During the NHL hockey season of 1965-66, hockey card collectors had a new product to go after. Topps was the monopoly since Parkhurst dropped off the scene after the 1963-64 series. The 1964-65 Topps ‘Tall Boys’ set was the most popular and most valuable in years. It was just too tempting for someone else not to put a hockey card product on the market.
This alternative to Topps was free! Sort of… In order to get your 1965-66 Coca-Cola hockey cards, you had to drink a lot of Coke products. In fact, just to get one team set of 18 cards, you had to collect ten bottle caps from Coca-Cola or Sprite that had the desired team on the cap liner. You then mailed in the ten cap liners and Coca-Cola mailed you back a team set of 18 cards. The cards were all connected in a row and were perforated for easy separation.
To get the full set of 108 cards (six teams with 18 cards per team), a young fella would have to down at least 60 Cokes or Sprites. That, my friends, is a heaping helping of sugar just to get some cards that were much lower grade than Topps. Each team set of 18 came with an additional 19th card that you mailed back into Coca-Cola to receive your album.
The 1965-66 Coca-Cola cards were simple black and white on the front with a picture of the player and their name in a standard font at the bottom. On the back, it was ‘just the facts, ma’am’. Name, vitals (birthplace, birthdate, position, height/weight, last amateur club), and their stats in the NHL.
What was missing that was always found on vintage hockey cards was the little bio or cartoon (‘Don likes fishing in the off season!’ or ‘Gerry makes up for his lack of skating ability with his bone-crushing hits!’). You can’t really call this series cardboard. The cards are printed on what can be described as ‘heavy paper’. Oh, and they were not numbered.
The full set values at up to $500. To get any kind of value out of the 1965-66 Coca-Cola series, it seems the cards should still be attached in the 18 card team sets. Individual detached cards seem to not sell well on eBay. However, the complete teams are popular with bidders and can sell for quite high.
1965-66 Coca-Cola NHL Hockey Card Checklist:
Number | Player | Team |
1 | Barry Ashbee | Boston Bruins |
2 | Don Awrey | Boston Bruins |
3 | Leo Boivin | Boston Bruins |
4 | John Bucyk | Boston Bruins |
5 | Gerry Cheevers | Boston Bruins |
6 | Bob Dillabough | Boston Bruins |
7 | Reg Fleming | Boston Bruins |
8 | Ted Green | Boston Bruins |
9 | Forbes Kennedy | Boston Bruins |
10 | Albert Langlois | Boston Bruins |
11 | Parker Macdonald | Boston Bruins |
12 | Murray Oliver | Boston Bruins |
13 | Bernie Parent | Boston Bruins |
14 | Dean Prentice | Boston Bruins |
15 | Ron Stewart | Boston Bruins |
16 | Ed Westfall | Boston Bruins |
17 | Tom Williams | Boston Bruins |
18 | Bob Woytowich | Boston Bruins |
19 | Dave Dryden | Chicago Blackhawks |
20 | Phil Esposito | Chicago Blackhawks |
21 | Glenn Hall | Chicago Blackhawks |
22 | Bill Hay | Chicago Blackhawks |
23 | Ken Hodge | Chicago Blackhawks |
24 | Bobby Hull | Chicago Blackhawks |
25 | Dennis Hull | Chicago Blackhawks |
26 | Doug Jarrett | Chicago Blackhawks |
27 | Al Macneill | Chicago Blackhawks |
28 | Chico Maki | Chicago Blackhawks |
29 | Stan Mikita | Chicago Blackhawks |
30 | Doug Mohns | Chicago Blackhawks |
31 | Eric Nesterenko | Chicago Blackhawks |
32 | Pierre Pilote | Chicago Blackhawks |
33 | Matt Ravlich | Chicago Blackhawks |
34 | Fred Stanfield | Chicago Blackhawks |
35 | Elmer Vasko | Chicago Blackhawks |
36 | Ken Wharram | Chicago Blackhawks |
37 | Doug Barkley | Detroit Red Wings |
38 | Hank Bassen | Detroit Red Wings |
