This week in 19__

[mangonboat]

Dang..didnt mean to de-rail the train. I was kinda hoping for some show and tell on 63 K Mags. There were two Type 3's on the market this past week and I always liked the look of those. Would love to hear and see more about the 1960 Deluxe, especially as Dave uses one as his go-to big game slayer. If somebody doesnt jump on in here, I'm gonna post some 62 K special thoughts and pics.

[Wade Phillips]

Originally posted by damascusdave:
In particular I often wonder at what point in 1960 a decision might have been made to discontinue production.

DDave

DD -

Likely Bear's decision to discontinue production on the Kodiak Deluxe occurred at at the point when they realized that had a problem with making a profit on this model.

If the 1960 Kodiak Deluxe had been Bear's best selling bow with the highest margins and the fewest problems, it likely would have continued in production until that was no longer the case.

Knowing Fred was a common sense businessman, I would have to guess that his strategy for all products was pretty much the same.

Checking the 1959 & 1960 archery periodicals to find the last dated advertisement for the Deluxe is likely the most easily accessible information to establish a date that advertising was discontinued.  

In the absence of a dated memo "From the Desk Fred Bear", declaring a halt to Deluxe production, we may never know if it was really May 29, 1960 or Nov 8, 1960 as rumored here for the first time ever as two conflicting fictitious dates for the official end of production for the Kodiak Deluxe, (this paragraph is a total and complete joke).

Now, we will see how long it takes for the internet rumor mill to fabricate a date.

I still have that unclaimed 4-figure reward for the 60" Kodiak Deluxe serial # LA001...

     

Not sure if we want to see all Bear Bows with the word Deluxe, but if so here are 5 lengths of the Kodiak Special Deluxe bows...

   

[Wade Phillips]

This is the worst looking Kodiak Deluxe that I ever owned (before I sent it to Brad)...

Almost 11 months ago, Brad posted these images on another thread on this site... before he began a more than challenging restoration...

   

   

   

Brad's after image is what we think of as a pretty much typical 64" Butcher Block Kodiak Deluxe...

   

[crazynate]

Those bows are absolutely beautiful. Thanks for sharing those pics. I love all the stuff I learn won trad gang

[TRAP]

A 100# Kodiak Deluxe....WOW!!!!!

[Wade Phillips]

Trap -

Yes, 100# Wedge Sight Window Kodiak Deluxe. Truly, a chunk of lumber.

Possibly the rarest of the seldom seen Wedge Sight Window Kodiaks.

[Wade Phillips]

Originally posted by warpedarrow:
...  

Is there a way to go to other Tradgang threads and move pictures to new threads?  I've posted quite a few already.

Brad -

Yes, there is a very simple way to re-post your already used images in new threads, just as I have reused your original images in the above thread.

Just go to the original thread that has the image you want to copy, then click on it, which will take you to the location where you originally posted the image, then copy the URL, just like you did originally.  

Once copied, just past the URL into the thread like you did when you original posted the image.

The whole process takes less then 30 seconds rather than 30 minutes.

[Wade Phillips]

Brad -

Can't ever remember being mentioned in the same paragraph (let alone sentence) as Sgt. Joe Friday.  However, as a kid, I did watch a lot of Dragnet when episodes were originally aired from 1951-1959.  

To me, Friday's "just the facts please" approach has always seemed appropriate for an investigator.

Likewise, the same approach seems logical to me for collecting.

There is has been a lot of investigation that has occurred in the threads on this site. Many members have contributed to various investigations. Some great information has surfaced as a result of these investigations.

While on certain subjects, I know some have said the truth is greatly over rated, I have never understood a legitimately honest reason why anyone would want to hear anything less than the truth about collectibles.

[warpedarrow]

Thank you Wade.  I will experiment with that.

I hadn't realized that it has been nearly a year on that once in a lifetime (hint hint) restore.

[Wade Phillips]

If you are up to more re-stores, I might be about to find something else here to send you to work on..


Have a few extra bows stored in the ceiling...

   

   

[warpedarrow]

Mango,

I can play the game on the '62KS if that is where we want to go.  It will be a while though as I have some obligations to take care of prior to experimenting with Wade's method for posting old pictures.

[Larry m]

Gorgeous risers!

Any chance of getting some pics of the back and belly side of the limbs along with some descriptive narrative?

