Chapter 4. Smugglers Paradise - Hungary & Slovenia

Google Translate option upper right

If you have these Pez Dispensers in your collection Odds are good if they are loose not carded that they came from me. 

Total Pez I smuggled into the US approx 1 million.Below in red is a partial list of Pez I smuggled into the USA.  turtles, nintendo, ET, Ghosts, crystals all sorts, Mr Bean, All New pez Pals (Alpine, Aral Gas, Shell Gas , Pilot Boys)  w bp, All British Petroleum Boys n All Mariner boys, Pokemon, Rainbow Zoo, Zielpunkt, Crazy Animals, New Asterix series, New Garfieldw hats, Pink Panther, Tweenies, all MMM, pink yellow orange cab trucks Tom Jerry Spike Tyke Tuffy, Icee, BarneyBear, King Loui, Baloo, Mowgli, Dumbo, Merlin Mouse, Lil Wolf, Old Smurfs, Prac Pig, Boy n Girl Pals, Silver Glows, Road Runner, Thumpers, Old Dalmations, Droopy Dog, Petunia pig, Duck Tales, Wyle Coyotes, Goofies movable ears,pink bunnies, Old Winnie Pooh,  smurfs 1, smurfs 2, and Bob the builder to name just some. 

Hello my name is sj glew and for 11 years I was a Smuggler. I've been clean for almost 15 years now. 

Hungary - The Black Market Capital Of the World For Pez Dispensers. 

In Gyor I was like the invisible man.

The Raba Hotel in Gyor Hungary

The Raba played such a huge role in my pez story that I am going to use the rest of this chapter to tell you more about the hotel and centrum/downtown.


This is info Scott would have killed for back in the day. On every trip to Hungary buying Pez dispensers, I used to stay at The Raba Hotel (great espresso) in the town of Gyor. I loved that town, if you get off the highway at the border it is about a 25 minute drive east. Nice hotel nice people and only a short walk away in the middle of town, a pizza Hut and a McDonald's. The hotel and the Pizza Hut got to know me pretty good, even if they did think I was a bit eccentric. You see Gyor is the town Pez Gyoroplaste the injection molding company is located in. Along with the pez yellow house which is headquarters for all things east concerning pez corp. I had to keep a low profile. Again those pesky rules, because it seemed everybody from pez knew what I looked like. The most relaxing time I had traveling were at the Raba, that I miss. I also read a lot of good books at the Raba. If you added up all the time I spent at the Raba it would come out to about 10 months.

Another interesting aspect of my stay at the Raba was Reading Books. I used to spend almost all of my time in Europe in my room at the Raba reading books. The only place I have ever really read book in my life was at the Raba. Being somewhat dyslexic reading has never been easy & made a mess of my school years. In the 70 plus trips to Europe I conquered this problem. By the end of my trips to Europe I was reading over 2 books per trip. Tom Clancy, Dan Brown, W.E.B. Griffen, Stuart Woods and Stephen Coonts were among my favorites.

As I spent almost all my time in Europe, in my room at the Raba reading. I led a very robust fantasy life through these books approximately 5 days a month for 10 years. I only stopped reading to sleep go down for breakfast, afternoon espresso and fanta, then my evening pilgrimage to pizza hut. Through these books I lived the Hungarian revolt against the Soviet Union & the exodus to Austria that followed, 50 years prior to me being in the very same places. I lived through reading the intrigue of spies and life under communist rule while traveling the very same locations. Being there while reading these stories gave perspective to these books. in many ways brought them to life. When in Europe I led a very rich fantasy life mentally.

Truth be told, escaping into these books was indeed a huge part of why I traveled to Europe over 70 times in 10 years. The adventure of travel to Europe, the escape from the reality of everyday life. For 5 to 7 days every month I led a secluded, disconnected existence from reality. I talked to hardly anybody & was able to move around unnoticed. For my personality type this was heaven on earth.

In the beginning I used to stay in hotels of the countries I was in, but after the first 10 or so trips I always stayed at the Raba. I used the Raba as my home base. Even if going to Slovenia for an overnight buying Pez dispensers, I kept my room at the Raba and returned to Gyor. You could easily day trip anywhere else Vienna, Linz etc. Gyor was a nice quiet town where people pretty much minded there own business, plus after a bit they got used to me & what I was doing. It became normal to them, any questions they had, they had long answered in there own mind. It worked so why break in a new hotel. Most people in Hungary in the mid 90s were on the hustle trying to earn, so actually I fit right in.

Gyor always had a very positive effect on me. Just walking the streets, having espresso, eating at the Pizza Hut & reading Tom Clancy. Staying at the Raba was my place to re energize from everything. In Gyor I was like the invisible man. All my comings & goings were ignored, not speaking the language helped isolate me from everybody else. Which resulted in my favorite thing, people left me alone for the most part. I only miss one thing from the Pez years, besides Pez money. That is staying at the Raba, drinking espresso and walking to the pizza hut, where the waiters knew without asking. Large peperoni pan pizza and Pepsi light.

The feel of both Hungary and Slovenia changed very fast from my first trip buying pez to my last. When I first visited Gyor, there first McDonald's had just opened & Coke had a Suite at the Raba. On my first trip to Slovenia the first McDonald's in the whole country had just opened in Ljubliana. I mention this because to the people in these cities this was a very big deal. One I personally could relate to, because I can still remember that same feeling from the late 1950s & early 1960s when a McDonald's, Burger king or Domino's Pizza first opened. The feeling that the good life had finally arrived. If I ever were to live in a different country, Hungary or Slovenia would be my choice.

