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.

One Last Look At Where It Started

I started my can collection almost two years ago.  And with my first can came the first post on this blog.  Last week at work we were told they are closing our building.  Fortunately my department was kept but I'm being moved to a different building.  Unfortunately a few of my friends/coworkers will soon be unemployed.  With my time in the building now running short, I recently took a few pictures that are important to the history of my can collection.

My first can

In my first blog post I told how I found my first can.  It had been sitting on top of the water heater for years.  The above picture is a re-enactment of how I found the can.  And yes, that is the exact can that started it all!

Recycle bin

What I didn't mention in the first post was the large blue recycle bin in the break room that was for aluminum cans only.  Years ago when there were dozens of people working in our building, they had a company come in once a week to haul out the full bin and leave an empty one.  By the next week it would be full.  It would have been heaven if I had been collecting back then.  But throughout the last twelve years, they moved some people to other buildings, went through a few rounds of layoffs, and here at the end there are only 8-10 of us left.  And we're not a bunch of soda-drinkers.

The picture below shows how many cans are in the bin as of this week.  And that is many months' worth.  Kind of a sad state, as is everything around the building right now.

I don't know what's in store for me and my hobby at the new building, but more than anything I hope my friends can find jobs soon and we can all put this whole nightmare behind us!

My Oldest Can?

1965 Nehi

In February of 2012, I posted that a local Craigslist purchase yielded my oldest can yet.  It's an orange Nehi from 1965.

In a recent batch of cans I got, I found this old Royal Crown can.  I haven't been able to nail down an exact year yet, but I have found it's from the 1960's.  The condition is obviously poor (if not downright crappy) which is probably why I think it's older than my 1965 Nehi can, which is in excellent condition!

1960's Royal Crown

I know there are collectors out there that are thinking, "1965 is not that old" but I still consider myself a casual collector in the fact that I generally don't go after any certain brands or designs.  I tend to buy/trade for big lots and see what I get.  There are exceptions, of course, when I do occasionally hunt for certain cans.

But when one collects like I do, the cans are usually from the 80's to present day.  So when a can from the 1960's comes along, it's a nice little treasure to put in a special place on the shelf.

March of the Pigs

I've never seen a Piggly Wiggly grocery store in this area.  So when a fellow can collector that lives on the East Coast offered to send me some Piggly Wiggly brand sodas, I jumped at the offer.  Here's what he was able to wrangle up for me...

As a bonus, he sent me a couple of these stickers:

 

It looks like Porky Pig made a career change after they quit making Looney Tunes.  Oops, did I say Porky Pig?  I believe he goes by "Mr. Pig" now.

Thanks Steve!!!

Mineral Water Tip of the Week

Everyone has an opinion.  And my opinion of mineral water isn't a good one.  In fact, you can hear my taste-test review of it here. 

In August of last year, I saw these cool color-changing Perrier cans and had to buy a 6-pack.  I did the aforementioned taste-test so I could add the can to my collection.  And the other five cans have been on my pantry shelf ever since.

I use flavoring in my water at work.  And this morning I had an idea.  Could I use the flavoring to improve the taste of mineral water?  I took a can of Perrier to work and gave it a try at lunch.

The flavor I chose was Great Value (the Walmart brand equivalent of Mio) blue raspberry.  I squirted some into the refrigerated Perrier and took a drink.  It was much better, but still not a drink I would choose to drink.  It gave the mineral water some much needed flavor, but there was still a twang that smacked me the wrong way.

In conclusion, for those of you who like mineral water, you may want to try adding some flavoring to it.  It definitely improved the taste for me.  Kind of.

Peach Juice Drink

A couple of days ago I posted about the chrysanthemum tea my mother-in-law got for me at a Chinese restaurant.  I mentioned she picked up two different cans for me that day.  In addition to the chrysanthemum tea, she picked up this can.

It is a peach juice drink manufactured in Taipei, Taiwan.  Its ingredients are water, peach juice, cane sugar and citric acid. The can says it's 30% juice.

