

SJ_BIKER said:


> any 1959 barbies in that lot? Toys? from the 50s 60s?




I wish. He is an only child and the toys he did have were junk for the most part. Played with hard and pieces all over the house. Perhaps the msot valuable thing i found was an electric LEGO train set. I'm holding onto it in hopes of finding the last piece of track, I found the box, parts tray, and the majority of the major parts in the attic. Many parts for the cars and track pieces were in the garage in a box of musty and rusty slot car track behind a door in a dark room (for photo developing, never finished). There were Hotwheels but they all were beat to hell except for one. He said he left most of his in the rear window of the car and supposedly got melted. There was a Matchbox SF-5 track with the box that was roached, a Sizzlers PowerPit that got short circuited and full of mouse droppings. There were several vintage Monogram, Aurora, and Monogram model kits but they were never finished and the parts were left EVERYWHERE throughout the house. When I had the sale, I tossed everything into one box and sold them all for like $20. 

In short...yes there toys...there was a 1972 Rapido Super DeLuxe 3-speed column shift with fancy fenders left in the shed where it decayed and rotted beyond repair. They left the GOOD STUFF in the garage, attic, or outside where it decayed and rotted but they left the TRASH in the house!

I'm not kidding...there were teaching papers from the 1960s-1980s in one bedroom, shelves and closets full of THOUSANDS of dusty old books, most of them textbooks and whatnot. Old VHS tapes, classical music tapes and old people music records (would some rock n' roll kill ya?), old tin foil in the kitchen cabinets, boxes of mason jars, tax returns from the '50s....I just get so frustrated with it.

His parents died in 1997 and 2007 and he had all this time to clean up this disaster but instead my mother and I have been the ones doing about 95% of the cleaning. I will never collect so much crap to burden my loved ones like this...ever.


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## partsguy (Sep 15, 2013)

ridingtoy said:


> Maybe the metal foot/leg rest piece is stashed away somewhere? It would help a lot if the stroller had all it's parts, since the chrome is still in good shape. If you can find that metal part I'd get all the pieces attached right, vinyl upholstery cleaned up, and offer it on ebay. Even if the foot rest is lost someone might need a replacement seat, hood, tray, or even a better frame for theirs and will bid on it. I'd try that before just scrapping it altogether. Try the walker too for that matter. You never know with ebay buyers. getting a little something for them is better than scrapping and they are fairly easy to pack up and mail.
> 
> Dave




Well I suppose you're right. At least for parts somebody may want it. I'm not sure I can visualize the missing part you're talking about though.


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## ridingtoy (Sep 16, 2013)

classicfan1 said:


> Well I suppose you're right. At least for parts somebody may want it. I'm not sure I can visualize the missing part you're talking about though.




Take a look at this similar stroller on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/141061953491?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

The part with the metal chrome rungs above the wheels should also be on the one you have. It keeps the child from having their feet drag on the ground or, raised up, having their legs hang down when they are reclined and taking a nap. There should be some holes on the frame on each side at the bottom where the pivoting support rods would have attached it to the stroller. If you came across anything that looks like that while cleaning out junk, you know what it goes to now. Someone who was good at hoarding would most likely have kept it somewhere.

Dave


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## ridingtoy (Sep 21, 2013)

I did a little more research on your stroller. It isn't a Strolee as I first suspected. It's actually a Welsh Winkie model. The foot rest piece I said was missing is actually a removable part so that the stroller converts to a walker. That part could still be stashed away somewhere. The front rubber bumper was also a Winkie feature for when it was being used in walker mode.

Dave


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## partsguy (Nov 4, 2013)

How do I keep forgetting thsi thread? lol. I was up in the attic with a magnet searching the insulation for a missing thermos that goes to a rare Car-Snac I found up there. I found one thermos and I believe the salt andpepper shakers, but the other thermos is gone. If that missing part was metal I would have got it for sure. The magnet I had is pretty powerful.


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