[Gator1]

Originally posted by Wade Phillips:
If you are up to more re-stores, I might be about to find something else here to send you to work on..


Have a few extra bows stored in the ceiling...

   


Wade any rough 62 Kodiak's or 62 mags??

[Wade Phillips]

Originally posted by Larry m:
Gorgeous risers!

Any chance of getting some pics of the back and belly side of the limbs along with some descriptive narrative?

Larry -

The images are reused from 2009 and only of the shelf side.

Would have to take additional images and upload them, time consuming as Brad mentioned earlier.

[Wade Phillips]

Originally posted by Gator1:
     

... any rough 62 Kodiak's or 62 mags?

[/b]

Sorry -

No 62 Kodiaks or Kodiak Magnums up there.

A quick scan looks like these are some of the Bears...
Kodiak 54, 55, 56, 58
Kodiak Special 57, 61
Mag, 65, 67
Super Kodiak 68
Grizzly 54, 65, 67
Cub 58
Alaskan 59
Rangers

[Wade Phillips]

Just searched for Kodiak Deluxe threads and found this one that Dave started in 2014 about Kodiak Deluxe serial numbers...

     http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=14;t=006761#000000    

It is a single page, an interesting read, and illustrates how easily critical information can come to the surface.

Hopefully Dave is no longer confused about the 1960 Kodiak Deluxe serial numbering sequence and the change that took place mid year.

The last 2014 post of that thread bears repeating,

 

     

"DDave,

There were many changes to Bear Serial Numbering sequences over the years. Some changes were made mid-year so you may never find HA999. At some point in 1960 all the Bear Serial Numbering changed from beginning with two letters, to beginning with two numbers. This change is proven out in the posts above of Serial Numbers of bows in the possession of zepnut and warpedarrow...

The four Kodiak Deluxe bows that I have kept that start with the standard two letters are...

HA001 - 56" - 31# - the first standard production 56" Kodiak Deluxe
IA723 - 60" - 40#
LA001 64" 38# - the first standard production 64" Kodiak Deluxe
LA408 - 44" - 100# - the only Wedge Sight Window Kodiak Deluxe that I've heard of in existence (there are likely others as the Kodiak Deluxe was Bear's best ever at the time)

I am still looking for the 60" Serial Number IA001 - the first standard production 60" Kodiak Deluxe

Although I may never find the elusive 60" IA001, it is of great comfort to have a 60" Kodiak Deluxe that precedes IA001"

[/b]      

[Wade Phillips]

For the sake of clarity, and benefit of all who do not re-read the entire 2014 thread...

The Deluxe bows mentioned in the referenced 2014 thread that were made after the serial numbering sequence was changed from beginning with two letters to beginning with two numbers are...

Brad's  27XX18 60" 50#
zepnut's 22HX1 60" 45#
zepnut's 19P32 60" 55#

[Wade Phillips]

Sorry to report that I have absolutely no logical explanation, (other than "s...it happens") for Brad's Kodiak Deluxe with the original serial number ...

AO14AA, 60" 42#

However, I do have an UN-provable, half baked and unlikely wild theory that that I would never state privately nor publicly.

Frankly, having these "odd ducks" is part of the fun of collecting Bear Bows. Occasionally there is something that forces a person to use some of those otherwise idle brain cells.

[warpedarrow]

Please put absolutely no weight on the oddness of the AO prefix bow.  Information came to me that showed a mistake was made when lettering the bow sometime after the refinish.  I have since sanded off the lettering and the bow is as they say in Texas, "nekkid".  I could not or would not have a bow in my collection, especially a Kodiak Deluxe, with a serial number that someone someday might think made it a rare bow. Never the less, it is still a gorgeous bow and I am happy to own it.

[warpedarrow]

Wade,

I nearly got it work.  Posting a picture from an old thread that is.  I had the url copied but once I did that it would not let me leave photobucket.  Maybe I owe them some money.  I finally had to just close all three windows: 1) this thread 2) the thread that I was trying to copy from and 3) photobucket

It only took me eleven minutes to access the url on photobucket.  So far, this isn't much of an option for me.  Photobucket has been really messed up the last few times that I tried to do any work on it.  I will keep trying.

Meanwhile, send me a picture or two of a couple of bows that need help.