You know how you miss something & yet not really. That's me & the whole Pez life. Some of it I miss, a lot of it I do not. I don't miss flying, customs, airports or the greed of the people I bought from. I miss the Raba Hotel, downtown Gyor and for about 3 to 5 days every month unplugging from the world there. Gyor was like my other life, a private life I led before diving back into reality.

On my room. For the first couple years I stayed in the same room always. Always asked for and always got that room. The staff after a couple years noticing that I spent almost all my time in that room and started trying to pry me out of it into a bigger room. A few trips later I let them relocate me from the tiny room to a corner suite with a balcony that overlooked centrum.

The first few years at the Raba because of the communist years the hotel was very overstaffed. Me I liked it. I got along very well with the staff. They thought I was a bit weird but never questioned it, always respected & protected my privacy.

Each afternoon I would go down to the restaurant/bar for 3 or 4 of each, espresso, Fanta and cigarettes.

I noticed early on the composition of the afternoon crowd in the bar/restaurant & the pecking order. Each day in the afternoon pretty much the same crowd showed up. There was a very definite pattern to who sat with whom & where they sat. I almost always had the same table & sat alone, I tipped the waiters to keep it that way. As with my room the hotel & staff figured out pretty quick I liked the same table & the same room always. To which they were always more than happy to oblige.

I figured out pretty quick where the head group sat. Every day year after year pretty much the same people sat at this table. The head table group were the older guard types, quieter & more subdued. Then there was the table where the people who wanted to sit at that table sat. They were younger & on the make. Sometimes when the head table was lite someone from the wannabe table would be allowed over.

My place in this structure was unique & respected. The people from the head table & wannabe table always acknowledged my arrival by nodding. I was accepted as part of the ritual but separate. I think it fascinated them that I felt no need or inclination to be a part of a group. The fact that I was very comfortable alone within this pecking order got me respect & acceptance. I have no idea what any of these people did, but they did seem to have a lot of time to drink espresso & talk every day.

Like I've said almost everybody in Hungary was on the make wanting to earn. One of the guys at the wannabe table was kinda loud, a drinker & ran the wannabe table. For years I watched this guy work his way to the head table until finally he was allowed to be a regular. It was this guy the head wannabe who was the one who approached me in about year 5.

In about year 4 because Scott was giving Austria & Hungary so much heat I was required to take about 10 months off. When I resumed my trips the head wannabe came to my table. He asked if he could sit, then explained everybody thought I had died in the plane crash the year before. Said they were all pleased this was not the case & left. Where upon things went on as before except one change. He was now a player at the head table, eventually he took over the head table.

The Clicker story. Sometimes for my evening meal I would go down to the hotel bar/restaurant for supper. As the hotel in the early days was overstaffed (a hold over from the cold war years), the bar was staffed by 3 waiters watching TV. While eating I noticed one of the waiters kept getting really annoyed then he would walk over to the TV do something then go back lean on the bar & continue watching the program. This scene played out over & over & over, for most of my meal.

Finally when the waiter behind the bar noticed me watching he held up the remote behind the other waiters back. What he was doing with the remote was changing the channel on the other waiter every time he relaxed. I have no idea why the waiter being messed with never figured it out but he didn't. Repeatedly he would get very annoyed walk over & change the channel back. This went on my entire meal including my 3 after dinner espressos & 3 cigarettes. He never figured it out, I think they could have & very well might have done this to him for weeks & he would not have figured it out.

Before leaving my room I always made sure to leave $10.00 by the sink in the bathroom for the ladies who cleaned my room. Checked out & tipped the front desk people. Then tipped the porter even though I pulled my own bag because he always walked me out & helped me load. Besides he was the guy who kept an eye on my car, which in Hungary was important. I also would slip him a $5 when I left to drive anywhere because he would then chain off a spot for me to park in upon my return. A good relationship with the hotel staff was why my privacy was respected & protected.

3 am. Pez Pickup. As I've said before over the years of buying Pez in Hungary Many things changed. One big change was in the last two years. My contacts were getting so paranoid, that they no longer wanted me to take the dispensers to the Raba. As the pez yellow house was pretty much across the street, they felt the duffel bags full of pez were drawing to much attention. Kinda nuts really as everybody at the Raba knew I was there buying Pez. It was decided I should leave my bags at the middle mans house in the garage until I was on my way to the airport in Vienna to leave. So there I was at the end of every trip in somebodies garage at 3 am until 4 am filling my duffel bags with Pez dispensers & loading them in the car. What ever, it was on the way to the airport anyway & it made them feel better.

After loading bags it was off to the airport. Once at the airport in Vienna I always had to hunt for a porter as it was usually 5 to 5:30 am & they were just coming on there shifts. The porter would take the bags from the curb to my check in, while I turned the car in & walked back to the terminal. Porters are very useful when you are trying to move things along as they have relationships with the airline people. He would hand the bags to the airline, I'd give him $40.00 & the European end was mostly done.

This is the Raba Hotel in Gyor. I spent well over 6 months here if you add up all my stays over a 10 year period. I loved this place. Highly recommended if you visit Hungary. Last few years of my travels my room was in far left corner of picture. The ones with balconies.

Restaurant at the Raba Hotel. I spent a lot of time here smoking cigarettes drinking espresso & Fanta orange as a chaser. Absolutely lovely place, many fond memories. Table with thingy on it was my table.

This was the view of Centrum from my third floor corner suite in the Raba Hotel. This photo shows the completed renovations of the walking area in downtown Gyor.

The pictures above & below are of the renovations to Centrum while they were going on. Thousands & thousands of bricks were layed on a sand base to create a beautiful walking area 4 or 5 blocks long. Prior to these renovations the walking area was a shabby worn blacktop.