So how did it taste?  Imagine biting into a sweet, juicy peach and sucking its juice out.  That's exactly what it tasted like.  It was SO good.  Again, my kids did the taste-test with me, but after my first swallow I wished I had done this one alone so I could have it all.  Both kids also loved this drink.  So if I go to the restaurant to pick up the other different cans they had there, I will definitely pick up another one of these luscious libations of the Nectarous Peach Gods. 

Chrysanthemum Tea

A few weeks ago my mother-in-law went to a local Chinese restaurant and they had a selection of 5-6 canned drinks.  She grabbed two of them for me.  And this was one of them.

The can says it was manufactured in Singapore and imported from Malaysia to California.  The ingredients are water, aqueous extract of chrysanthemum, cane sugar and colors.

I had never heard of chrysanthemum tea before.  So it was exciting to try a new taste.  My kids and I did the taste-test.  It was pretty sweet (from the cane sugar) and tasted like a honey tea.  It was real smooth and didn't have much aftertaste.  Overall it wasn't the type of tea I prefer to drink, but I was able to finish my portion rather than pour it down the drain.  My daughter didn't care for it but my son loved it.  He even finished her portion.

So now I need to get to that restaurant to grab the other 3-4 cans!!!

Oh, and by the way, Aqueous Extract of Chrysanthemum was my John Tesh cover band back in high school.  HAHA!  I wish.

Can T-Shirts

About a month ago I was contacted by a guy from Switzerland through my main can collection website.  He explained that he makes linoleum prints on t-shirts and asked if he could use pictures from my site for some new shirts.  I try to help fellow collectors/artists out, so I told him I appreciate the fact that he asked permission and I told him he could use any picture on the site.

A couple of days later he sent me pictures of the new t-shirts he'd made.  

If anyone is interested in these or other designs, you can find him on Facebook at facebook.com/rabbicted. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Roundy's Round-Up

A year ago I did a post about a friend coming down from Wisconsin to hang out.  I was able to snag a Dr Pepper Ten from the floorboard of his car.  At the time he said he could get together a box of cans from his area for me.

This afternoon I got a text from him that he was in town again and he had a present for me...

He came by this evening with a box full of different flavors of Roundy's.  He got them from a chain of stores called Pick 'n Save (which I'd never heard of before).  And the best part, the cans are still full.  So I've got a lot of taste-testing ahead of me.

Thanks again Joe!!!

Two More Christmas Parties

Another day closer to Christmas and two more Christmas parties.  As we arrived at the first party I was filled with hope that I'd need to borrow Santa's bag to carry away all the cans I found.  This is what I saw by the driveway...

But if you notice, it's full of Mtn Dews!  I dug down pretty deep and didn't find anything I didn't already have.  So that was a bit of a disappointment.

Later in the day we headed to the second party.  While out in the garage looking at the guy's restored 1938 Ford, I noticed a couple of sacks of cans to be recycled.  I'd say 90% of the cans were A&W cans that I already have, but I did find this tangerine Diet Rite can.

We leave tomorrow to visit some family out of state, so we'll see if any cans turn up on this trip.  If so, I'll blog about it!!!

Christmas Party Loot

Last night we had a small Christmas party where I work.  One of the guys who used to work with us was there and he brought a bag of cans for me.  Below is a picture of what was in the bag.

 

The cans include a Woodstock '94 Pepsi can, a 1992 Batman Six Flags Coke can, energy drinks featuring Mario, Donkey Kong and Pac-Man, a Duff can from the Simpsons and finally a Coke can from Munich, Germany, which he got while on vacation in October.

Thanks Brad!!!

The Brand of the Can

So, why do I have three cans of the same design in my collection?  Pull up a chair and I'll tell you.

When I'm out in the "field" and come across a can I think I already have, I bring it home anyway because I like cans with even the slightest variation.  The above picture is a good example of three can variations of the same design.  But this time the variation has nothing to do with the design of the can but the can itself.

There are three major can manufacturers; Ball, Crown and Rexam.  There are others but these are the Big Three that I've noticed.  You can see the difference in the three pics below:

 

You can also see a difference in the coloring among the three manufacturers.  Look at the color of the footballs in the first picture in this post.

