toynutz newz

07 September 2004 - Now you can find more articles about the Toy Car Collectors Association (TCCA) at the Association of Collecting Clubs website news pages at http://news.collectors.org/.

It was April 1993 when founder Dana Johnson acted on his dream of starting a club for die-cast toy car collectors.  In the beginning, the club was based on his fascination with a brand of die-cast and plastic toy vehicles made in France called Majorettes.  So it was that the Majorette Diecast Toy Collectors Association was born.  In its first month, the club accumulated 12 members and produced just one issue of its club newsletter “Majorette Toy Collector” before folding under the threat of corporate control, licensing fees and royalties from Majorette’s corporate legal department.

The idea of a club was shelved for seven months until reformed as the North American Diecast Toy Collectors Association in November 1993, with the intent of focusing on many brands of automotive toys rather than just one, in the process avoiding the licensing problems involved with using a brand name in the club's title.  The newsletter was renamed “Diecast Toy Collector.”   In 1997, the club's name was shortened to Diecast Toy Collectors Association to reflect a growing international membership.

On January 1st, 2001, the club was reorganized into the Toy Car Collectors Association with the takeover of Pete Foss' Toy Car Collectors Club of West Bloomfield, Michigan.  His club has existed in one form or another since 1973, hence the thirtieth anniversary.  A subscription to the new Toy Car Collector magazine is the primary benefit of membership.  Other benefits include supporting an extensive online resource center for collectors at www.toynutz.com, certificate of membership, a 40 percent discount on the club’s annual resource directory, and free classified ads in Toy Car Collector Magazine for the duration of membership.

Today, the Toy Car Collectors Association remains a small but elite group of devoted collectors and contributors from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hong Kong, Japan, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Puerto Rico and around the world.

27 January 2003 - A new look is evolving for toynutz.com.  It's about time, too, since this website has looked about the same since 1995.  The Toy Car Sale pages are expanding, too, to now include a few vintage Corgi toys, some unusual generic items, and more 1:18 scale models.  Explore the new site.  You might just find something you suddenly can't live without.

Toynutz Moves  ...Across Town
01 November 2002 - Mr. Dana Johnson of Dana Johnson Enterprises, parent company to toynutz.com, Toy Car Collector Magazine and the Toy Car Collectors Association, had planned to move to Michigan in October 2002, but due to circumstances beyond his control, Mr. Johnson will remain in Bend, Oregon.  "I've left my old job of 17 years for a new job in Bend, sold our house on the west side of Bend and bought one on the east side, sold my 10 year old Nissan pickup and bought a new 2002 Nissan Frontier XE," Says Mr. Johnson.  "I really love our new home and my new truck.  Now I'll be looking for a die-cast scale model of same."    You may contact Mr. Johnson by mail, phone, or e-mail:
Dana Johnson Enterprises
P O Box 1824
Bend  OR  97709-1824  USA
24 hr. message phone 541-318-7176
E-mail the TCCA