What About Billboards?

Tyco whistling billboard↑↑   ↓↓Back of a box 

Front and back of a retro box.

A future billboard. (magnet)

And this one is kinda special. I was retrieved from Grandpas jewelry box. Significant because my Grandmother worked for various big name tourist destinations in Fl. every winter, and very much resembled this lady.

  He had many pristine billboard sets, but this one was special somehow.   Maybe she sent it in one of the letters? I have every letter between them since highschool courting began, right through to his return from WW2, including one while riding the Super Chief to get home to her and my father, whom he had never even seen yet. ( On the west coast preparing for his first Pacific theater jump, 8 total already when the war ended, he got someone to pull strings so he could ride the Chief part way home ....on Uncle Sams dime )

Hello friends,

I've always liked billboards and have enjoyed this topic very much.  The recent posts by WBG Pete and Adriatic combined to strike a particularly nostalgic chord with me.  I have had the "Wow! Ford V-8" billboard among my toy train accessories since I was a kid, and the old billboard Adriatic found in Grandpa's jewelry box brought memories of my father.

My Dad also served in WWII, which makes my writing this on Veterans Day particularly appropriate.  He returned from the war, married his sweetheart, my Mom, in 1946, and I was born 9 months and 2 days later.  About that time Dad went to work for the Seattle District Office of Ford Motor Company.  His name being Harry Bennett raised more than a few eyebrows at the time, but that is another story, as is the fact that "I" also got "my" first American Flyer train set for Christmas of 1947.

Dad rose to District Auto Sales Manager before he left the Company to become a partner in a Ford dealership in 1960.  In 1963, he sold his interest to his partner, and purchased the sole interest in another Ford dealership which he ran until his retirement in 1984.

Somewhere along the way, someone gave him the display card out of toy train billboard advertising the 1947 Ford.  Fast forward to 1997, the year of my 50th birthday, and he gave me the Christmas gift shown below after having it framed and engraved along with the note now attached to the back.

Thanks again, Dad, for your service and for igniting a lifetime of enjoyment of trains, both real and toy, as well as cool cars!

And thanks, friends, for the memories.

Cheers!

Alan

My addition to the buildup of billboards.  A scratch build I completed a few years ago that I was able to retrieve a few photos of off of an old hard drive.

Here's one I built for a 5x7 photo I had.  It will go on my standard gauge floor layout.  It was an easy build one day at my shop, I used some scrap radiator screen to add some interest to it.  The photo is held in place with four window push points so I can change it when I find a different photo to use.  Or make another one.