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View Full Version : Little piece of Americana...Here's How You Can Win a 1939 Chevrolet!



Full Metal Digger
10-31-2013, 12:12 PM
Hey Diggers, I was at an older park yesterday over in East St. Louis. It's a park I took Tony 2-Cent to when he visited last year. It's very trashy and has been Metal Detected plenty over the years. I was working a trashy area looking for for deep high tones. I got a penny/dime signal at 8 inches deep and popped out a little charm in the shape of a car. It was originally gold-plated and says good luck on the front with a 4-leaf clover and the words ROI-TAN on the back. I did some research and here's what I learned.

In 1939, the ROI-TAN cigar company had a contest where they would give away a brand new 1939 Chevrolet each day of the year. To enter the contest you had to send in 5 cigar bands and complete this sentence in 25 words or less: MAN TO MAN--SMOKE ROI-TAN BECAUSE...

Each day, the judges would read all the entries received the previous day and select a winner based on originality and sincerity. All of the non-winners were sent a gold-plated good luck charm depicting a 1939 Chevrolet. The slogan for the contest was Remember, an auto a day is given away!

This is what I love about this hobby we share. I would never have learned of this contest had I not found one of the charms! Here's some pics and thanks for looking. Best wishes and HH, Dave.

http://i997.photobucket.com/albums/af95/daddydigger1/IMG_1629_zps20150b27.jpg (http://s997.photobucket.com/user/daddydigger1/media/IMG_1629_zps20150b27.jpg.html)

http://i997.photobucket.com/albums/af95/daddydigger1/IMG_1630_zps04254ed6.jpg (http://s997.photobucket.com/user/daddydigger1/media/IMG_1630_zps04254ed6.jpg.html)

Tony Two-Cent
10-31-2013, 12:22 PM
That's a great story and really interesting find, Dave! Very cool! Better than a plain Jane coin any day!

It cleaned up really well too. :yes:

sfox54
10-31-2013, 04:49 PM
nice story and find....i too like the hunt after the hunt!! i wonder how many roi tan chevys were given away

Full Metal Digger
10-31-2013, 05:07 PM
nice story and find....i too like the hunt after the hunt!! i wonder how many roi tan chevys were given away


It better have been 365 cars given away unless they wanted to get sued!

Fire Fighter 43
10-31-2013, 08:15 PM
Nice story and a great find WTG |:cheering:

sfox54
10-31-2013, 11:11 PM
but.....did they get 5 reponses every day?

coinMD64
11-04-2013, 11:07 AM
Nice small car-shaped charm from a cigar company you found in East St. Louis park. I like this tiny charm. I heard that East St. Louis is bad place to go out metal detecting. I wont go to bad high crime urban area due to its danger associated with the urban area. Detroit is another high crime urban area. I also wont go there.

Full Metal Digger
11-04-2013, 05:08 PM
Nice small car-shaped charm from a cigar company you found in East St. Louis park. I like this tiny charm. I heard that East St. Louis is bad place to go out metal detecting. I wont go to bad high crime urban area due to its danger associated with the urban area. Detroit is another high crime urban area. I also wont go there.


I don't know who told you ESL is a bad place to go MDing. Everyone pretty much leaves me alone but I do keep my wits about me (like a grazing gazelle looks up every few seconds to look for lions).

jkress
11-07-2013, 02:21 AM
Great post Dave! :clapping:

Very interesting story. The Chevy charm is a fantastic addition for your collection. thumbsup01