Posted 2 years ago
DW1
(3 items)
I know the diamond label steel Coca-Cola can has been seen by many But the howdy cola can, I have never seen But all advertising that I have seen just says bottles Has anybody else had experience with these cans Very curious
DW1, welcome to CW!
It’s always interesting seeing other people’s collections so keep posting your “stuff”.
I’m not familiar with Howdy Cola but the way the can has been opened reminded me of something that might be of interest to you.
Possibly, that can was opened by hand with a regular punch can opener.
However, it just might have been opened by the vending machine. I know that might sound a little crazy so I’ll explain:
Back in the late 1950s or early 1960s, I used to beg my mother for money to put into the Canada Dry Ginger Ale vending machine at my dad’s service station. And I didn’t even LIKE ginger ale!
I just wanted to operate the punch can opener.
It worked like this: put in your money and receive a can of the drink. Then you positioned your can into an alcove in the front of the vending machine, pulled down on a lever and watched as a triangular metal punch came down onto the top of the can and made an opening in it.
It was fun to operate but I remember the punch being coated the black “gunk” from repeated use getting successive layers of ginger ale on it and never being cleaned off. Sometimes there might be a few ants or flies interested in the “gunk” so maybe, just maybe, I’d wipe the top of my can with a paper towel after I opened it.
Canada Dry was the only machine with such an opener…there were 2 or 3 other machines along side it but they all dispensed cans with pop-tops.
Seeing your picture #3 makes me wonder if the Howdy Cola can was opened by such a punch mechanism on the vending machine.
I used to have a prolly couple hundred (or more) collection of soda cans, I'd regularly raid the dumpster at a local motel to find ones made by brands that didn't market their product in our little IL city, that'd otherwise been left behind by visitors there. All this to say I don't think I've ever heard of the HOWDY brand either, which would make me curious if it was a 'store brand' vs. a national one like Coke or Pepsi. If there's a clue there it'd probably be on the backside of the can someplace in the small print...?