COCA Members See Seventeen Collections in Four Days
The adventure began at the 2012 C.O.C.A convention in Minneapolis when two COCA members; “The Oklahoma Flash”, Don Mangels and Les Aaron the “California King of Trade Stimulators”, discussed getting together to tour a few collections in Southern California.
It was only small talk but within a short period of time the trip quickly grew into eight COCA members visiting seventeen COCA collectors in the Los Angeles area. They came from eight different states to the East, and included Chad Boekelheide, Tom Gustwiller, Charles Kemp, Don Mangels, David McDonald, Ron Pulver, Larry Vedas, and Johnny Duckworth.{image_1}{image_2}{image_6}
On a cold Sunday morning in January they were in a Hertz van and on their way to visit the first collection. Les had arranged the busy schedule that enabled them to view the most collections. They drove more than 600 miles throughout Southern California and saw well over 5,000 machines. WOW!
{image_3}They saw every kind of coin operated machine you can imagine on this trip; so no matter what type of coin-op one liked, it was sure to be encountered. The members visited included Les Aaron, Eugene Brown, Phil Cunningham, Dan Davids, Scott Fawcett, Barry Goldfarb, Larry Griffin, John Hermann, Roger Kislingbury, Sandy Lechtick, Mike Lustig, Greg McLemore, Fred Roth, George Stupar, Bill Thomas, Ira Warren, & John Zuk.{image_4}
We all collect and enjoy certain coin operated machines and it’s always fun to visit other collectors and see how they enjoy and display their collections. If you’ve never been to the yearly COCA convention you are missing out on the great opportunity to view some great collections and to meet and get to know folks that share our common passion for coin-op.
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The 2012 Minneapolis COCA convention led to twenty five members sharing that great opportunity and making friendships that will last a lifetime.{image_7}
Click on the link below to see some great coin-op pictures that Don took on the journey.
VIEW DON MANGELS PHOTOS OF L.A. COLLECTIONS HERE
Story Submitted by Johnny Duckworth
