A Little Pro-Line Nostalgia From My LHS

[a01butal]

I went over to my lhs (Walt's Hobby Shop in Joliet, IL) yesterday and Bob who runs it and is the grandson of the original owner (opened in 1953) was telling me he was overjoyed as he had found something in a box up on the top shelf in the back room (labeled Lionel parts). He went back and brought out the original Pro-Line display from bitd. All the tires were provided by Pro-Line and only 1 tire of each was supplied. I guess he thought this had either been thrown out or sold off about 20 years ago as he hadn't seen it since that time. Needless to say it's going home to his little hobby shop in the basement that he has. I think it's pretty cool and wanted to share it with the forum.

[Eau Rouge]

Neat stuff, Al. I'm sure Bob has hoarded away a lot more precious and historical items we'd be thrilled to see, too.

[dsmith]

cool..i never seen that before....thanks

[Jay Dub]

I used to run for Proline bitd, and did testing for them. I wish I kept some of the crazy prototype stuff they sent me. -Jeff

[scr8p]

i have a single 1046 looking for a single 1046. band and all..............

[civilguy]

i have a single 1046 looking for a single 1046. band and all..............

Looks like someone walked out of the shop with that in their pocket.

[scr8p]

you'll have to talk to jay about that. he's the one that gave it to me.

[a01butal]

I would bet money you'll never get the mate from this display.

[adam lancia]

My old LHS from when I was in university had a bunch of old Proline tires loose with those bands on them. I always wondered what they could be for, now I know, thanks!

[slotcarrod]

I have a single front Proline Knobby # 1003 (the front tires mounted on Tamiya wheels on the Halsey RC10) I don't see one on that rack but I sure could use one if there is a single one out there!

My tire has the tag as well, and no it did not leave in my pocket. I paid $5.00 to the #$@ hobby shop owner in Spokane for it! I hope to find a mate for it!

[civilguy]

Most of the shop owners don't have the storage space to keep displays once they are outdated. I bet a healthy percentage of the banded display tires were thrown into clearance bins when the LHS was done with the rack. A complete display like this one is likely very rare.... and quite cool.

[Ruffy]

Nice display, takes me way back.
Thanks for sharing it!

[JOESGARAGE]

here are mine!

[fredswain]

I wish we could still get some of those old tires. I swear they are still better than the current offerings when it comes to loose dirt. The closest thing we have today are the Losi IFMAR studs or some Schumachers if you can find them.

[mrlexan]

to answer the reply from long ago, I got my hands on one of those displays and I knew Scr8p needed one.... so, all this time later it is still a orphan?