JIM BEAM DECANTER 1957 CHEVY BEL AIR -  33 year old  limited collectors item

Description

JIM BEAM DECANTER 1957 CHEVY BEL AIR - Root Beer Rust color w/ box EMPTY.   The wheels spin around. This is a nice gift for the 1957 baby boomer. This is a newspaper article from February 18 1988. It makes some of the nicest collector cars you want to get your hands on- or shot glass near. Yes, the James B. Beam Distilling Co. is at it again and has come up with a couple of new collector car decanters for 1988-a 1957 Chevy and a 1963 Corvette.
The last collectible in the series was the 1978 Corvette Indy Pace Car, which went on sale last May.
Chicago-based Beam began producing limited-edition bowling pin decanters in 1940. It wasn`t until 1972 that Beam brought out the first of its ''wheel'' series, a 1904 Oldsmobile.
Since then it has produced numerous car decanters: The 1903 and 1928 Model A Ford, the 1914 Stutz Bearcat, the 1935 Duesenberg convertible coupe and the 1964 1/2 Mustang, to name just a few.
Cars planned for the near future are a yellow `57 Chevy hot rod, a 1969 Camaro and an unspecified Porsche, said Lane Barnett, senior vice president for Beam.
Barnett said Beam collector car decanters have nurtured a ''cult following'' over the years. ''Car collectors and enthusiasts make a hobby of collecting everything associated with their dream car,'' he said.
Each decanter is produced to exact detail of the original car. Beam even travels to the factory`s design studios to obtain paint chips to ensure an exact color match with the original car.
There`s only one variation from the original car allowed-each decanter car has to enclose a fifth of bourbon and a cap to pour it from.
Though the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation dictate rules and regulations for the nation`s automakers, Beam`s decanters are governed by the Federal Bureau of Tobacco and Firearms.
''The Bureau of Tobacco and Firearms simply considers the decanters a vessel carrying alcohol and insists each decanter has precisely 750 milliliters of whiskey inside,'' Barnett said.
Each decanter is a limited-edition model. Only an estimated 20,000 to 50,000 are made before the molds are destroyed, he said.
The assembly line is at the Regal China Corp. in Antioch, which Beam acquired in 1968; this is the sole manufacturer of the decanters.
Few decanters are purchased for the contents, and the seals are cracked on only about 5 percent, Barnett said, because this decreases the value of the porcelain collectible by an inestimable sum.
Though prices vary and are dictated by retailers, the new `57 Chevy and
`63 Corvette decanters are selling for to , Barnett said.
In addition to coming up with car models, Beam has worked on consignment for corporate customers and has done a railroad car for the Santa Fe Railway and a special 100th anniversary bottle for the First National Bank of Chicago in 1964.
That bank bottle, incidentally, was in the shape of the First`s clock, with anniversary lettering on the face. Only 100 were made and given to bank executives and directors. Each now is estimated to be worth ,000.
Barnett said the car decanters ''enhance'' the Beam image though they account for ''a really small part of our business and a very, very small portion of our annual gallonage.''
However, collectors take the new editions seriously. The first Beam Bottle Collector`s club was formed in 1966. Today there`s an International Jim Beam collector association claiming 10,000 members in the U.S., Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. You can write the association at 5120 Belmont Ave., Suite D, Downers Grove, Ill. 60515.
I