The Mother Lode

A long time ago, there used to be an amusement park near Lake George called the Magic Forest. Besides the kiddie rides, the owner also collected and displayed many different statues and figurines throughout the wooded park. The 46 acre property has been sold and the new owners are making way for what we heard is a dinosaur park. Many of the old items have been put up for sale on an online auction, and we had a once in a lifetime opportunity to go and tour the place and preview the 800+ items up for bid. Cousin Chuck, who is as eclectic as we are and had discovered the auction, met us up there, and what a day we had! Not only were there items in the abandoned park, but also in a storage warehouse, in containers, and in fields, located behind the scenes. It was all so eerie, but oh so much fun!

 

This caterpillar ride was not up for bid, but it sure would be fun to own...

The Magic Forest Animal Land Band can be bid on separately or as a group.

The "Old Lady in a Shoe" is up for grabs, but it would be interesting getting it moved. This old lady (aka me) should have been in the photo. 😉

Rip Van Winkle was waking up...

There were about a dozen of these mechanized Snow White displays that can be bought. They all worked, including the old time music!

This train was on display and not for sale. 

Dave and Chuck explored the train cars stored under the covered bridge...

Smokey the Bear is in great shape and the bidding is high for this item.

Behind the scenes, in a different storage area, were these containers and the tea cups from a ride.

Boat rides and the tops from the Tilt-A-Whirl...

Inside the containers there were some really neat items, but some creepy ones too.

The warehouse had some really large displays up for grabs, along with some car parts that weren't for sale...but more on that in a bit.

Out into the field we found more boating 'treasures'!

I personally would love to have an elephant in our woods. Wouldn't that surprise the deer...and our neighbors?

Then it was time to climb up a hill to the wayyyy back storage area and we found the rainmaker. It would look great at the truck and tractor shows. We are watching the bids and will see if it is worth buying.

We also found this other train that looked to be in service, and not for sale. The inquisitive guys had to find out how it was powered and Chuck located a Corvair engine in the coal car.

There were more containers to look in even further back, so we certainly didn't miss a thing on the property. Chuck ended up meeting the owner, Jack Gillette, who had collected everything throughout the years, and he invited us into his private warehouse to see something totally on the other end of the spectrum from all the old figurines. It was his collection of 53 spectacular Corvettes! They were packed into an immaculate building and I was afraid to even move so as not to touch anything. I didn't know if Jack allowed photos to be taken so I opted not to. What an experience though! Later I did find out that the cars were on display at the Saratoga Auto Museum at one time. No wonder there were some car parts mixed in with everything else in the other warehouse. Now to top off the day, there just happened to be the 6 PM WNYT newscaster on site, doing a special on the auction and they interviewed Chuck! You can see the video here: Owner of old Magic Forest theme park auctioning off unique décor | WNYT.com  The auction is through Collar City Auctions and ends 11 AM, Oct 1st, if you would like to see more. Chuck is bidding on some items for his blueberry farm in Galway, to entertain the kids, and we are watching a few items too. This was our favorite...

I will let you know if we end up getting anything, so stay tuned!

Vintage Racing

This post is for the motorheads out there. Dave attended the AMA Vintage Flat Track National Motorcycle Races at the old Electric City Riders track in Duanesburg, where he used to race, 40-50 (!) years ago. The weather was perfect and there were about a 175 racers entered, along with their families and friends attending as pit crews. They moved the pits from way out back to up on the hill and the campers, tents, bikes, and crews were lined up the whole way. This gave them a perfect spot to watch the races. 

Pretty much only the general public ended up down watching at the fence along the track, and sadly, attendance for spectators was really low. 

The racing classes were totally different than what Dave used to race in, because these were vintage bikes.

There were all sorts of different bikes, many of which looked like something Dave would have modified. Many of the racers were vintage too! 😉 Both the bikes below were Harley Davidson 750 flatheads from the 1940s.

