RARE MAGLITES

[Alone In The Dark]

http://maglite.com/maglab/maglitenation-exclusive-flashlight-hunt-contest-april-2017

Did anyone see this contest from Maglite? I know there are a few members here that have very low serial lights that might be interested. I'm going to send in pics of my low serial incans and see what happens! It's open to LEDs and other lights too although I imagine incans will be the main draw. I'm not sure how they lump C and Ds in together because a lower serial does not equal an older production date. The C cells didn't start until 1981 when D cells had already been in production for 2 years.

I should ask them if I win if I could trade the LED light for a switch cover for a first generation Mag. So far they've sent me 2 switch covers both of which are too small. They say they'll cover it under warranty but now they want me to send my light back. I don't think so. I don't think they still make a switch cover for the first run of Mags any more.

There's a photo gallery too for those not interested in entering but are interested in looking at some old Mags. It is:

https://magcontesthunt1.hscampaigns.com/#modal-open

So far I'd win but I don't have time to post my entry until later this week. I have a ~3,000 serial 6D, a ~7,000 serial 7C and an ~18,000 serial 2D. To be fair I only still use the 2D for walking the dog once in a while so I'll probably enter it. Both D cells are the old large switch hole and missing switch covers. :-( The 7C is a 1981 that I bought from Torchesarecool.

Does anyone here know when the results of this contest are supposed to be announced?

 

[LiftdT4R]

Does anyone here know when the results of this contest are supposed to be announced?

EDIT: Oops, looks like they announce the results of Twitter and not the website. They haven't announced these ones yet and the last ones took about a month to announce. The prior owner of my 6D Mag posted it and as far as I can tell it had the lowest serial. I'm waiting to hear from him if he won or not. So I'll post up some pics of the light and some info if he does win. This whole contest was confusing becaus lowest serial does not mean oldest light. 3Ds started first and C cells didn't start until 1981 so I'm not sure how they'll judge it. Someone posted a ~3,000 serial 3D that was just a bit higher than my 6D but I'm almost confident its older.

 

[bykfixer]

Not rare production-wise, but probably not many were made for this promotion.


Love those promos.
The Bay area of California local newspaper.

 

[Alone In The Dark]

EDIT: Oops, looks like they announce the results of Twitter and not the website. They haven't announced these ones yet and the last ones took about a month to announce. The prior owner of my 6D Mag posted it and as far as I can tell it had the lowest serial. I'm waiting to hear from him if he won or not. So I'll post up some pics of the light and some info if he does win. This whole contest was confusing becaus lowest serial does not mean oldest light. 3Ds started first and C cells didn't start until 1981 so I'm not sure how they'll judge it. Someone posted a ~3,000 serial 3D that was just a bit higher than my 6D but I'm almost confident its older.

I agree with you. It is confusing in the other categories as well. For example, I provided a picture of one of my Mag-Tac lights with a relatively low serial number. Someone else had a lower serial number Mag-Tac, but his flashlight was the rechargeable version that would have been manufactured well after I purchased my non-rechargeable version.

 

[LiftdT4R]

Not rare production-wise, but probably not many were made for this promotion.

Love those promos.
The Bay area of California local newspaper.

Very nice! Any idea what the promo was or what date? Also, I'm guessing that's an AAA Mini Mag? Looks like 96 or later based on the panther head on the bezel. Do ya live out in CA?

 

[bykfixer]

Very nice! Any idea what the promo was or what date? Also, I'm guessing that's an AAA Mini Mag? Looks like 96 or later based on the panther head on the bezel. Do ya live out in CA?

No idea the date etc or what the promotion was. I saw the panther was what I call 'the well fed' icon where the old one was not as round? The 'hungry' icon from the lean times at Maglite.

Forgot to mention that yes it's a triple A. My first one in incan flavor. I like that size better than the double A version. Just as bright but shirt pocket friendly.

I live on the east coast Lift'd.