What I haven't been able to find out yet is what determines which can manufacturer a soda manufacturer uses.  I thought maybe the region of the country determines which brand of can is used.  But I found the above three cans within a two-hour radius of my hometown here in the Midwest.

Please leave a comment if you know why the same soda company uses different can manufacturers.  Or if you're a real can geek, what's your favorite can manufacturer?  haha

Big Sprite

A co-worker brought a can to me at work yesterday.  It was this Sprite can:

 

None of us at work had seen a 16 oz can of regular Sprite before.  This probably isn't big news to a lot of people, but for me this is the first one I've ever seen.

2012 Halloween Cans

Early last week my wife called me at work while she was grocery shopping.  She said they had Frankenstein 7 Up and Dracula Sunkist cans.  I hadn't seen any of the Dr Pepper Snapple Group Halloween cans this year, so I told her to go ahead and get them.

Just in time for Christmas!  HAHA!

There were six cans this year in the Halloween set.  I got the picture below from BevReview.com.  It shows the color-changing effect of each can. 

So I have a few more cans to watch for.  But I haven't given up hope.  In the summer of 2011, I found a Halloween can from 2010 at a store, so I could still stumble across some more in the coming months.

12-11-12 update - I was getting a couple things at a local grocery store this evening and decided to check the cans.  Guess what?  They had the A&W werewolf!!!  So guess what I drank with supper?

Antique Shopping... Yet Again

Last Saturday, we did another one-day road trip checking out antique stores and flea markets we hadn't been to yet.  Overall it wasn't the best can hunt, but I did come home with a few new ones for my collection.

Holiday 2009 can

I saw my first can of the day at the third store we visited.  They had a Coca-Cola Holiday 2009 can which I didn't have.  The can was still full of soda and had no price tag.  So I asked how much it was and the lady working had no idea.  She asked what I'd give for it and I said, "A buck" and she said, "Sold!" 

Japanese Cokes

I found quite a few cans throughout the day but they were priced from $5 to $8 each, and I just don't pay that much for cans.  The next reasonably-priced cans I found were these two Coke cans sitting next to each other in a shop.  I assume they are Japanese (they both have JAS in a circle on them).  But the interesting thing is their size/shape.  They are 250ml, which equals 8.4oz, but they are tall and thin (similar to a Red Bull can).  So I bought both of them.

Sprite 2012 holiday can

One of the stores we went to was having an open house and Christmas sale event.  Just inside the front door they had tables of cookies, cakes, pies, donuts, and several crockpots with assorted cooking meats and there were crackers and breads.  All of it was free for their customers.  They really knew how to have an open house!!!  They also had a tub of soda for customers and that's where I found this 2012 Sprite holiday can.  Last week I blogged about finding this year's Coke holiday can, so now I've found Sprite's.

Cans are just one of the many things I watch for when "junking."  And even when the day doesn't turn up many cans, I still have a ball looking for the many other things that my wife rolls her eyes at.  So when are we going again?

Remembering Our Anniversary

Today is our 12th wedding anniversary.  Last year I posted about the cruise to the Bahamas we took for our 11th anniversary and the few cans that came back with us from the trip.  One of them was the controversial 2011 white "Arctic Home" Coca-Cola can.

Coca-Cola 2011 Holiday can

During one of the shows aboard the cruise ship (on Nov 12), the couple we were sitting with was enjoying the show with a 6-pack of Coke and a bottle of whiskey.  My eyes were all over the white Coke cans and I finally broke down and asked him if I could have one.  Of course he didn't mind at all.  So I carried that can with me from the ship to the hotel to the airport and back home.  When we got home I wrote the date 11-12-11 on the bottom of it to remind me when I got it.

It wasn't long before those cans showed up at stores in my area and a Coke-drinking co-worker brought in a 12-pack of them.  So I was able to bottom-open one for my collection.  I've replaced top-opened cans with bottom-opened cans before and I always put the unneeded top-opened ones in my trade pile.  But in this case, I had to keep the top-opened white Coke can from our cruise.

So as of this post, it's the only can I've kept both top- and bottom-opened versions of. 