This is a modern Harley Davidson alloy Sportster. Looks like it is apart for front cylinder repair.

One of Dave's favorites was this mid-60s Aeramacci HD 250cc Sprint. The owner claimed it would rev to 10,000 RPM. 

This is a 1949 Triumph TR5A, non-unit construction. It sounded awesome! Note the lack of rear suspension, except for the seat springs.

Another Harley Flathead 750 dressed in XR750 colors.

That is a magneto mounted between the cylinders.

This Indian Flathead 750 was from 1941. Note the hand clutch on the left of the gas tank.

A total blast from the past (1975)...a Bultaco Astro 250 and a Yamaha XS 750 twin.

Another one of Dave's favorites was this Suzuki GT 250 two stroke twin, shoehorned into a Can Am frame.

Here is probably the one and only street derived Yamaha XV 920 flat tracker, in a stock frame. 

One of five ever produced is this Yankee 500 flat tracker assembled in Schenectady, NY in 1975. This one is sporting an Ossa 250 Phantom top end x 2. 

This is a who's who of people that were involved in the Yankee Ossa operation in Schenectady.

Another defunct Spanish brand from the mid-70s was this Montesa flat tracker. 

A third favorite of Dave's was this mid-60s Honda 250 twin model CL 72. It won its class.

45 year old Bultaco Astros were everywhere. Dave wonders where they procure their spare parts to keep them going.

I told Dave he ought to join in and race next year, because I know he could invent the perfect motorcycle by next September. His answer was a definite "no, I don't want to take the chance of getting hurt." Good answer Dave, good answer. 😉 

The Trucks Are Back!

It is so nice to see all our shows returning after the year off due to Covid. This weekend was the Ballston Truck Show at the Saratoga County Fairgrounds. Dave loaded all sorts of his creations up and I joined him a few hours later. His inventions included his 1956 Panzer (the same year he was born), which he bought for modifying it with a Honda CB 750 engine, but then decided against it, because it would be a shame to change its authenticity. It has to be rope started, but it was perfect for towing the peanut roaster around.

His other inventions included the Honda Trail 212 (a Trail 70 with a Twinstar 200cc engine in it), His Whizzer replica motorized bicycle, and his custom mini bike with a snowmobile engine it.

Even the Divco made it to the show on a trailer and it drew quite a crowd. It was driven around a few times and ran flawlessly.

This truck was quite the display. It had a BBQ/smoker, but if you look really close, you can see that it is actually a trailer disguised as a truck, right down to the engine being fake. The front was eventually hooked up to a trailer hitch and towed home. Brilliantly done!

All sorts of trucks, big and small turned out for this much anticipated event. Some were gorgeous and others were novel, like these rat rods.

This 1937 chain drive C-cab Mack truck may look like a rat rod, but it has quite the history to it and the owner traveled with his family to Buffalo on the NYS Thruway and back to the Capital District in it.

This camper/mudder entourage drove in and parked while we were checking out the trucks. Dave went over to the owner and he started the mudder up for him, although he couldn't take it off the trailer due to an equipment failure at the last mud bog.

This Mack combination rig was one of the many that came from all over the Northeast.

Note the beautiful Mack bulldog statue on the back of this truck. It was chainsaw carved out of a tree log.

Here is a matching pair of White overnight cab, single screw tractors.

Look at this awesome GM V-12 1271 engine. It is huge and sounds amazing.

Brer Rabbit was the name of this pre-war AC Mack with a custom oak body, complete with molasses barrels.

The detail of Brer Rabbit was one of our favorites. This is also a chain drive truck and has acetylene gas lighting.

This was a gorgeous 1922 Ahrens-Fox pumper fire truck. Click on the photo and zoom in to read about it.

A nice fleet collection of day tractors.

There was even a group of Model T touring cars, including some brass era models. These are over 100 years old.

This event was the last of our seasonal shows and it was the perfect ending. My photos were such a small sample of all the great displays. We can't wait to see what's new next year and we will be ready!