#5 - 1979 275 - What have I gotten myself into?
Vital Stats
Model: 275
Date: June 1979
Technology: Instant-Lite / Schrader valve hybrid
Fuel: Gasoline
Date Acquired: May 24, 2016
When I start a new hobby, I go all in. I'm what is referred to as a "serial obsessive"; I'll jump from one hobby to another , but while I'm into it, I'm 110%. So after my score with the 288, it was no longer about gear; it was about collecting and learning. Web reading can only provide so much, you have to go out and put your hands on the things.
I'm still relatively young with a family and a full-time job desk job, so I don't get to "pound the pavement", as it were, scouring yard sales and flea markets for the choicest cuts, so the internet is my hunting grounds (though I do get out on occasion). I'm also fairly thrifty by nature, which is a bit of an impediment as a collector but it makes my "scores" that much sweeter. I now lament the L228 from the late 20's that I passed up because I couldn't positively identify it as Coleman, and it was $50, which at the time was way out of my range. But the ugly brown thing in the yellow case was definitely a Coleman, and the price was right. At the very least the case would come in handy. There wasn't much competition for this piece so I was able to close the deal pretty easily.
I don't know that I could have a picked a better model as my first collectable to be more analogous to my life. Of course my first would be lovingly referred to as "the turd".
The 275 showed up in 1978 smack in the middle of the leisure suit era, and judging by the AMC Gremlins driving around at the time, brown was in vogue. Coleman was also looking at some newer technologies. Coleman would find enough success with the Schrader valve in 1983 that they would continue on with it until present day, but their dalliances with it in 1978 were less successful. For one, they didn't use a Schrader with fuel proof sealing rings in the first iteration. For another, they also didn't use it correctly in the first iteration; they simply replaced the spring that actuated the fuel/air mechanism with the valve, where in later iterations(275A) and later models, the valve itself would control the fuel air mixture.
Regardless, the lantern has a very unique look, runs bright and reliably, and has a cool looking globe. It will likely always remain in my collection, though it has been relegated to shed duty. They are known to flare dramatically on start up and also suffer from premature paint peel.
And to a new collector with limited experience with even the most common models, the 275 is quite the departure, mechanically.
Model: 275
Date: June 1979
Technology: Instant-Lite / Schrader valve hybrid
Fuel: Gasoline
Date Acquired: May 24, 2016
I'm still relatively young with a family and a full-time job desk job, so I don't get to "pound the pavement", as it were, scouring yard sales and flea markets for the choicest cuts, so the internet is my hunting grounds (though I do get out on occasion). I'm also fairly thrifty by nature, which is a bit of an impediment as a collector but it makes my "scores" that much sweeter. I now lament the L228 from the late 20's that I passed up because I couldn't positively identify it as Coleman, and it was $50, which at the time was way out of my range. But the ugly brown thing in the yellow case was definitely a Coleman, and the price was right. At the very least the case would come in handy. There wasn't much competition for this piece so I was able to close the deal pretty easily.
I don't know that I could have a picked a better model as my first collectable to be more analogous to my life. Of course my first would be lovingly referred to as "the turd".
The 275 showed up in 1978 smack in the middle of the leisure suit era, and judging by the AMC Gremlins driving around at the time, brown was in vogue. Coleman was also looking at some newer technologies. Coleman would find enough success with the Schrader valve in 1983 that they would continue on with it until present day, but their dalliances with it in 1978 were less successful. For one, they didn't use a Schrader with fuel proof sealing rings in the first iteration. For another, they also didn't use it correctly in the first iteration; they simply replaced the spring that actuated the fuel/air mechanism with the valve, where in later iterations(275A) and later models, the valve itself would control the fuel air mixture.
Regardless, the lantern has a very unique look, runs bright and reliably, and has a cool looking globe. It will likely always remain in my collection, though it has been relegated to shed duty. They are known to flare dramatically on start up and also suffer from premature paint peel.
And to a new collector with limited experience with even the most common models, the 275 is quite the departure, mechanically.
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