 

[LiftdT4R]

My 2D came out great, it's shining again! It's a an early 1981 model so it must have some great stories to go along with it. If only I knew!

I also have another rare light for you guys. This is one of the 3,000 lights that Mag Instrument donated to the 9/11 search and rescue effort. These were all 3D models and were donated in a variety of colors but as far as I know were all 3Ds. This one is the standard Mag purple finish. Mag Instrument has made several giveaway/donation lights and this was the only D cell one that I know of. These were passed out to emergency responders in the days after the 9/11 attacks and as the wording implies were not for sale. I haven't seen many of these so I don't imagine that many were saved during the 9/11 cleanup.

I was looking for one of these for a while but wasn't sure really what all to look for. Mag Instrument makes mention to them on their site but doesn't show much info. I could see they had a screen print by the tail cap but until I got this light I wasn't sure if they were all printed that way or if it was just the one on the website. The image from Mag's website is below.

If anyone else has one of these please contact me as there is something on this light that I think is different from other standard 3Ds but I just want to confirm. These are all going 29,119,000 serial which puts them right in the 2001 production range.

I'm slowly running out of lights to post although I do have a few more you guys might enjoy and I still have to do a write up on my Cabela's light so if anyone has a 7D or any other rare lights please keep me in mind. I enjoy researching these lights out! Even any rumor of a rare light is always welcome. I don't mind doing the legwork. Please help me out or I might have to start collecting Kel-Lites!!!

 

[sgt253]

LiftdT4R,
Great story and even better collection. If you need a couple Kel-Lites I may know a guy, lol. Stay away from that bykfixer guy, he's a pusher! LOL!!! Either that or I have a serious problem,nah!

Best to all.

 

[LiftdT4R]

Thanks!!! Glad you guys enjoy it. Before I got on this board I thought I was the only one that did. You're a little late on that warning! I just did a trade with him last week. And, yes, he is, lol!

If you know a guy, pass along his info. I have 3 Kel-Lites now. Two of them came in collections that I bought and at first I was going to trade them away but then I thought the better of it and kept them. The third one I purchased and it's a very special light. If anyone is interested we should start a "Show us your Kel-Lite" thread.

I'm really only looking for 2 more Maglites unless there's something crazy out there that I don't know about. I really want a 7D which I think I'll get one day but it might be a while. They came in Red, Silver and Blue also and they are super rare but any color would do. I also want a 2AA Vari-Beam. It's basically the Mini Maglite but done up like a Vari-Beam. They were produced in very limited quantities towards the end of the Vari-Beam run in 1984 for big box retailers. A member on here has one and I've messaged him twice but to no avail. I would pay an arm and a leg for either one of those lights or I have some pretty unique and rare lights I'd trade. I doubt I'll ever get one though but I have enough other pretty rare lights I might be ok with not having one eventually.

I always go back and look at Abtomat's thread. That dude has an awesome collection! Second to none when it comes to aluminum D Cells! I would love to have a collection like that one day.

EDIT: Ok, so I guess I don't have either of the Bush 2 Inaugural lights or the Mag Lillehammer Olympics giveaway but I'm not too hot after those as they're not all that rare.

 

[bykfixer]

You guys are safe Kel-Lites-wise. I'm Streamlight-ing lately.

Lift'd kept striking out on Marquis. I kept thinking he'd get more joy from it than I was and considered offering it to him.... then the PM offering a plated brass mini mag for it.

"Is a bull frog water proof?" I tossed in a beater Vare-Beam and he tossed in the head from one of George Bush's thousand points of light.

Good trade.

 

[Christoph]

Here is one I've had since the mid 80's

And one I picked up at a sale recently 3 C cell

 

[torchsarecool]

That cabelas interesting. Not seen one of those before, thanks for sharing that one!
Some decent collections you lot have. Im all out of interesting maglites now in my collection.

 

[Toohotruk]

What is the indicator light for on that Cabelas light? Is it rechargeable?