Let me expand just a bit. Gyor is a moderately sized town outside of Budapest. The people are all kind & helpful. I felt very safe and at home in Gyor, especially staying at the Raba. The people who staff the Raba look out for you and have your safety at heart. I said if you travel in the area you should stay there. That's incorrect, I actually think you should make Gyor and the Raba Hotel your destination. Using The Raba & Gyor as your home-base for day-tripping. Vienna or Budapest are only 2 hours away by car. Even when traveling to Slovenia or other countries for overnight trips I kept my room at the Raba to return to. Travel can be unsettling. Staying at the Raba in Gyor gave me a place to decompress from other activities in Europe.

South Africa 18 plus hours to get back to the Raba and rest. Sweden, Switzerland, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Czech Republic or Slovak Republic. Always back to the Raba and Gyor to recuperate. The Raba in Gyor was my second home for 10 years in the 1990s. I really don't leave my property now, but even being a smidge agoraphobic I would feel comfortable in Gyor at the Raba. Go there you will see what I mean. Also Eat at the Pizza Hut in centrum, you won't regret it.

Also if you are a pezzy the yellow house is sotra just across the way from the Raba. You also pass the injection molding plant on the way into town.

Tell the Raba the Strange Old American with the ponytail & beard sent you.

Here's the secret. If the bags hadn't had MADE IN HUNGARY printed on them, I couldn't have brought the PEZ into the country. These bags were the grease that made it all work. I used to bring thousands of pez home from Europe in duffle bags (probably 1/2 million anyway total), each in one of these MADE IN HUNGARY bags with no damage.

Ebay Buy it now $8.95  200 PEZ MADE IN HUNGARY Protection Bags for Pez Clear P...

To me Gyor Hungary was the Black-market Capital of the World, if what you sought was Pez. Word of warning though, if you think you will ever get the best of a Hungarian in a business deal. You are a Fool!

"pizza hut.győr". I can't believe this search term showed up & led people to Pez Outlaw Diaries, let alone twice. My fondest memories of traveling to Europe, specifically Hungary were at the Pizza Hut in Gyor. This was my second home when I traveled to Gyor. Large pan pizza, peperoni & Pepsi Lite. The waiters used to tell me what my order was. If you travel to Gyor you must eat there. I would travel to Gyor just to eat there again & relive the memories. Tell them the old bearded American with the ponytail sent you. P.S. Yes I bought the T-Shit, actually 2 of them. Whenever I wore the Gyor Pizza Hut T-shirt it was like a secret Pez Code T-shirt. I always felt the Gyor Pizza Hut T-shirt was the ultimate Pez T-shirt, if you were in the know you knew what it meant. As Gyor is the unknown Capital of Pez in Europe, besides being the Black Market Capital of Pez in Europe.

Anybody with the money can license & produce so called PEZ collectibles by slapping the PEZ logo on something. To me that stuff is cute, BUT! True PEZ collectibles other than dispensers are a part of the history of the PEZ. This shirt is a very unique piece of that PEZ history & how a lot of what is in your collection actually got to you. Special note; very soon I will be listing on ebay also the actual duffel bags that carried/smuggled those very dispensers. These duffel bags each served there part in bringing approx 1 million PEZ dispensers to you. The very bags used in my over 70 trips to Europe etc. buying PEZ dispensers on the Black Market.

To be clear. I had thousands & thousands of each of these Pez Dispensers.

Here are some of the Pez Dispensers I smuggled into the USA from Hungary.

Left to right. King Loui, Baloo, Mowgli, Little Wolf, Barney Bear and Blue Dumbo Pez Dispensers. In total I bought between three to five thousand each of these Pez Dispensers. Except Lil Wolf and Barney Bear. I only bought about a thousand each of them. Picture courtesy of Rudi.

Pez Outlaw sjglew Signature onyour Pez dispenser I Smuggled into the USA...

$4.95

I smuggled approximately 700,000 Pez Dispensers into the USA from Europe. Get yours signed and authenticated as a Pez Outlaw Pez Dispenser.

In total I bought three to five thousand each of these Pez Dispensers. Except Camel (not pictured), Frog and Lamb. I was only able to get about a thousand each of them. By the way I missed the Rooster, Duck and Pig Melody Makers down in Slovenia by one month. Picture courtesy of Rudi.

Smurf Pez Dispensers. In total I bought about  five thousand each of these Pez Dispensers.

I used to see this type Big Billa carded Pez Dispensers in Hungary when I used to store hop there.

Pez Pal Girl

Over a 10 year period I spent well over 1/2 million Dollars cash on Pez dispensers in Hungary. At least $250,000.00 of that was in the form of bribes, or money skimmed off the top for services rendered. Everybody got a piece of the Pez Money for there role in the pez dispensers that were provided. Even though people were well paid, getting the Pez dispensers I wanted was always more difficult than you would think considering how much people were being paid.

Pez Pal boy

I just have to tell you a short story here that may give you perspective on why all this was possible. Most of the Pez dispensers I bought were in Hungary. Early on in my trips to Hungary my middle man told me about a bank robber in Hungary. This bank robber would hold up a bank then make his getaway by swimming across the river that cuts through many towns in Hungary. The problem for police was, to much river & not enough bridges. So the bank robber was making fools of local law enforcement. Everybody in Hungary loved this guy, he was a modern day folk hero. His adventures were followed with obvious excitement by almost everybody I talked to. He was front page in every newspaper & the top of news broadcasts on TV.

Practical Pig

After approximately 40 years under communist rule most Hungarians had a very deep disdain for authority & a very strong entrepreneurial desire. Most of what people had done for 40 years was under the radar. That is anything that was actually going to help them better there lives. So me, I appeared at the right time, in the right place, when & where what I wanted to do was possible.