And I thank my wife for putting up with my cans for a year and a half now and I hope she can put up with them for many years to come. 

Family Pictures

A few months ago we realized we haven't had family pictures taken for a couple of years.  But instead of going to Olan Mills or Sears or even Walmart, we had my photographer cousin come over for several hours one Saturday last month to take our pictures inside our house, outside the house and even at my in-laws' house out in the country.

As we posed at the piano, the dining room table and even on the couch with X-box controllers in hand, I suggested we take a few pics to reflect my other hobby... can collecting.  So we headed to the basement.

I was only able to get a few pictures taken with the wife before she mysteriously disappeared.  So then I was on my own for a few pics.

And my son, "Lil Pepper", had to ham it up a bit.

Needless to say, none of these will be on the front of our Christmas card this year, but it's still a memorable moment captured in time. 

Return of the Polar Bears

Last week, my wife and I saw a lady sitting next to us in traffic.  I noticed the lady was drinking a red can of Coke with polar bears on it.  I told my wife, "She's drinking a soda that's almost a year old!"  But then I thought about it and realized soda can last quite a while in a can, so the incident left my mind.

Until today when a co-worker brought in a new 12-pack of Coke to work.  He commented that the polar bears were back.  I asked to look at the can to see if they changed the design from last year.  Initially it looked the same, then I saw the 2012 copyright date.  It actually was a new can.  And then I noticed the bears are different.

2011

2012

The 2012 holiday cans have arrived.  Now I'll be watching for the other Coke product variations.

I guess the lady in traffic wasn't drinking an old can of soda but a brand new can.  She fooled me.

How I "Process" A New Can

If I had to take pictures of my 2200+ cans now and do an inventory, it would not get done!  Fortunately I started my web site and catalog when I started collecting and I update both as I get new cans.  So what is the process of adding a can to my collection?  Read on.

For this post's example, I will be using the Diet Dr Pepper can featuring another tuition winner, Antron McCullough, that I found this morning at the local Dollar General store.

The first thing I do is bottom open the can using a hammer and nail.  I put two holes in the bottom, one to allow the soda to drain and one to allow air to go in (notice both holes in the pic below.)  And then I drain the can. 

Once the can is empty, I wash it off and set it on the island in my kitchen to take its picture for the web site.  Every can picture on the site has been taken in this exact spot using the same two CD's to prop the same camera up so every picture is taken at the same level.  I appreciate consistency. 

Then I head to the computer to add the can to my master Can List, which is an Excel file.  The data recorded for each can is the date I got the can, the manufacturer, the brand, the variation (flavor or can design), condition (which is for steel cans describing whether they are straight steel, extruded, etc and what kind of tabs they have), where I got the can, its assigned catalog # and any special notes.

I've highlight today's can in the screenshot above.  Its catalog # is DP01d-20.  And here's what that means.  The first two letters tell me which major manufacturer made the soda.  Examples are DP for Dr Pepper Snapple Group, CC for Coca-Cola, PE for PepsiCo, etc.  The two numbers following the letters tell me which brand of soda it is.  So in my Dr Pepper Snapple Group brand list, 01=Dr Pepper, 02=7 Up, 03=A&W, etc.  And if it's a diet version, I tack on the little "d" after the brand number.  So by looking at DP01d, I know this is a Diet Dr Pepper can.  So which Diet Dr Pepper is it?  #20, the number following the dash in the catalog #.  Looking at the chart above, you can see all of my Diet Dr Peppers listed.  You can also see my newer Dr Peppers and oldest 7Up's on the chart too.  It took a while for me to tweak the catalog # system, but it works for me.  Each can has its own unique number and by looking at that number I know exactly what can it is!

In the case of this can, I had to take two pictures, one of the front and one of the back.  I used Paint Shop Pro photo editing software to combine both pictures and added that pic to the Dr Pepper Special Promos page on the collection web site.

And then the fun part... I add the can to the shelf.

And in this case, Antron now sits with the other three tuition winners I've collected so far in my Dr Pepper section.

So, anyone need an Antron can?  I have five extras!!!