#8 - 1970 200A - From big hats to red hats

Vital Stats

Model: 200A

Date: March 1970

Technology: Instant-Lite

Fuel: Gasoline

Date Acquired: August 15, 2016

For whatever reason the 200A was never on my radar prior to becoming a collector.  Even being casually aware of Coleman camping products this seems odd because this is not an easy model to ignore.  The bright red finish stands in stark contrast to the forest green of its bigger brother, and the curved globe gives it an elegance that also helps it stand apart from almost military lines of the 220.  

Reminds me of this clip: https://youtu.be/_taveZC0Iqk?t=46

The discovery of the existence of this model, if you've never seen one before, is a hook that pulls you deep into the collector abyss, and you must have one (or 12).

Coleman made a lot of these. Arguably, no single model/letter designation lasted longer than the 200A. From 1951 until 1983 this model stood sentinel over the compact, single mantle, gasoline line.  It featured many changes of its own during this run, changes that would have resulted in letter changes on the 220, but for reasons unknown (to me), Coleman kept it as the good ol' 200A.  

I had the good fortune to find mine early, and my lust for this model led me to pick up 3 of these in just under 3 months.  1st was a nice one that a guy had posted in the "free" section of Craigslist, but mysteriously disappeared minutes after I sent a message to the owner.  Weeks later I get a reply from the owner telling me that he had had trouble with his email and had accidentaly deleted the ad but had found my reply, and wanted to know if I was still interested.  Heck yes!  Despite being offered for free I paid the gentleman $10 for it anyway.


Next was a reply to an ad I had put in the "Wanted" section of Craigslist.  This was a very nice model with some included accessories and its original box, which was falling apart.  Again I paid $10.


Third was this guy, which I had absolutely no need for, but as I said I was greedy for them at that point.  It was the roughest of the 3 and I paid the most for; $25. It cleaned up nicely but the pain loss was significant.  All 3 were good runners.


In the following years I would find nicer examples and the first two found new homes, but this grimey 3rd one stayed on the shelf as a "user".  Users are the ones we take camping when we're worried that the nicer ones might get scratched and lose value.  On a fishing trip I was talking about my collection to one of my friends, who works at a machine shop, and he mentioned his powder coating capabilities and offered his services.  I had one other fount from a 220F that I got from another collector that had already been stripped to bare steel, which I was looking to repaint and use on a 237 that had a bad fount.  

I was also looking for an opportunity to display a lantern at work that wasn't too gratuitously "I collect lanterns".  My company, Red Hat Inc., has a strong brand identity and many employees demonstrate their loyalty/fandom with branded objects (even tattoos!). I thought to myself; 200A, red "hat", needs paint job, friend with power coating. Bingo!  I got my friend to powder coat both the 220F and this guy's fount in matte black, found an appropriately sized Red Hat decal, and voila!  



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