Hungarian Silver Glow

Joshua & I driving all over eastern Europe ( Czech, Slovak, Hungary, etc) in a little clown car looking for pez dispensers & the factories. I had been buying Pez dispensers store to store in Canada for years at Zellers, so I figured why not in Europe. I had heard about the silver glow Pez dispensers from Dwayne D. Also a customer mentioned you could buy at the pez warehouse in Ljubliana. So we drove from country to country store to store with some success. Though trying to find pez factories & pez warehouses was not so easy. We found a shoe factory, we found a look alike candy manufacturer, but not pez. So I stopped a taxi showed him the address on a Pez dispensers package & we followed in the clown car, which led us to the pez yellow house in Gyor & my first meeting with Gunther.




The Elvis Cafe.

The Elvis Cafe was this really weird restaurant located at the side of the road. I used to pass this cafe every trip in Hungary. Like I said, If you take the M1 freeway you really don't see Hungary. You have to take two lane blacktops if you want to see a passenger plane sticking out of a building. This restaurant was located about midway between the Vienna Hungarian border and Gyor. I actually stopped at this cafe several times. Had espresso up in the plane and bought several T-shirts.

Elvis Cafe outside Gyor in Hungary. Picture courtesy of Rudi.

Anybody with the money can license & produce so called PEZ collectibles by slapping the PEZ logo on something. To me that stuff is cute, BUT! True PEZ collectibles other than dispensers are a part of the history of the PEZ. This shirt is a very unique piece of that PEZ history & how a lot of what is in your collection actually got to you. Special note; very soon I will be listing on ebay also the actual duffel bags that carried/smuggled those very dispensers. These duffel bags each served there part in bringing approx 1 million PEZ dispensers to you. The very bags used in my over 70 trips to Europe etc. buying PEZ dispensers on the Black Market.

The Injection Molding Facility was named Gyori Plast.

Pic of Gyori Plast courtesy of Frank Syperrek

Directions to Gyori Plast.

Coming from the direction of Budapest, M1 highway direction Wien (Bécs)/Győr:
Take the M1 highway until Exit "Pápa". At this exit, go to the left, following Győr Centrum. At the second traffic light (after Tesco), go to the left. Follow this road for approximately 2 km crossing the railroad intersection. Beyond this railroad crossing, after 800 m you will see a dead-end street to the left (Győri Plast). Follow this street to the end, where you will find The West-Gate Business Center. CDA Group is on the third floor to the left, in 306.

Coming from Vienna, M1 highway direction Budapest/Győr:
Take the M1 highway direction Győr/Budapest. At the exit Csorna-Sopron, go right direction Győr Centrum. At the first traffic light, go right and continue until you reach the city center. Continue at the traffic light and drive on to the viaduct. After the viaduct, go immediately right and drive onto another viaduct. Follow this road until the first traffic light. At this light, take a right hand turn and immediately again turn right, into a dead-end street (Győri Plast). Follow this street to the end, where you will find The West-Gate Business Center. CDA Group is on the third floor to the left, in 306.



I have to tell you though, I never used these directions coming from Vienna. I always got off the highway just after crossing the border into Hungary. Where I took a two lane road into Gyor. Coming from Budapest you don't really have any choice. You see M1 is a toll road. None of the locals use it. After you cross the Hungarian border coming from Austria, you have to get off in a hurry. Otherwise you will be required to pay the first of several tolls. Ten years ago it was this beautiful new highway, that only Austrians used to get to Budapest. Plus if you stay on it, you might as well be on a highway anywhere. You won't see anything. For me the only way to really experience another country, is on a two lane blacktop.


The Yellow House 

Display case inside the Yellow House.

Road Runner

The company name of the Pez Yellow House located in Gyor is Hungarocandy. Head of operations for the Pez Yellow House was Gunther Leitner. I say was as I have no idea what his title is today. Last I heard Gunther & Robby were making trips to China setting up & overseeing pez operations there. I asked the Queen of Austria what Gunthers title is today when she emailed about this listing, but she never responded after that.

Inside the pez yellow house we were talking to the people who worked there about buying some pez dispensers, when a man in a plaid sports jacket came out of an office. He approached the conversation listened for a bit then introduced himself. Hello my name is Gunther Leitner. Getting no recognition he said "Don't you know who I am". Then he said "I know what you want, I'm the guy you need to deal with". He turned grabbed a post-it, wrote something on it & signed it.

Merlin Mouse

I sold this post-it on ebay a couple of years ago. While it was listed for sale Andrew emailed me. He told me how uncool it was to sell this post-it. All these years later & they still thought I should play by there rules. Me I thought. Are you kidding me? After being wiped out financially during the Pez Color Wars you still expected me to take it & like it. How Bizarre. How Bizarre. That said. I don't think the person who won this post-it really realizes how significant a piece of Pez memorabilia that little post-it is. That piece of paper signed by Gunther brought over 1/2 million dispensers to the hobby of collecting pez. The price it sold for on ebay was about $20.00. The actual value as an iconic mile marker in the hobby of collecting pez is more like $2,000.00 when you truly appreciate what it is.

Hungarian White Goofy

I have no dog in the fight concerning the Pez post-it signed by Gunther as I no longer own it. I'm just saying if any piece of paper ever collected by Pez collectors is worth $2,000.00 that little post-it signed by Gunther Leitner is. It single handedly impacted the course of pez collecting in the early 1990s & for the next 10 years.