 

[Toohotruk]

Thanks! Wow, I see you've been following this thread for a while! I wish I had gotten on this board sooner. I did not know there were many other people interested in lights let alone Maglites.

Yep...where has the time gone?! It was Mag that got me into CPF...I was looking for reviews for the new at the time LED MiniMag.

 

[LiftdT4R]

Here is one I've had since the mid 80's

And one I picked up at a sale recently 3 C cell

Wow, that's only the second Cabela's light I've ever seen! You have a very awesome and rare light there. If you ever sell make sure you get a good buck for it! I have one and it took me forever to find. They are the only light where Maglite has ever put another company's logo on the bezel. I've been researching these Cabela's lights for a long time and I still don't have the complete story but I'll share what I found since ya posted one.

These were done in 2, 3, 4, and 5 D cells in late 1981 for Cabela's. At the time Maglite was not selling very many lights and was looking for a way to boost sales. One of Mag's salesman went to Sidney, NE and talked with Jim Cabela about doing a light for Cabela's and partnering with them. They accepted and produced about 1,000 lights total for them. Most of the lights were 2 and 3 cells so the 4 and 5 cells are very few and far between. The business relationship went south very quickly after they were produced and Cabela's pulled the remaining order and the lights from their catalog. They gave most of the rest away to employees and as gifts to those visitors of their corporate headquarters. I've been scouring ebay and elsewhere for a 1981/1982 Cabela's catalog because these lights are supposed to be in there but I've not had any luck so far. Plus they had a master catalog, camping catalog, fishing catalog and a seasonal catalogs for each year.

Yours appears to have been converted to an LED at some point as they certainly didn't have LEDs in 1981. Did you put the voltage indicator in the light or was it something done by the previous owner? That's not original to the light either. DO you have any story as to where you got it? Did you order it from the original catalog?

Here's mine. It came from the estate of a retired Cabela's executive. It's a 5 cell and is in pristine condition except it has damage to the finish up by the switch because it had a battery stuck by the switch which had to be removed.

I'll do a proper writeup on these when I get a little more info along with some better pics. Anything you could share would be much appreciated as info is hard to come by on these lights. Thanks sooooo much for sharing! It's good to see some interest in these lights!!

 

[LiftdT4R]

"Is a bull frog water proof?"

Is the pope Catholic?

Lol, I love a good trade and a good project on the Vari-Beam. I'll post results when I'm done. Thanks dude!!

 

[Christoph]

There was a guy named Hotbeam ( it was a guy named Burnt Retinas) who made a circuit that acted like a piece of wire after it fell out of regulation the red led lets me know when it is no longer regulating it is set for 1.5 amps and runs a 5 watt X binned Luxeon I made it sometime in 2003 here is a link to the thread.

 

[torchsarecool]

Just got my ferrari minimag working. Its had batteries stuck in it but done some work on it and its up and running now. Unfortunately some corrosion inside, but not visable on the outside. Pleased with it. Not particulary rare, but expensive as desireable with ferrari memorabilia collectors so prices generally high. Either that or you need to buy a ferrari

 

[LiftdT4R]

Just got my ferrari minimag working. Its had batteries stuck in it but done some work on it and its up and running now. Unfortunately some corrosion inside, but not visable on the outside. Pleased with it. Not particulary rare, but expensive as desireable with ferrari memorabilia collectors so prices generally high. Either that or you need to buy a ferrari

Lets see some pic! Did those come with a Ferrari? Do ya know any story behind them? I see them from time to time on fleabay and they're usually a BIN for $200. I wasn't sure the origin on them and I don't have one.

 

[torchsarecool]

Theyre the standard spec with ferrari tool kits. Theyre non knurled and Matt silver with printed on bezel detailing and logo. I think the basic light is the same as used for the americana limited editions. Theyve now been replaced with a standard black maglite which is why these are now sought after.
I will post a youtube video soon.