39 | Andy Bathgate | Detroit Red Wings |
40 | Gary Bergman | Detroit Red Wings |
41 | Roger Crozier | Detroit Red Wings |
42 | Alex Delvecchio | Detroit Red Wings |
43 | Val Fonteyne | Detroit Red Wings |
44 | Bill Gadsby | Detroit Red Wings |
45 | Warren Godfrey | Detroit Red Wings |
46 | Billy Harris | Detroit Red Wings |
47 | Paul Henderson | Detroit Red Wings |
48 | Gordie Howe | Detroit Red Wings |
49 | Bruce MacGregor | Detroit Red Wings |
50 | Bert Marshall | Detroit Red Wings |
51 | Ab McDonald | Detroit Red Wings |
52 | Ron Murphy | Detroit Red Wings |
53 | Floyd Smith | Detroit Red Wings |
54 | Norm Ullman | Detroit Red Wings |
55 | Ralph Backstrom | Montreal Canadiens |
56 | Jean Beliveau | Montreal Canadiens |
57 | Yvan Cournoyer | Montreal Canadiens |
58 | Dick Duff | Montreal Canadiens |
59 | John Ferguson | Montreal Canadiens |
60 | Terry Harper | Montreal Canadiens |
61 | Ted Harris | Montreal Canadiens |
62 | Charlie Hodge | Montreal Canadiens |
63 | Jacques Laperriere | Montreal Canadiens |
64 | Claude Larose | Montreal Canadiens |
65 | Claude Provost | Montreal Canadiens |
66 | Henri Richard | Montreal Canadiens |
67 | Jim Roberts | Montreal Canadiens |
68 | Bobby Rousseau | Montreal Canadiens |
69 | Jean Guy Talbot | Montreal Canadiens |
70 | Gilles Tremblay | Montreal Canadiens |
71 | J.C. Tremblay | Montreal Canadiens |
72 | Gump Worsley | Montreal Canadiens |
73 | Arnie Brown | New York Rangers |
74 | Ed Giacomin | New York Rangers |
75 | Rod Gilbert | New York Rangers |
76 | Phil Goyette | New York Rangers |
77 | Vic Hadfield | New York Rangers |
78 | Bill Hicke | New York Rangers |
79 | Wayne Hillman | New York Rangers |
80 | Harry Howell | New York Rangers |
81 | Earl Ingarfield | New York Rangers |
82 | Don Marshall | New York Rangers |
83 | John McKenzie | New York Rangers |
84 | Mike McMahon | New York Rangers |
85 | Jim Neilson | New York Rangers |
86 | Bob Nevin | New York Rangers |
87 | Garry Peters | New York Rangers |
88 | Jean Ratelle | New York Rangers |
89 | Doug Robinson | New York Rangers |
90 | Don Simmons | New York Rangers |
91 | George Armstrong | Toronto Maple Leafs |
92 | Bob Baun | Toronto Maple Leafs |
93 | Johnny Bower | Toronto Maple Leafs |
94 | Kent Douglas | Toronto Maple Leafs |
95 | Ron Ellis | Toronto Maple Leafs |
96 | Tim Horton | Toronto Maple Leafs |
97 | Red Kelly | Toronto Maple Leafs |
98 | Dave Keon | Toronto Maple Leafs |
99 | Orland Kurtenbach | Toronto Maple Leafs |
100 | Frank Mahovlich | Toronto Maple Leafs |
101 | Marcel Pronovost | Toronto Maple Leafs |
102 | Bob Pulford | Toronto Maple Leafs |
103 | Terry Sawchuk | Toronto Maple Leafs |
104 | Brit Selby | Toronto Maple Leafs |
105 | Eddie Shack | Toronto Maple Leafs |
106 | Allan Stanley | Toronto Maple Leafs |
107 | Pete Stemkowski | Toronto Maple Leafs |
108 | Mike Walton | Toronto Maple Leafs |
Where there other years for these cards besides 1965-66?
This is the only season I was able to find online.
Thanks
I believe it was the only year Coke did this. Just the whole process of getting the cards must have been a pain in the ass for the collector and Coke – I’m sure it made Canada Post happy, though!
so what are these cards worth un attached?
sell them singlely worth more?
i have this album “original six’ with all the teams and cards still in them, still in the mailing envelope. not mint, but all there and quite good condition — I even have gordie howe’s autograph in the back. what would a ballpark value be? any demand?
Hey Mike – What are the cards? Are they the Coca-Cola cards or something else? What year and manufacturer?
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