Bill Kochan offers a word of caution before opening the front door of his apartment in Huntington Beach.
“Don't go inside my house and ask what's new,” he says while turning the lock to enter. He thrusts open the wooden door but stops it before it hits a toy metal truck.
“I've been collecting vintage toys for 30 years now,” he says, his eyes smiling.
For Kochan, a Navy veteran and retired advertising executive, returning home every day is to step inside his own toy emporium.
“You don't want to know that story,” the 74-year-old toy collector says while laughing when asked what got him to start his collection, which the Canadian television show “Extreme Collectors” estimates is worth about $200,000.
Kochan bounds over to a china cabinet showcasing lead soldiers. “This is (how) I started my collection,” he says. “I was buying a birthday gift and walked past an antique show and I saw these lead toys. The saleswoman said to me, ‘This is a piece of your childhood.'”
Kochan bought 35 pieces for $2 each on that day back in the 1980s. Then he found little tanks to go with the soldiers. And then he expanded the collection to 200 pieces.
“I never had a toy in my life until I bought these,” he says. “Growing up in the Bronx, we never had toys. The reason I have the collection is because we didn't have a collection, like most people.”
He glances at his favorite piece, a 15-pound Keystone dump truck from the 1920s. He hoists it up as a dumbbell. “Wind it up and watch the dumper move,” he says as he cranks the truck's lever. “I have a respect for how it's made. It's a big bad boy.”
Then there's his other favorite piece: the Sonny toy Army truck from the 1930s. “It's so heavy,” he says. “I bought this while I was in the Poconos,” referring to the Pennsylvania mountains. “I wanted to wear it on my head, I was so proud.”
He carefully places the truck back onto the carpeted floor, in front of the bookshelves that showcase Tonka fire trucks, Holsum bread delivery trucks, milk trucks, ambulances and, well, more.
“Oh, this one is valuable,” he says, his eyes widening. The $1,200 red truck with its sturdy black wheels labeled “Tonka Express” is coveted because of its rarity. “It's based on a number of pieces Tonka made. Tonka released just a few of these in the 1950s.”
His oldest piece? A toy made in Germany with its earliest patent being 1903. Wind it up and the character moves up and down, tap dancing.
“You hold on to old things and to me, they are beautiful. I love my toys.”
“Don't go inside my house and ask what's new,” he says while turning the lock to enter. He thrusts open the wooden door but stops it before it hits a toy metal truck.
“I've been collecting vintage toys for 30 years now,” he says, his eyes smiling.
For Kochan, a Navy veteran and retired advertising executive, returning home every day is to step inside his own toy emporium.
“You don't want to know that story,” the 74-year-old toy collector says while laughing when asked what got him to start his collection, which the Canadian television show “Extreme Collectors” estimates is worth about $200,000.
Kochan bounds over to a china cabinet showcasing lead soldiers. “This is (how) I started my collection,” he says. “I was buying a birthday gift and walked past an antique show and I saw these lead toys. The saleswoman said to me, ‘This is a piece of your childhood.'”
Kochan bought 35 pieces for $2 each on that day back in the 1980s. Then he found little tanks to go with the soldiers. And then he expanded the collection to 200 pieces.
“I never had a toy in my life until I bought these,” he says. “Growing up in the Bronx, we never had toys. The reason I have the collection is because we didn't have a collection, like most people.”
He glances at his favorite piece, a 15-pound Keystone dump truck from the 1920s. He hoists it up as a dumbbell. “Wind it up and watch the dumper move,” he says as he cranks the truck's lever. “I have a respect for how it's made. It's a big bad boy.”
Then there's his other favorite piece: the Sonny toy Army truck from the 1930s. “It's so heavy,” he says. “I bought this while I was in the Poconos,” referring to the Pennsylvania mountains. “I wanted to wear it on my head, I was so proud.”
He carefully places the truck back onto the carpeted floor, in front of the bookshelves that showcase Tonka fire trucks, Holsum bread delivery trucks, milk trucks, ambulances and, well, more.
“Oh, this one is valuable,” he says, his eyes widening. The $1,200 red truck with its sturdy black wheels labeled “Tonka Express” is coveted because of its rarity. “It's based on a number of pieces Tonka made. Tonka released just a few of these in the 1950s.”
His oldest piece? A toy made in Germany with its earliest patent being 1903. Wind it up and the character moves up and down, tap dancing.
“You hold on to old things and to me, they are beautiful. I love my toys.”
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