He gave us an address & said go here. When we arrived at the address, we showed the postit to the guard & the gates opened. Once in the warehouse the manager snapped to & took us to a pile of boxes containing older pez dispensers. We selected what we could afford & paid Gunther. I believe though that he was very disappointed. Being one of my first few trips, we only spent a few thousand dollars. Not a lot of money in the beginning, as we were just figuring this whole thing out. Though from my point of view a very successful encounter, we got a little of everything. The pez trucks sold out in a few days, so within two weeks, I went back to Gunther on a trip just for Truck Pez dispensers.

The real for real Pez truck. Parked at the Yellow House aka Hungarocany in Gyor. For all the trucks that have been made and sold to collectors. I never understood why someone did not make the real thing. For me this truck is an icon. This truck is also the reason I thought Gunther was disappointed after we made our first Pez buy. He had them back it up to the warehouse, so once we were done it could be loaded for transport. That buy was early days only a few thousand dollars. What am I saying? I never in 10 years bought more than could fit in a good medium size car. Five duffel bags was my limit. I used to see this truck in Hungary, Slovenia and in between. Picture courtesy of Rudi.

Janossomorja
jánossomorja

Jánossomorja  was the name of the town or was it the warehouse where Gunther sent me. All you had to do was spot the smoke stack with Pez on it. then find the roads that got you there. This was the warehouse where Pez dispensers were stored. At the time it was also where candy was made and pez were carded. Like Kolinska in Slovenia. More or less the distribution hub for the old Eastern Block countries and Russia. Gunther owned that part of the world when it came to Pez.

The pez truck trip. The Raba Trucks


Raba Trucks are named after the Raba Hotel in Gyor Hungary that every one now in  US collections transition trough on there journey to the USA & you.

$    15.00      Raba Trucks Cab # 1 thru 16 Pink cab Black stem Hungarian production
$    25.00      Raba Trucks Cab # 1 thru 16 Yellow cab Black stem Hungarian production
$    35.00      Raba Trucks Cab # 1 thru 16 Orange cab Black stem Hungarian production  

This trip was intended to be a quick trip of just a few days. In & out just to get more truck pez dispensers. As I said they sold out in just a few days, which shocked me. The rest of the pez dispensers I bought on my first meet with Gunther were hard to find but I had had them before from Canada. The pez trucks though were unknown at the time as they were exclusive to Hungary. They had been created at Pez Gyoroplaste when the old C class pez truck molds had been reused to start up the factory.

The Truck Pez dispensers. Movable wheels C class. These pez trucks were made when Pez Gyoroplaste was first opened. Old C class pez truck molds were brought in along with some other old pez molds for the start up of this pez injection molding facility. Pez Pal Boy & Pez Pal Girl were among other old pez molds used in those early days. This product was manufactured for distribution in the old Eastern block & Russia. Because the pez truck mold was old & a bit worn, somebody had the genius idea to glue the wheels in place so they would not fall out. Luckily only about 1/3 of the truck Pez dispensers were glued.

Black Trailer Orange Cabs C class Pez dispensers. Approximately 3 to 400 brought to US by me.

Black Trailer Yellow Cabs C class Pez dispensers. Approximately 4 to 800 brought to US by me.

Black Trailer Pink Cabs C class Pez dispensers. Approximately 2,000 to 3,000 brought to US by me.

Pink Raba Trucks

just noticed "raba trucks" used as search term last hour. suppose that's a pretty good name for them. gonna use it. Raba Trucks are named after the Raba Hotel in Gyor Hungary that every one now in  US collections transition trough on there journey to the USA & you.

So I flew in & out of the Budapest airport. On this trip Gunther sold me appox 3,000 of the C class truck Pez dispensers. Orange, yellow & pink cabs with black stem Pez dispensers. Man was this exciting, early days, a really rare Pez dispenser & they sold very fast. This was also the first time I stayed at the Raba. I bagged the truck Pez dispensers, checked out of the hotel & drove from Gyor to the Budapest Airport. Turned my car in & went to the gate to check my bags. This is where things went horribly wrong. At check in I was greeted by a cold war throwback customs inspector. He wanted to see my bill of sale, though what I realized the next day was he really wanted a bribe. Problem was I never got a bill of sale from Gunther, again that whole gray area of business thingy. Boris says to me after a long conversation, " well just check in take your flight & your bags will follow later". Yeah right Boris I don't think so. Delta offered to rebook me tomorrow same time no extra cost. Great, got my car back, took my bags & drove back to the pez yellow house. Luckily Gunther was in Austria so I was able to talk an underling into writing me up a bill of sale for the Pez dispensers.

Not wanting to fool around with the hotel for just one night. Cost of room plus tips to get the duffel bags up & down from the room. I decided to just spend the night in the McDonals parking lot, as I had noticed earlier that truckers used it. What I had not realized was that a lively trade went on all night also by prostitutes. I'm all for free enterprise but early in the morning a group of them & there pimp woke me up. Business for the night had died down & I think it was time for another type of business. Doors locked I was out of there & at the airport in record time to spend the rest of the night.

Next morning at check in & no Boris. I mean no customs guy at all. There I stood with a difficultly acquired bill of sale & nobody wanted to see it. I showed it to Delta & they could have cared less. On my way to the gate I spotted ole Boris watching me from around a corner wishing for the good old days. Boris, pimps, prostitutes & Mickey Ds. Just a quick trip in & out that I would never forget.

Petunia Pig

Prostitutes. Being from the Midwest, until I started traveling in the old Eastern block countries buying Pez dispensers. I had no experience with Prostitutes, let alone aggressive ones. My first exposure to this was Josh & my first trip into Hungary. At that time approximately 1994 there were nearly 3 miles of roadside stands along the main drag before you got to Gyor. These stands were open 24 hours selling clothing, stuffed animals, fruits, vegetables, pop, garden gnomes, just all kinds of stuff. The stands were frequented by travelers & long haul truckers. Before they cracked down it was also one of the main areas of prostitution & let me tell you it was not subtle. If you stopped & got out of your car you were approached by at least by 3 different women.

