Bob Mench ’54
9
Creating His Own Museum Of Collectibles
Interested in model NASCAR race
cars?
Bob Mench 5W4 has hundreds of
them.
Interested in models of World War
II ships?
Mensch has dozens of those, as well.
How about John Wayne mementos,
model trains, collectible knives, miniature soldiers, and a host of other categories.
Mench has dozens of all of these collectibles and many others, numbering
in the thousands.
Mench likes to collect things and has
been doing so for a long time. In fact, he
has collected so many items that he had
to build a warehouse on his property in
Delaware to hold them all.
Walking into his warehouse of collectibles is a lot like entering a museum.
Every item is meticulously displayed
in a neat, orderly fashion on shelves
for easy viewing according to category,
just like a museum. And, just like a museum, there are so many rows of items
that you feel like you can’t possibly see
all of them.
Mench didn’t start out trying to create his own museum, it all started very
simply.
For as long as he can remember he has
loved Ford Thunderbirds, better known
as T-Birds. After he finally bought one
to refurbish, he found it was difficult to
get parts, so he bought another one, just
for parts. “I loved the cars so much it
was like eating potato chips, I just kept
getting more and more T-Birds,” he said.
While buying the cars and searching out parts for them, he had frequent
interactions with other T-Bird enthusiasts. These interactions led him to begin
accumulating miniature T-Birds and
items with T-Bird emblems on them,
such as key chains, money holders, and
cigarette lighters, and many other items
related to T-Birds. Before he knew it, he
had a pretty sizeable collection.
His other interests, including the
military, aviation, and NASCAR, led to
more collecting.
He began amassing collectibles of
World War II era ships and planes; miniature soldiers of the Civil War, World
War I, and World War II; trains; Christmas items; stuffed animals; McDonald’s
and Coca Cola memorabilia; and jukeboxes.
You name it, he has several dozen
items relating to it.
He also has several large models of
airplanes from different eras hanging
from the ceiling and an actual T-Bird at
the inside entrance to his “museum.”
Mench, who studied carpentry