RARE MAGLITES

[bykfixer]

Yeah, it's not very often that something of value pops up. Well, usually it's a wrench someone forgot to put back in their box/bag, and within a week they claim their tool. We often have visitors that come and go through the plant, either in the form of customers or auditors. I suspect this light came from the latter, and they simply never bothered to try and get it back.


Got the story on that black minimag. My father was down in Kentucky during the mid to late 1990s, visiting a family member at a hospital. Some more family wound up visiting at the same time, one of which worked for the Eagle Building Products company. Apparently he had a few in his vehicle, and chose to give one to my father. During it's use over the next decade or so, it's said that the light was holy reliable, and only replaced/set aside when newer and better technology came along. Fast forward to today, and now it lives comfortably in my display of all things neat.

The story is the best part of things we collect. It's like those refigerator magnets from all of the places you've been.

 

[Monocrom]

Got the story on that black minimag. My father was down in Kentucky during the mid to late 1990s, visiting a family member at a hospital. Some more family wound up visiting at the same time, one of which worked for the Eagle Building Products company. Apparently he had a few in his vehicle, and chose to give one to my father. During it's use over the next decade or so, it's said that the light was holy reliable, and only replaced/set aside when newer and better technology came along. Fast forward to today, and now it lives comfortably in my display of all things neat.

Coolest promotional item my dad got was a couple of Advertising folding, thin razor knives where the blade could not be replaced. And, did not lock open. I got one, lasted about a year. Mom got one. Used it as a make-up sharpening pencil for easily over a decade until it got too dull and too many chips in the blade. No clue what company it advertised for.

Nowadays it would be a liability. "Here, have a pen instead."
My accountant does that. Real nice click-mechanism pens with a stylus tip on top of the clicker. And a nice rubberized grip.

 

[leukos]

A couple of my Mags from the 90's went in the trash because of alkaleaks. I could not get the tailcaps off with a wrench. I imagine a lot of older Mags suffered similar fates back in the day.

 

[Tungsten98]

Acquired some more mags. I'm noticing that the 3 cell version seems to be the most prolific. I'll have some brand new ones tomorrow, but not really sure how worthy of being posted they are.

The orange NASCAR mag's box was unopened when I got it. Did my best to carefully open it, so that I could keep it.
The leaking battery came with the camel lights solitare. It was *not* in the light. Zero corrosion inside. Not sure how old the battery is. The paper suggests the light is somewhere around 94.

Curious what the hive thinks about the varibeam I obtained. There was another 4D that I wanted more, but it got bid too high for me. That one was blue and had 'Paten Pending' stamped. The serial on this one fits in the 80-85 window well. I wonder how this particular one came to be, since they were only made in blue and this combo was only made after the fact. It flickers a bit, but clicking the switch a bunch seemed to clear it up some. Bulb shape also seems odd.

Of course, no batteries stored in them. I do like keeping cells in the mini mag's and solitaire cases though. Looks more complete.

 

[ebuchner]

Bulb shape also seems odd.

I'm 99% sure it's a Carley Lamps Krypton/Xenon Star lamp. What you've brought before us is the *only* example of these in the wild that I've come across vicariously. Wonderful find. See Page 21 of the Carley Lamps catalog. https://carleylamps.com/download/Carley-Catalog.pdf If you take the lamp out and inspect the metallic base there may be some markings that confirm or deny my suspicions.

 

[bykfixer]

That's a PR base xenon bulb in image 5430. They didn't use those very long and are getting pretty scarce in the market place. They were the bulb Maglite used between their Krypton bulb and modern in house bi-pin xenon bulb.
Good bulbs though.

 

[ABTOMAT]

You see those bulbs being sold under "-Star" brands from a lot of companies back in the '80s or '90s. Like Safariland sold them as Safari-Star bulbs in their catalogs. They were a popular upgrade option back then. Many of the lights I've run across have them installed. Works pretty well.

Your black Vari-Beam should be from later 1982. I really wonder if the common knowledge about them only being sold in blue is correct. There are a lot of black ones out there, and also other colors like silver that don't even make sense for a parts swap. Seems like too many lights to just be dealers messing around.

 

[Tungsten98]

The markings on the bulb are extremely light and thin. I might be able to get a photo of them at work under our microscope. It says 'Hong Kong" and "MSA-5". It does work, btw.

 

[ABTOMAT]

That's what Mag sold as the "Mag Num Star" bulb. Here's an early '90s catalog but Mag kept selling them through the 2000s as far as know.

 

[Tungsten98]

Your black Vari-Beam should be from later 1982. I really wonder if the common knowledge about them only being sold in blue is correct. There are a lot of black ones out there, and also other colors like silver that don't even make sense for a parts swap. Seems like too many lights to just be dealers messing around.

I'm not sure. I don't believe that it's entirely wrong, rather simply not the entire story. We know that maglite liked to experiment with a variety of colors and configurations, and although I'm not a historian by any means, I don't believe there was any edition sold strictly in one color scheme only. So, I'm inclined to believe that although it was primarily sold in blue, black and silver versions did exist as stock. It would be nice to see some actual documentation rather than second-hand information on the topic.

 

[knucklegary]

I'm not sure. I don't believe that it's entirely wrong, rather simply not the entire story. We know that maglite liked to experiment with a variety of colors and configurations, and although I'm not a historian by any means, I don't believe there was any edition sold strictly in one color scheme only. So, I'm inclined to believe that although it was primarily sold in blue, black and silver versions did exist as stock. It would be nice to see some actual documentation rather than second-hand information on the topic.

Did you run the serial number by ML customer service to see when the black body was mfgr'd?

 

[Tungsten98]

No I didn't. Based on a guide, it falls into the correct year range, and that's enough for me.

 

[bykfixer]

I'm not sure. I don't believe that it's entirely wrong, rather simply not the entire story. We know that maglite liked to experiment with a variety of colors and configurations, and although I'm not a historian by any means, I don't believe there was any edition sold strictly in one color scheme only. So, I'm inclined to believe that although it was primarily sold in blue, black and silver versions did exist as stock. It would be nice to see some actual documentation rather than second-hand information on the topic.

This will add some details.

1980 to 1985 Vari-Beams

Summary: Vari-Beams were produced between 1980 and 1985 and were intended to capture more of the consumer sales instead of law enforcement. ...

maglitehistory.blogspot.com

This guy has vast knowledge of Maglites and knows other Maglite experts including folks who used to work there.

 

[ABTOMAT]

Jason's done a fantastic job with his site, so this isn't criticism, but some of the information he was working with wasn't complete or correct. If that's also the case with the Vari-Beam stuff we may not know the whole story.

 

[Tungsten98]

This will add some details.

1980 to 1985 Vari-Beams

Summary: Vari-Beams were produced between 1980 and 1985 and were intended to capture more of the consumer sales instead of law enforcement. ...

maglitehistory.blogspot.com

This guy has vast knowledge of Maglites and knows other Maglite experts including folks who used to work there.

I've spent a lot of hours reading his blog. Good stuff.