Later once the new freeway opened & killed the roadside stands, the girls moved to just outside city limits of Gyor on the main road. In the summer it got pretty interesting, thin material slacks that were more like black panty hoes, very tightly worn. Out & out flashing by lifting there tops as you drove by to get your attention. This was the case outside a lot of the bigger cities in the old eastern block countries we traveled in, in the early days of my travels. Not to mention nightly activities at Micky Ds on the highway to Budapest. There was also a Gypsy woman (Gypsies are looked down on by most Hungarians) that had a group of girls in downtown Gyor who always approached me on the way to Pizza Hut. Sometimes it was like running a gauntlet.

Goofy

I never cheated on Kathy in any way shape or form. Though being male & not dead I did find it interesting. The single most interesting encounter was while walking to supper. I was approached by an absolute stunner of a woman. Who asked for a cigarette & invited me in the bar to buy her a drink. If ever I was truly tempted that was the time. Quickly though I heard Kathy's warnings in my head, how THINGS would shrivel & die if I did. I quickly gave & lit her cigarette, then almost ran to the restaurant. Besides I had strict rules about dealing with people on the streets in Europe, that was not to at all. To the point of if approached, actually telling one person to get away from me. Never robbed even though quite often I had almost $10,000.00 cash, in my trouser pockets. By keeping strictly to myself & protecting my personal space, I really never had any problems.

About driving around in Hungary. I never learned any of the names of roads or addresses. Once I left the airport in Vienna I just knew where to go. To this day it would all be from memory, which highway east, where to get off. How to get to the middle man & the Raba. I have no idea what the names of any of the roads are, I just know how to get there.

One very strong memory of Hungary is driving through Movar (a town with a really long name that people who live there just call Movar) at night on my way to Gyor. The air was filled with the smell of coal burning to heat homes. The two lane road lit up by street lights. Houses & businesses all right next to the sidewalk, so much so that it seemed everything was crowding the street. Listening to a tape of Enigma as I drove. That first night is my most vivid memory of Hungary, it all had a very 1950s feel to it. The weather in Gyor is very much like the weather here in Michigan.


Slovenia

Search term from internet. "pez made in slovenia". answer not since early to mid 1990s.

Flight to Ljubljana. After waiting all night on benches in a small corner of the Vienna airport finally it was time to board. We walk out onto the airstrip & are directed to board Sky Kings plane. Pilot copilot & 4 seats for passengers. One of the seats occupied by the overweight male stewardess handing out sandwiches from Rubbermaid containers. This did not look good. The flight turned out to be quite similar to a ride on a scary roller coaster with the male stewardess in your lap more than his own seat. Something to do with flying over the Alps in winter in a small plane, wind currents, downdrafts & low altitudes. We drove clown cars down through the mountains after that. The single most beautiful drive you will ever take is a winter drive from Vienna to Ljubljana through the mountains. The air is crisp & clean. The scenery unmatched anywhere in all my travels. Whenever I think of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen it is that drive in winter. Though driving clown cars through serious mountains can be a harrowing experience.

These are the Pink Bunnies I got from Marcos.

We arrive in Slovenia after taking our first & last clown plane ride. I will never get on another small plane for the rest of my life. Honestly people say this & are usually exaggerating, But I literally thought I was going to die on that plane. After spending some time to regain our composure off we went to Rent a Clown Car. Josh & I had already decided we would not be using the return ticket to Vienna. Here's something you may not know. You can rent cars in Eastern European countries & drive anywhere. But if you rent say in Vienna or Germany you must get special paperwork, which is checked at borders to drive into Eastern block countries.

After leaving the airport we find our way to Kolinska the Pez warehouse & packaging facility in Ljubliana. Really terrific people, they invited us in for espresso, saying they had no problem selling us whatever Pez dispensers they had, that we wanted. Explaining that the Pez dispensers they had was limited, that Plastdispenser in Ormoz the plastics plant was where we needed to go for Pez dispensers. Two things to note here. They actually had quite a good selection of Pez dispensers. Though a month ago they had Pez dispensers I would drool for like rooster mmm, pig mmm, wyle, foghorn, henry hawk, cool cat etc. Second Pez corp downsized this facility, within 2 years they were selling soup & catchup.

Small group of the Black Santas I got from Marcos.

Foghorn Leghorn

They said Plastdispenser in Ormoz had all the pez dispensers. Though this information came with big warnings & concerns by them. Ormoz you see is very close to Zagreb & Zagreb was at war at that time. The whole Cerbs vs Croates thingy that involved ethnic cleansing. You see if you took a wrong turn near Ormoz, within 1/2 hour you would have been smack dab in the middle of a war. That's not good. Second thing the road from Ljubliana to Ormoz they said was very dangerous, a lot of people were dying on it lately. Now I am really encouraged.

The drive down was interesting, a bit hilly with steep drop offs at roadside. Though the real problem was it was 1 lane north & 1 lane south without even a yellow line to divide them. To complicate things even further drivers in either direction treated it as though both lanes headed north or south at the same time. Remember this is me the guy the King of Austria thought was the worst driver in the world, who could not believe I was allowed to drive at all. Fair due though I learned my European driving skills in Slovenia, Slovak, Czech & Hungary. Just driving in your own lane on that highway was a duel with death.

Henry Hawk

Josh did a lot of the driving on these trips & it scared the heck out of both of us. My job was navigation.

