Loss and Damage: The Worst Offender

Good ol' fashioned just being thrown away by empty nesters. 

So which is the worst offender when it comes to the 1978 Mattel A Frame DreamHouse? Being stored away in a hot, humid attice for 25 years where temperatures can reach 150 degrees or more not to mention racoons, rats and squirels munching away ranks pretty high. Bratty kids rough housing with it, scraping it along cement driveways, scratching and pulling the windows amd doors out damaging the hinges and pegs, coloring on it with markers? The sun, with its cruel scorching rays bleaching the color right out of the red roof, browning the yellow doors and white walls. How about the heartless ebay sellers who routinely gut the homes for parts, throw out what doesnt sell or is damaged, not use packing material (or use newspapers with staining ink), and use orignal shipping cartons for mailing boxes to buyers? My personal favorite is bored housewives with cans of spray paint and the illusion they have artistic ability. Or is it simply the ravages of time that also fade everything and discolor the clear windows and doors, and rot the boxes? Its hard to say, I guess its a combination of all depending on which house is in question. Thankfully, most things can be fixed, by cleaning, painting, glueing, taping, buying spare parts and storing properly rescued homes.

"Yes, Virginia, even to this day when vintage toy collecting is almost a religious experience for some, there are those that let a 45 year old toy in its original box rot out in an old decaying barn in Flyover, USA."

***actual ebay listing description: 

PS: "We cleaned it" means - I took it into the yard, hosed it off for 5 minutes and let it dry in the sun while the screws rusted and the sun faded the red roof pieces, and the dog may have lifted its leg on it, so... You're welcome.


Also, they went to the trouble to type out, "This toy would be great for children to play with".  =-/ 

I guess if I lived in this environment for 30+ years I wouldnt look so hot either! =-( 

So, if you don't know already, the screws are not galvanized so they will rust when wet, never ever expose them to water, ie hosing off 40 years of dust from improper storage instead of taking the time to clean it properly as outlined in other posts, you must completely disassemble the house and set aside the screws in a ziplock baggie (screw renovation post is live so search term it for details).

When I clean an A Frame, it involves about an hour in the shower with a tooth brush, sponge and dish soap, I meticulously dry all the pieces using q tips and bath towels prior to polishing and painting pieces. Here, you can see that in the mail you will get one of two kins of A Frames, one is covered in 40 years of dust, the other was sprayed down with the hose, which rusts the screws, so you get dust residue AND water marks. Le sigh...

Pristine house in the direct sun on the rough concrete, could this be a curb alert? I'm sure this has happened in the past, but this particular one is a Facebook marketplace item for $350 with furniture and pool. =-) 

I dont even know where to begin on this recent facebook marketplace ad...They took FOUR factory original houses, broke off the structural posts to make this obscenely oversized practically unusable, hideous Frankenstein structure, painted it the color of concrete (Im assuming it was not cleaned prior so you'll have caked on dust in the details, it's now soaking wet  on the hot rough asphalt as it appears she hosed it off (allowed to get dirty and or was just left outside for a long time) so good luck with those now rusty screws, never even bothered to do the flowers (probably threw them away), and now she's asking hundreds of dollars for her "project" she's now done with. It does break my heart to see this, but it emphasizes saving the original houses that are left since people keep permanently modifying them like this. If it was repainted you'd start to lose the finer details and it may crackle/bubble on the older dirty paint. =-( 

This one has been taken care of: 

So it is possible to find a complete, near mint set of column covers still to this day (2023), they aren't all yellowed and shattered, but it will cost ya. =-) 

Yes, Virginia, leaving it out in the yard on a blazing hot sunny day will color change white to tan, dark red to faded orangey-cream, and dark yellow to very light yellow:

(plus a screw could fall out and you won't see it again till the lawn mower turns it into shrapnel: kids and dogs beware!)