First Blood Part II: RAMBO

[tommin]

I had to make a trip up to Russelville today and remembered to bring a camera this time...

For those of you that may remember my Li'l Mule, this is my teenie weenie mule. Had her since '91. (original owner) I'm going to be trading her in for a SUV which was the primary reason for being here today. Thought I should get one last picture of her and what better place than Jimmy Lile's shop?

If you were among the very fortunate ones to receive his limited run of RAMBO combat knives, my hat's off to you. If you have a pic available of one, please feel free to add it here...

In any event, I thought I should share these images before this historical site is gone for good.

 

[tommin]

Borrowing this image from a friend...

It looks like this one is #16 of 100 made. I guess Jimmy just wasn't that interested in large production numbers.

 

[Apollo]

Thanks for the Pics.

I had heard it was a small shop but it's still nice to see some Pics of it.

From what I recall Lile did not want to do anything for Sly, but he was persistent and a regular Customer, so he finally relented.

 

[DavidS]

wow thats nice...

i sorta lost track of lyle over the years, did he pass away?

you said this shop is "going" soon? are they gonna tear it down?

 

[CharlieTuna]

http://movieknives.com/index.html

 

[tommin]

Yeah. It's a very small shop. What you see in the pics is the entrance to the showroom as well as the homestead adjacent to it on the left. Judging by the landscaping, the place looks to be abandanded right now. The opposite side of the entrance sign pictured above reads "SHOWROOM CLOSED PERMANENTLY."

From what I understand. Jimmy passed away about three years ago. His surviving family kept the place open to the public for as long as they could. I got to visit with him only a few times over the years. He was a real jokester and a fun guy to be around. There was an artists sketch of Stalone with his arm around Jimmy on the wall behind the register. I won't forget that one.

The showroom featured quite a few examples of his work. I was always impressed by seeing some of the first knives he either repaired or fabricated early on in his life. There was on in particular that his mother had broken when he was a child. IIRC, that was all it took to inspire him.

As for the outcome of the property is anyone's guess. It has been there for decades but the area is gradually being overtaken by commercial interests. It is about the only residential property seen for miles along this highway.

 

[DavidS]

thats very sad that such a huge part of film history and more importantly knife making history is just sitting there rotting away..........

 

[jonnytrooper]

david stokes, please tell me you're referring to the shop...

 

[DavidS]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jonnytrooper @ Feb 4 2007, 09:00 PM) [snapback]1412001[/snapback]</div>

david stokes, please tell me you're referring to the shop...
[/b]

um what else would i be refering to?

 

[tommin]

A little inside joke: you have to go through Yell County to get there. When you are with a group, and you pass by that one landmark superstop, you have to yell out COUNTY...