We Boomers bought a lot of Coke when we were kids. We still do, for that matter. So did our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. In fact, so have our kids and even grandkids. I didn't research any figures, but I'm guessing that Coca-Cola is the largest selling product in the history of the US, possibly the world.
I bought a slew of Cokes from the old machine at my father's truck garage in Miami, Oklahoma. It looked just like the one to the right. You dropped a dime in, and pushed that big lever to move an endless belt of cokes inside one step along. Then, you opened that little door and grabbed six ounces of frosty refreshment. You ended the ritual by popping the lid off in that opener, hearing a reassuring clink as it fell among its brothers in the bin.
That bin full of lids would prove to be very lucrative to me about 1966. Coke had a Things Go Better contest, where you scraped the cork off of the inside of those lids to reveal letters that would eventually spell "Things" and "Better." Then it was a matter of finding the Holy Grail: the word "Go" surrounded by stars.
You glued all of the caps to a piece of paper. And what would happen is that you would quickly spell the words, then look in vain for that elusive "Go." That's where the bin full of lids paid off for me.
Over a period of a couple of weeks, I would sit in the floor in front of that Coke machine and dutifully scrape cork from dozens of lids. Then it happened: I scraped off cork and revealed a Go!
I was ecstatic. The color of the magic token revealed your prize. I had a black one, the lowliest, but it didn't dispel my joy at all. Dad drove me to the local bottling plant (many small towns had them) and, beaming with pride, I turned in my completely filled out set of caps and received a case of 16 oz. Cokes.
I was so excited that I drank one of them hot as soon as I got home.
I also bought a lot of Cokes from Moonwink Grocery. They were contained in a slider machine, like the one to the left. You dropped in a dime, then maneuvered your desired pop through a maze of sliders until it finally rested under the locking mechanism which kept you from stealing them. Your coin unlocked it long enough to pull your Coke up and out of the chest.
And those wonderful jingles! I managed to locate the Kingston Trio's Things Go Better song, The Carpenters singing It's the Real Thing, and the immortal I'd like to Buy the World a Coke. Enjoy! Thanks to The Cola Wars for them.
Indeed, Coke can do no wrong. Even the seemingly disastrous 1984 flavor change worked out in their favor in the long run, with a stronger fan base than ever after the return of the original formula.
Someday, our grandkids will be reminiscing about drinking Cokes as a child, as our grandparents and ourselves also have.
Comments (5)
OMG- this story is so cool because I have the same story! The only difference was the kind of Coke machine.
I have a couple more memories (or confessions)on my blog, about hot coke and warm pee.
I scraped cork like crazy and never won a thing!
The maze machine in my recollection was RC Cola
at Ruby's.
Thanks for writing this.
Posted by Going Like Sixty | March 25, 2007 6:09 PM
Posted on March 25, 2007 18:09
I love coke! And then getting to sell the bottles. Life was so good then!!
Posted by Phyllis Cate | March 25, 2007 6:54 PM
Posted on March 25, 2007 18:54
I liked the machine that offered the sodas sideways, the pop bottles were displayed that way. And a kid we knew, a real "Eddie Haskle" type, he used to go around with a can opener and a paper cup! Just open two or three of the sodas and he'd have a mixed drink...Today, he is probably in prison.
Posted by Craig | March 25, 2007 9:01 PM
Posted on March 25, 2007 21:01
There was a machine at one of my first jobs that had the 6.5 oz Coke glass bottles for a dime. On the bottom of the bottle was the city of the bottling plant. My coworkers and I usually challenged each other to see who would get the bottle that traveled the furthest distance. The boss had one empty Coke bottle on his desk from Honolulu.
Posted by David S Paleg | March 26, 2007 12:16 AM
Posted on March 26, 2007 00:16
My dad owned a candy store/news market while I was growing up and his Coke machine was the kind where you opened the lid and reached into icy cold water to get your Coke. Really old fashioned!
Posted by Rhea | March 26, 2007 11:35 AM
Posted on March 26, 2007 11:35