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weaselmeatgravy

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A little stroll down memory lane...

Tonight I stumbled upon the box for my dad's GS32 Speed Six, which is a shooter that is not usually kept in the box.
I opened the box and decided to check under the "flap". I found this ad for Dave Cook's Sporting Goods in Denver,
where my dad got the gun.

I have mentioned before that I looked and looked for a stainless Speed Six in the late 1970's and could never find one,
settling instead for a blue gun along about 1980. The Speed Six was scarce due to most of them being funneled
to meet LE needs. My dad found a stainless one a few years later and bought it - on sale - and then also managed
to get a better "repeat offender" discount on it.

Regularly $234.50 (MSRP in 1982), on sale for $199.99, he got the stainless gun for the price the blue one was
on sale for - $179.99 (dealer cost was $178.22). The date on the full page ad in the morning newspaper matches the
date on the receipt, so dad must have gone downtown (where the 16th & Market store was) on a Saturday just to buy
the gun (noted as "1 only" in stock).

Dave Cook was bought out in 1988, my dad died in 1998, and the Rocky Mountain News closed up shop after 149
years earlier this year in 2009. As I recall, the Denver papers got all PC after Columbine and would no longer take
advertising for firearms. These days it seems hard to imagine a dealer having to take out a full page newspaper
ad to reduce firearm inventory!

Dave-Cook-Ad-Dads-GS32-May-1982.jpg


Check out some of the other prices too! There were several 9mm Speed Sixes listed at the various stores for $209.99,
too bad my dad thought those were such a bad idea.

Dave-Cook-Rct-Dads-GS32-May-1982.jpg


Dave-Cook-Dads-GS32.jpg



FYI, here is a little blurb I found online about Dave Cook Sporting Goods:

The Fontius building was owned by the Cooks — a family whose troubles outdid even the Dikeous'. Their empire was launched in 1925 when Dave Cook made an impulse buy of 144,000 fishing flies. His entrepreneurial instincts evolved into Dave Cook Sporting Goods, a string of 21 Colorado stores. But the Cooks had lately become better known for their bruising family clashes over money and real estate. Ousted family member Max Cook, Dave's brother, would go on to open his own sporting-goods store and dabble in real estate, buying the Steel's building in 1961. By the time Dave Cook Sporting Goods was bought out by a competitor, in 1988, all that was left of the Cook empire was a collection of properties and an imbroglio of family squabbles over them.

And here is another blurb about Gart Bros. Sporting Goods, who ended up buying out Dave Cook:

In early 1988 Gart bought Dave Cook Sporting Goods Co. for about $20 million. Dave Cook was a longtime rival to Gart and the number two sporting goods retailer in Denver at the time of its purchase by Gart. While the first Dave Cook store had opened in 1932, there were 21 by 1988, all located in Colorado, except for a single store in Casper, Wyoming. Gart and Cook had been bitter competitors for 60 years, frequently engaging in price wars, but were now joined together in a 48-store regional sporting goods empire. Herb Cook, son of founder Dave Cook, initially joined Gart Bros. following the sale, but resigned--along with other Cook family members--in early 1989. Although at first Gart continued to use the Hagan and Dave Cook names on its acquired stores, by the early 1990s a gradual conversion had resulted in all the stores bearing the Gart name.
 

weaselmeatgravy

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The thing I find most amazing is that my dad, who worked M-F at "The Phone Company" in downtown Denver and hated the commute, actually went down there on purpose on a Saturday to buy a Ruger! That was way out of character for him, but then it was a great deal on a scarce gun. He took an early retirement package in 1984, the last day before the AT&T divestiture, and probably didn't make it downtown too many times (if at all) after that.
 

LarryH

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That is really neat! I shopped at that NorthGlenn store many, many times as a kid. Made many trips there from Hudson, Colorado after I got my DL at 16. Brings back some great memories.
Thanks for sharing!
 

ltbarber

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Nice iron!! I love vintage gun advertising. It is interesting that they list a remingotn 1100,but the picture above it is an 870. If only we could see those guns produced again today,and at that price,too!!
 

weaselmeatgravy

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Colonel Daddy":3ax1v7ja said:
Now, what's got me curious is the signature on the bottom of the receipt. Can you enlighten me........us?

I just blurred my dad's sig and his name/address above it with a mosaic tile effect. He is gone but my mom still lives at that address and might not appreciate having it posted on the internet.
 

Colorado_Bisley

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Wow, great story and thanks for posting the ad! I remember as kid in the early 80s going into the Dave Cooks Southglen Mall and looking at the various S&Ws and Rugers and dreaming of the day I could own one. In 1986 my dad and I went in there after such an ad and he bought me a Rossi 92 Saddle Ring Carbine in .357. I remember walking out of the mall with the box over my shoulder thinking I was the king of the world!

I can't believe a S&W 27 was almost $100 more than the Model 28, and that the S&W 29 cost so much more than the Super Blackhawk. They were practically giving the SBHs away.

I found a 5" S&W 27 buried in there, I want that one. My #2 choice is a 6" S&W 629. I better get there early to get them!
 

Bearcat

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if you take the 1982 prices and adjust them for inflation, one can see that some of the NIB old Security Sixes are actually cheaper today than they were 27 years ago, adjusted for the devaluation of the American dollar.....
 
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Great paperwork.
By the way....
4th column from left, under the banner ads,
8 ads down...
"Ruger Special Six-9mm"
Special Six?
I know the Service, Speed and Security Six.
Not quite familar with that one.....
 

g5m

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Thanks for this thread. I enjoy seeing the old ads. And, a fine story to accompany it.

Back when a dollar meant a bit more than today.
 

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