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1965-66 Coca-Cola NHL Hockey Card Set

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reg fleming boston bruins 1965-66 coca-cola vintage hockey cardsDuring 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

5 thoughts on “1965-66 Coca-Cola NHL Hockey Card Set”

  1. Where there other years for these cards besides 1965-66?

    This is the only season I was able to find online.

    Thanks

    1. 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!

  2. 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?

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