The 1963 caught my eye and I was tempted just because of the year. My dad said he had an old Coleman somewhere and then I reminded him he gave it to me already. He laughed and said, “Well I guess I don’t have one anymore.” Lol
You are a plethora of information when it comes to these lanterns.
My Dad's two...I've a long history with the one. Didn't really know he had the, other. He may have told me though. Someone had not reassembled the old one right....An age thing perhaps? And it was shooting gas where it shouldn't... He'd painted the frame and inside it silver. i suspect that's when it got put together wrong.
Long story time? Here we go...
2nd grade. Dad drops me off at "home" with /at stepdads and moms and sisters.
Said maybe next time we'll go ice fishing.
I asked (my nature was to ask) how do you fish on the ice?
Through a hole Dad said. You'll see.
Leaving me weeks to contemplate such a mystery. But I had seen the danger thin ice signs bobbing in a jagged hole ion pictures or cartoons or somewhere , so knew there were jagged holes in the ice.
when Dad picked me up next time I handed him a card I'd made. (Folded blue construction paper) illustrated by yours truly. Depicting a jagged hole in the ice. And what are those things? Dad asked.
Those are pieces of boards nailed to the ice so big fish can't pull us in the hole! I proudly stated. Having solved a nagging concern I'd had when figuring out the potential logistics of such an endeavor as ice fishing.
Poor Dad. He only had one son , and he an odd one .
In time Dad would pick me up after his second shift and we'd meet W.P. (name reserved less we incriminate his family) who owned an ice fishing shanty but not a vehicle. (?) at the tavern at midnight. Sometimes we'd pick him up at his little old clapboard house , loud wife , 60 watt naked porch bulb and daughter he once trotted out and suggest we might marry some day , before returning her to her Mothers custody.
And to a particular lake we'd go.
W.'s shanty and Dad's lantern. A bucket of minnies and a bucket to put specs (crappie) in and I was on my own.
Dad would check in now and then. Some visits his girlfriends boy joined me.
If the bucket wasn't full prior , daylight usually ended the fishing.
To Dads house (old cottage it was ) to clean and fry fish for breakfast.
Thsat lantern made it possible.
And a lantern (200A that has a storied history too that I acquired quite young performed the same function on the ice (and other functions well beyond) for me in later years.
Heat and light.
A different game in summer carp/catfish fishing. But the little lantern was important.
Camping for sure. Power outages. My first home I bought with no power yet. And fewer appliences for quite awhile while my Coleman two burner stove cooked. Coolers cooled. Lantern lit. Mattress matressed . Fart sack sleeping bag bagged.
A netter quality back then.
And I still have a Coleman 8x10 canvas tent that has been Florida to Canada and in between. With of course my oldest owned 200A lantern.
There it sat on the I beam of the garage ceiling.
My kerosene lantern from an old house clean out had disappeared along with my fuel can.
Things did that in my childhood. No one confessed but I doubt a stranger was involved.
So my asking what the lantern on the I-beam was likely came as no surprise to my step Dad.
Note I wasn't asking why . Which was the big question as I'd never seen it used and step Dad had his 220 he used.
It's a lantern he said. If you fix it you can have it. Not sure if he told me then or later what was wrong with it. But I "fixed" it and despite it pooping stinky grease/Vaseline several years or more before I cleaned it better ; I protected it from all comers.
Still jealous of it. And we've a lot of miles and hours burning together.
Spearing suckers in spring. (Nothing says spring like a hole or two poked in ones waders.)Smelt dipping farther North. and nothing says smelt like the first batch cooked after netting them while in the same area they came from. Lanterns all night and thier partner stoves in daylight. Or sooner!
Custom pole barn. Po-boy.
The reflector for a high bay light salvaged and hung at the rafters peak with a pulley centered above it. Hand crank spool of rope made from a salvaged welding wire spool on the pole barns wall.
That old 200A lit and cranked up to the peak to light the whole barn.
When ordered off that property by the divorce court and parting ways with "my" barn it may be assured that old lantern left with me. No offense to it's prior owners , but it belongs to me still.
I cleaned Dads's 242 up. (Forgot letter suffix I do that a lot.)Not restore it cleaned up , but clean and remove loose rust and paint and get it running type clean up.
Short two tiny screws that don't stop it from working. A home made bale handle , why I don't know but such are stories lost to history.
Left his wire loop atop the vent it must have hung from for some reason. Pre bale? Post?
Folks on the Old Coleman forum have light ups for certain folks or events. A type prayer really.
I'll reserve Dad's 242 for similar and have ran it for him since.
But in the mix and small crowd is my own adventure partner that Dads lantern inspired me to hold onto. Well worn and well traveled 200A ready for another adventure. The remains of it's former ice fishing companion and traveling protection box is in the basement. Still solid enough to do the job. It's one (?) original board repaired with a rough holed piece of metal a kid salvaged from who knows where when he spotted a crack in it. I'd be ashamed of the repair if it hadn't been me that did it! So it remains.
A 220 don't leave it behind for 10 bucks lantern came with a wood box. No lid. No handle. I didn't ask questions. I grab it sometimes for pck ups. To keep on safe in the truck bed.
And yes I have front seat belted a lantern before l.o.l... As have plenty of folks smiling with an acquisition.
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