Of course we got lost. I remember screeching to a stop when Josh yelled that sign says Zagreb 20 miles. Whoa did we ever stop & turn around. We spent that night at some weird hot spring spa. Kinda cool if you like taking a swim in hot sulfur waters in a ex KGB retreat atmosphere.

Ex KGB Resorts. This place was actually pretty cool in a KGB sorta way. At the center of everything was this old looking glass enclosed swimming pool with a brick changing room attached, surround by wooden cabins for rooms. Lockers the whole bit. It was the pool that was the big deal. The pool was fed by a hot sulfur spring, so you swam in hot sulfur water. Of course we tried it. It was a very unique experience & as we were lost when we found it, I could not tell you for the life of me where it was. A lot of these experiences were very unique & the last remnants of something soon gone forever.

Ex KGB Towers. At the borders of most old Eastern Block countries there were at regular intervals Guard Towers. They reminded me of water towers here but flatter & more saucer in shape with windows & a wrap around porch. These were the big ones, there were also smaller ones made of wood that reminded me of Park Ranger Towers over here. There were still a lot of cold war things standing in the early 90s.

One more thing that always struck me as odd. After crossing customs leaving Hungary, you would get on the Highway to Vienna. At the first overpass on the side of the hill was this wooden building that looked like a club house. It was manned with Austrian cops of one sort or another in the early to mid 90s because I saw them. In the later 90s, they appeared empty. This area was the same area where during the 1956 Hungarian revolt against Communism, where the Hungarian people fled across the border into Austria to escape the tanks that the USSR had sent in to squash the rebellion. The reason I know this is on one trip to Hungary I read a book that went into a lot of the details about the 1956 Hungarian revolt & the exodus from Hungary afterward.

I've got to tell you about the toilets in a lot of old eastern block countries. You know how when your sitting doing your business here it is a straight shot down in this country. Well that portion is way forward in the bowl, your business in the old country quite often lands on a flat raised area like table & just sits there till you flush, sometimes it leaves, sometimes not. To further aggravate the situation, above the toilet in our cabin was an open propane heater. So it baked the toilet & its contents. Sorry if this bit of color grossed you out and the only reason I tell you is it really grossed me out.

Next morning we arrived at Plastdispenser the pez plastics factory in Ormoz. First thing I noticed was very long lines of cars at one side of the factory. After watching for a while I realized they were dropping off assembled Pez dispensers & picking up components for Pez dispensers to be assembled. People from the surrounding community were doing home assembly of pez dispensers. The population of Ormoz is 2,400 people. Until that moment I had no idea this was how it was done. Later I found out this at one time or another was how it was done at most injection molding plants in Europe. Which means just like the Queen of Austria found pez dispensers & components for Pez dispensers in the community around the factory in Linz. You too could find them in the communities surrounding factories in Pamplona Spain, Ormoz Slovenia, Gyor Hungary & early production in China. One thing you need to know is workers especially home assembly workers always have pez stuff in there garages.

Josh and I were admitted in, then escorted to the upper level where the offices were. As we waited on the glassed in balcony, we were able to take in the view of the entire manufacturing area where production of pez components was actually done. In the dozen visits I made to this factory, this was always my favorite part of every trip. That is before Pez Austria bought Plastdispenser outright and banned me. A few years after Austria bought Plastdispenser, they moved dispenser production to Linz and Gyor. Ormoz was soon making brooms and dust pans. I always enjoyed standing there, just watching for about 10 minutes, before announcing I was there. The lady who I always did business with, Ljuba greeted me and invited me into her office. I have recently been informed that the reason I was dealing with Ljuba was because of her language skills. I explained what I was hunting for. She called Ljubliana and was told she could sell to me. Before they showed me what they had I was introduced to Marcos.

1st one

Marcos was there pez test shot guy & pez experimenter in chief. This guy loved his work. He took us to a cabinet which housed there pez collection. I later gave him a pez space gun & a pez shooter for there collection. Most facilities had a pez collection of one sort or another. In Ljubliana it was different pez dispensers on a beam around the top of the a room in the warehouse. Seeing the pez collection one piece jumped out at me, it was a black Santa Pez dispensers. Like I said Marcos loved his work, he was a very enthusiastic guy when it came to testing pez colors. Josh & I went nuts you'd think we had just seen an alien. We were told he had made a small run of these Pez dispensers because he thought the company ought to do this. Austria had decided, saying it was to controversial to produce. COKO PEZ an African caricature on the box for chocolate pez candy was ok, but a black Santa Pez dispensers was to controversial. This would be big news to approximately 20% of the population in America for whom Santa is actually black. In my opinion Marcos was correct.

Black Santa is probably the most historic Pez Dispenser ever made by Pez without corporate approval. Reason being Pez Corporation was scared to death of him. Black Santa was very taboo, way to controversial to exist or do as a Pez Dispenser. For these historical reasons I believe my Black Santas are the rarest & most desirable Pez that exist. There were 3 different versions of my Black Santas. I know the politically correct answer to rarest is Make-A-Face. I disagree. Black Santa is rarest Pez as it was never meant to exist. Like Bubble boy, it was an in house rejection. Unlike Bubble Boy he was never mass produced. Make-A-Face was mass produced. Even Owl MMM was produced in larger numbers than Black Santa. 

Let me restate, Black Santa was an actual proposed dispenser to Pez Austria. The first group of Black Santas are actually prototypes. Black Santa was rejected because of racist prejudice. Some of this was Austrian Pez Corporate Racism, some was an interpretation of perceived racism by Pez Austria about the USA. So Black Santa was deemed to offensive by Pez Corporation as a whole.

Marcos Creations.

Black Santa Pez dispensers. red hat ones & white hat ones.

