Post #411822 by tikicar on Sun, Oct 5, 2008 4:36 PM

Well I spent most of the week at the Carlisle car swap meet and show. I talked to several guys who specialize in automobilia stuff and some big dollar items. Every guy I showed it to wanted to buy it. They all said it was real from their experience and they have never seen anyone repro a tin topper except for one that was hand painted for someone special. They said there were a few companies still making them into the 60's. They said you could order very small amounts as low as 50 in most cases. Their thoughts are it was either bought and not used because it would not fit the car it was bought for, because it was a top mount. There were bottom mounts also and sometimes when they orderd they got both ways in the later years and usually the top mounts were still left unsold. Also it could have been a lunch box take home piece from a worker who collected them or just liked it. They said finding unused toppers is not as uncommon as you would think. None of them had ever seen one of Tiki Gardens before. Here are a few pics. You can see the table full of repo cast pieces and some real toppers for sale.