Canada Dry "American Patriots"

Perhaps this should be saved for a July 4 post, but I'm going to post about it today because it's a set of cans I liked the first time I saw it.  In 1976, Canada Dry released a set of nineteen cans, each featuring a different American patriot.  I think the cans have a great colonial look to them.  I can just imagine George Washington urging his Continental Army not to throw their empty cans into the Delaware River on their way to Trenton.  After all, that was way before "Please don't litter" appeared on cans.

But I recently found fifteen of the cans:

They are Abigail Adams, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Henry Knox, James Monroe, John Adams, John Hancock, John Jay, John Paul Jones, Martha Washington, Patrick Henry, Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine.

The four I am missing are Alexander Hamilton, Anthony Wayne, John Hanson and Thomas Johnson (images for these cans came from www.gono.com)

Of course I would eventually like to have a complete collection.  Maybe by July 4 of this year I will have found the other four.  But I'll keep in mind what Benjamin Franklin said, "He that can have patience can have what he will."  Perhaps he was talking about can collecting.

Comin' and Goin'

Howdy!  Today's post is a short one.  It's a can design I've liked for quite a while.  The soda is Sioux City Sarsaparilla (made by White Rock) and is still sold today.  This particular straight steel pull-top can dates back to the 1970's.  Here you can see the front and back of the can.

Comin'

Goin'

Recent Can Additions

The stars and planets have aligned just right that in the last two weeks I have had quite an influx of new cans enter the house.  Over 300 to be precise!  They came from online auctions, antique stores, friends, family, fellow collectors, etc. 

So now begins the fun of "processing" the cans and getting them in my collection.  I'm sure there are a few more stories for the blog buried in this pile of cans, so stay tuned...

Who Ya Gonna Drink? Ghostbusters!

In a recent batch of cans, I found this Hi-C Ecto Cooler.  I had never heard of it before.  Here's what the Hi-C wiki says about it:

Ecto-Cooler was a product tie-in with the cartoon series The Real Ghostbusters, based on the 1984 live-action film, Ghostbusters. Hi-C struck a deal in 1987 to promote the series by developing a drink. Expected to last only as long as the series, the drink was successful beyond expectations and continued after the series' 1991 cancellation to be produced for more than a decade. The Ecto-Cooler box featured The Real Ghostbusters character Slimer, as did the commercials. Slimer left the box sometime around 1997, but Minute Maid did not discontinue the product until 2001, at which point it was renamed Shoutin' Orange Tangergreen. Slimer was replaced on the packaging by a similar-looking blob of lips. The product was still noted as ecto cool on many store receipts. In 2006, Shoutin' Orange Tangergreen was renamed Crazy Citrus Cooler. In 2007, Crazy Citrus Cooler was discontinued.

And with this post, I finally got some use out of that papercraft haunted house I built for Halloween a couple of years ago.

My Return to An Antique Mall

Last August we went to an antique mall that used to be a grade school (read about it here).  The place is huge!  I scored five cans that day.  Since we didn't have enough time to totally check out the place, today we returned with no time constraints (and no kids). 

There were more soda cans scattered throughout the place this time, so it was hard for me to decide which few to buy.  These are the six "special" cans I chose:

Last time we were there I found a booth that had trays of 24 cans for $8.95 per tray, but they were beer cans.  Today, the booth was still there but it didn't have as many trays as last time.

I noticed there were more soda cans today than last time.  So I was able to find exactly 24 sodas sprinkled throughout the trays, which includes the start of my Canadian Dry Bicentennial Patriot collection from 1976 (the info I found said it's a 19-can set.)  That was a well-spent $8.95.

I consider today a successful hunt out in the field.  And the best part... I know there are more cans there which means we will eventually return for another visit.