As a young boy who grew up during an era of no computers, Nintendo’s, x-boxes or TV’s I had the pleasure of spending time with my father who I affectionately called pop. Back in the 50’s milk was delivered to your home by a milkman, really home delivery along with fresh bread and pastry. You didn’t have to run to the quick mart every other day for bread or milk it was placed in an insulated box on your porch early in the morning and no one stole it either.

Also, there was an egg man who delivered fresh eggs from the farm and even a store on wheels it was generally an old bus converted into a moving store that sold meats, vegetables etc. just like the corner mom and pop store ever so prevalent back then. They would drive from town to town in the bus blowing their horn to let you know they were coming. People actually knew their neighbors and no one locked their doors at night and the milkman and all the other clerks said "Good morning" and "Thank You".

My Pop was a milkman; I was his patcher or runner whatever you prefer to call it I was the kid that ran out the door to place the milk on the porch. Now you may be asking yourself what the heck does this have to do with diecast? Well, it is the reason the Danbury Mint Divco sits in my display case. Therefore we can call this story “Why we collect” or in my case “things that go bump in the night”.

I was always proud of pop and we enjoyed our time together in that Divco. I always felt special as pop allowed me to drive that old truck on back roads sometimes in the city during the very early hours of the morning even though I could barley see over the steering wheel. He always bought me a big breakfast even though money was very scarce in our household. Pop always smiled and only now do I realize that pop had just a cup of tea so the kid could have a first class breakfast. He always had an excuse why he wasn’t eating but smiled as I woofed down my meal.

You see Pop would get me up every Saturday morning at 4:00 AM to assist him on his route. I was only allowed to go with pop on Saturday during the school year, whereas during the summer months I was allowed to go everyday with pop. Never complaining about waking at 4:00 AM or missing my friends while being the runner for pop the time on that Divco were some of the best times of my life.

The Divco was unique because it could be driven either standing or sitting the purpose of this was, as you delivered milk you didn’t have to be jumping on and off the seat. You could simply fold the seat push it up the steering wheel where it was out of the way as you ran in an out of either door.

Another unique feature of the Divco was it had only two pedals even though it had a standard transmission you would think it needed three pedals gas, brake and clutch? Any sane designer would have placed three pedals in this truck but not the designer of the Divco he/she figured a way to do it with two. I will call the clutch/brake pedal the suicide pedal, as the clutch and brake were one and the same. Pushing the pedal partway down engaged the clutch while moving it further down you engaged the break, scary isn’t it. You had to hope you didn’t hiccup or sneeze during this very important operation or you had cases of milk flying all over the place or so I was told.

Another interesting fact about this truck was not only was it extremely underpowered being nothing more than a four cylinder but it also included a governor to restrict its speed to a mere 40 mph. Both pop and I tried our hardest to get it over 40 maybe once we accomplished this impossible fete, we were going downhill with a strong tail wind if memory serves me correctly?

Viewing the front of the truck or if you are fortunate to own one open the passenger door there you will view a cabinet that stored eggs and butter. Not all trucks had this box in it, pop’s didn’t so I got to sit on a upside down milk case where the egg box should have been allowing me to look out the windshield as we drove from town to town. Think about this, I wasn’t belted in worst yet I was sitting on a projectile that surely would go flying through the air upon impact talk about a rush. The Divco was built in my opinion as the ultimate driving machine. Why was that you ask? Think about it for a minute you have a clutch/brake that could surely get the ole heart rate going hoping you didn’t hiccup during the all important process of shifting then there was the possibility of the flying kid. What a machine you had to love it!

Let me close by saying I would never trade these memories with pop for all the tea in china. They were good times as I remember them today. We would arrive at the dairy to load pop’s truck by 5:00 AM the next stop during the hot summer months was the local ice plant. There we would drag large blocks of ice to the truck where I would crawl over the cases of milk chopping the ice covering the cases to keep the milk cold. Our next stop was a mom and pop restaurant called “Jimmy’s” where I was treated to a breakfast fit for a king or at least I remember it that way.

The rest of the day was spent chatting with pop while running out each door placing the milk in the little boxes on the customer’s porches. From time to time cookies would be left on the top of the milk box for “the kid” mostly on Saturdays. By mid day pop would stop the pastry truck and I would be treated to the best crème filled chocolate cupcakes in the world.

Right before the final run of stops we always stopped at a small gas station where pop would flip me a bag of planter’s peanuts he would open a quart of chocolate milk and I sat on that milk crate enjoying the ride and sharing my peanuts and milk with my pop. As we traveled through the back roads to a small village we traveled with both doors of the truck open during the summer allowing us to enjoy all the pungent smells of summer. I remember smelling blueberries, mushrooms as we traveled I even remember pop stopping from time to time as we traveled through this winding road and we picked and ate berries and wild grapes in the fall. Who needed Nintendo, x-box or computers I had the Divco and Pop.

I enjoy everyone of my diecast some more than others. Visitors to my home always ask why do you collect this model or that model? Now, you know the reason why the Danbury Mint Divco is in my cabinet, it is full of my youth and the many hours spent with pop.

When visiting pop today we always reminisce about the days on that Divco my good friend Ed Stutz located a Divco Diecast that bears the logo of the company, which my father worked for so many years ago. I gave the diecast to Pop as a gift one Christmas he cherishes it today always with a smile and wink at me when he notices me fondling it just to reminisce.

Ah, the memories! Thanks, pop.