Psycho Lucy

Psycho Lucy Pez dispensers. White paint on face instead of black. I asked Marjan if he could make a Lucy Pez dispenser with white eyes. Somehow in translation this came out a White face Lucy Pez dispenser. So he created normal Lucy Pez dispenser but all face detailing done with white paint. This Pez dispenser was thought of because of the Lucy with White eyes. Marjan created about 300 of this Pez dispensers for me. I named her Psycho Lucy because my first reaction when he showed this Pez dispenser to me was. She looks Psycho.

Congratulations to pastorpez.blogspot.com  on your recent acquisition of a Psycho Lucy. Very nice piece, very close to my heart. As you know she has a great story behind her. To me that is a very important part of collecting. Every time you show her you can tell her story. I like the fact that most of my PEZ also came with a story. Something missing nowadays with PEZ.

Lavender thin ear Easter Bunny Pez dispenser.

Pink thin ear Easter Bunny Pez dispenser. Marjan created the lavender and pink bunny Pez dispensers to show executives and try to generate interest in this thin ear bunny being colors other than just white. The idea was rejected at that time also, so I got a few lavender and approx 30 pink bunny Pez dispensers.

Marco's Dino

Multi color Dino Pez dispensers from the Flintstones. These were odd color combos. Only got 2 or 3 of these Pez dispensers.

I finally found a picture of this very unique Marcos creation.

Value $250.00


 Ljuba told Marcos to show us what they had. Thumper Pez dispensers copyright removed on green stem. I'm specific about this one because at the time John L. said he had doubts it was a real Pez dispenser and changed the stems for a while till he accepted them after finding out they had actually been sold at stores in Ireland. Which made me wonder who he might think had the ability to manufacture Pez dispensers outside of pez corporation. Until that specific situation I never even considered the possibility. That's neither here nor there though, it just made me wonder.

picture courtesy of Rudi.

Anyway we got thumpers Pez dispensers, dalmation Pez dispensers, wyle Pez dispensers, pooh Pez dispensers, chip Pez dispensers, camel mmm Pez dispensers, duck mmm Pez dispensers, frog mmm Pez dispensers and all sorts of good stuff. We were ready to pay and I do mean pay. Another phone call was made to Breda. Breda was the name of  my contact at Ljubliana. Breda told Ljuba .23 cents each, direct deposit into the company account. So off to the bank we went so I could directly deposit the total into the corporate account. It was always this way in Slovenia, really decent honest & nice people to know. Before we left though Marcos came after us. He had a bag of pez dispensers he wanted to give us. In the bag were a few Black Santa Pez dispensers, pink & lavender bunny Pez dispensers & the dino color variation Pez dispensers. Also a couple of new dinosaur pez dispensers. We asked him to sign 2 of the dinosaur Pez dispensers, which he did while making jokes in Slovenian about being Elvis.

I sold these signed by Marcos Pez dispensers in about 2007, whoever got them has a real piece of pez history that they are probably unaware of.

Another little side story here. After that first trip to Slovenia Josh and I always drove down from Vienna to Ormoz. On one trip through the mountains we stopped so Josh could go skiing. Josh went up & down that mountain all day, so much so that he could barely walk when we left. I don't ski, but I did take the lift to the top so I could take in the view. Very impressive view and since I'm not crazy about heights so just riding that lift to the top of the mountain was a very big deal for me.

2nd one

On about my third trip to see Ljuba she let me know before I got there that they had several hundred black Santa Pez dispensers for me. Marcos had been a busy boy. On the drive down I became very worried about this just being way to many to exist. I even considered burning or burying a couple hundred of the black Santa Pez dispensers by the side of the road, feeling the hobby would freak at so many. Well something happened & when I got there they said they could only let me have about 30 of the black Santa Pez dispensers.

They were beginning to get heat from Pez in Austria. A few trips later I walked in and some tall Austrian guy saw me on the balcony. As usual I had stopped to look out onto the factory floor for a few minutes. He came closer then said those infamous words "I KNOW WHO YOU ARE". Busted, he then turned & disappeared into an office. Seconds later Ljuba snatched me by the arm & yanked me into her office. Saying you gotta get out of here, before I lose my job. I'll meet you at the coffee shop across the road in an hour. Feeling lower than a snake I left, all the while people who had become friends avoiding eye contact.

3rd one

When Ljuba got to the coffee shop she told me Pez Austria had bought Plastdispenser. That the Austrians were on the warpath because Scott was going nuts about me. That everybody knew what I looked like & if she sold Pez dispensers to me any longer she would lose her job. I never saw Ljuba or Marcos again & within a few years Pez Ormoz was making dust pans. My combined trips to see Ljuba or Breda were about a dozen in all. Though a year after Pez cut off business with Ljubliana I did see Breda one last time, she had about 1,000 road runner Pez dispensers so I drove down to see her & buy them.

I guess this is probably when all the trouble began. I had to keep a really low profile in Europe & use a middle man to buy Pez dispensers from here out. This is also about the time I started staying at the Raba in Gyor, only leaving to meet my guy or get something to eat. Gunther & everybody else wanted distance. They still wanted the over $9,000.00 per trip in cash please and there were way over 50 trips to Hungary alone buying Pez dispensers. About a dozen to Slovenia at under $5,000.00 per trip buying Pez dispensers. A few to Austria at under $4,000.00 each buying Pez dispensers. Australia about $15,000.00 for one trip buying Pez dispensers. Sweden about $9,000.00 for one trip buying the pez pal mariner playworlds. Spain & South Africa were a bust less than $1,000.00 each. None of these figures includes expenses, this was just for pez dispensers. It also does not include containers or air freighted Pez dispensers bought.

Tweet