TLC - from another thread
I sure have met some very nice people since I became a member here and it pays off in more ways than I can list.
doug hodder - from another thread
....it's all part of the "what goes around, comes around" factor.
That's one of the things that makes this site such a great place. Someone you may or may not have never met will step up and think about another member and give them something that they would really enjoy and use. It just doesn't get any better than that!
Here's a little story for y'all...
So, last Friday morning I was puttering around with some of my camp gear, looking at a Cream-Of-Nothing propane-canister dual-mantle lantern and thinking, "This thing sucks. It's certainly easy and convenient to use, but... I want an older, white-gas Coleman lantern, but those dual-mantle versions are too dang bright. I wonder if Coleman ever made a single-mantle lantern?", then promptly went on with my day, dismissing the thought.
That very afternoon I went to visit Gus for the first time, a member of T&TTT, username eamarquardt who had finished his teardrop's chassis. While showing me around his garage shop, he opened a bin containing six Coleman lanterns... four were the familiar green, dual-mantle version we all know so well... but two... two had slightly smaller diameter ventilators... and they were RED. "WTF are those?"
And then my life changed forever...

Well, Gus couldn't bear to part with either of the two... and I exclaimed, 'Hey. I didn't drive all the way out here to separate you from any of these lanterns... it's just that I had been wondering about something like these here, earlier today..." while I longingly looked at the red wonders... here they were, and I was amazed.
Gus said, "We can find you some on craigslist if you're patient, and we won't have to pay very much, either!"
More of the story can be read in Tom's thread, here: http://tnttt.com/viewto ... c&start=15
That evening after visiting with Gus and seeing a 200A for the first time I drove home, obsessed with the idea of buying at least one RIGHT AWAY.. and in the morning was looking at L.A. craigslist. I found a woman selling her late father's perfect (well... perhaps cosmetically, but not mechanically... the wheel valve's needle tip has a groove in it from someone overtightening it in the past). We struck a deal, I posted in Tom's thread of the impending purchase, my first, and three hours later after I paid what I call the "I WANT IT NOW" price I was at my friend Tony's shop, getting familiar with a 200A for the very first time.
200A #1, a 1962...
I knew I wanted at least two for camp... and a third as a spare... Gus found #2 in Oxnard, CA on Sunday morning... I picked this one up from him last night and worked on it 'til midnight last night. This one is a 1956...
My 1962 in front of my '56...
I love these things!...
I know when I need help... My name is Chris, and I am a Colemanholic.


