Genuine Collectibles is the genuine article, from racecars to the Big Stick. 

Bart Robertson, who was born and raised in Victoria, said the family owned company first got its start in the Highlands of Victoria. Robertson was drawn into car racing at the tender age of 12 which began with go-karts. This fuelled a passion that has followed him through life as he not only built both custom and race cars, but has raced the latter across North America his whole life, and still does.

"I was drawn into racing simply by the sheer adrenaline rush of the power of the vehicles," said Robertson. "I never campaigned, it was just a hobby to build something and go fast, plus being able to build something from scratch really warms your heart."

Robertson said he would love to bring home souvenirs while at the races, as it was while at the track that the idea for Piece of the Action raced through Robertson's mind. 

"One of the fastest cars went and did a pass and part of the blower belt had blown off," said Robertson. "This part went quite high because it's turning 8,000 to 10,000 RPM. It sailed to the roof and as it began to come down there was a young boy with his dad at the race track. As everyone is still, watching it in the air, the little boy asks his dad if he can go get it, so he says you better hurry. So the little boy starts running out there, and all these people were going for it, but when they saw him running towards it they backed off to let him have it. So as he is strutting back to his dad with the part slung over his shoulder, and his thumbs in his top pockets he is singing 'I got a part of the race car, I got a part of the race car'."

Seeing the big smile on this little boy's face Robertson felt in that moment that every person should be able to leave the track with that kind of enthusiasm. It was then that the concept for Genuine Collectibles 'Piece of the Action' model cars was born, which later became fully incorporated in 2000.

After first pitching the idea to a lot of companies in the States, then sitting on it for some time he began making prototypes in the shape of a top fuel race car which he then sent to high stakes buyers such as Budweiser, the U.S. Army, and Matco Tools.

"The rendering of it was a clear plastic shape of their car," said Robertson. "Once I signed licensing with them they would send me parts from their engines and a description of where they race at, how fast the parts went and whether or not the car won or lost the race, and I would include all that on a hero card inside the packaging.You could also get a certification of authenticity explaining everything as well as the teams working on the car."

Genuine Collectibles would certify the drivers, parts, as well as have licensing with the drivers so the selling of the products became a real team effort as parts would be shipped to Robertson's Vancouver Island doorstep.

"Everything inside this car came from this team, there are little bits of copper, connecting rod, piston, engine block which all comes off the actual car that they raced," said Robertson. "The whole idea behind 'Piece of the Action' is you actually get authenticated pieces from the race teams encapsulated in a replica of their car."

Robertson also tried to bring this concept to NASCAR but found it was a tough nut to crack when they expected him to come up with $1 million up front to sign on all their teams, which was impossible at the time with it still being a relatively fresh company. Robertson, who does the pad printing along with everything else found himself pressed keeping up to the demand for his collectibles when Budweiser asked him to produce a product for their 'Forever Red' tour in 2000. He said Budweiser bought 5,000 units from him and sold 3,500 in the first weekend, leaving him in a bit of a mad panic to make more. 

Robertson said the decision to move Genuine Collectibles to Shawnigan Lake in 2018 came when he felt they had grown out of his wife's childhood home that they had purchased and lived in for more than 40 years. The quieter and more secluded area made for a better fit for his craft and the noises that came with it.

"It just made sense to have an industrial area that had the same principles that I have," said Robertson. "The Maxwell family has their legacy here, so when he wanted to retire we bought him out six years ago, and now we continue on with their legacy. 

Since first embarking on this journey with his wife Colleen of 50 years at his side, Robertson said the highlight reel definitely includes getting to travel and visit every single drag race track in the U.S. and meeting the racers and new people B´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·” a dream come true for this car enthusiast. 

"The hospitality of the companies that I worked for was great, they would invite me in and always wanted to give me freebies," said Robertson. "I never would take them though, instead I would it offer it up to another kid in line, or pass the schwag on to someone younger who wouldn't have otherwise had the opportunity to get them."

While Robertson admits he isn't the world's biggest hockey fan, he felt the need to get a handle on the world's largest stick to see it preserved when it was taken down from the outside of the Cowichan Community Centre instead of having its next home be the landfill.

"I like all sports but I wasn't athletic enough to be competitive in my younger years," said Robertson. "I let my brain do the work and I innovated products for race cars that are being manufactured 20 years later, so being ahead of my time during those periods has been great. My passion is to really preserve the integrity of it for one, and then to have people share the story. It's also going to be neat to see on a map where all these orders are going to go because 22 million people went to Expo to see it there."

The epic landmark, which was first crafted in Penticton in 1985 for Expo '86, has served as both a stop for tourists, as well as a piece of Duncan's identity since 1988. This attraction received maintenance and extensive repairs in the early 2000s which gave it a longer lease on life, but the glulam Douglas-fir structure had since decayed to the point that left it with the ultimatum of being replaced or removed in order to ensure public safety. The dice fell on the latter, and it was Robertson who claimed the arena's longtime claim to fame.

"When I pitched the idea to the community they liked that Genuine Collectibles was authenticating it, and that Maxwell's was involved and would be doing the dismantling of it," said Robertson. "It's a great fit because Maxwell's has always been recycle, reuse, reclaim, has been innovative in every aspect of the industry."

Robertson was in charge of the crew, which also included MNR Cranes and CompetitionTree Service, to dismantle the longstanding landmark on Aug. 21, which took just over a day and a half to take down. That was followed by core samples and drilling to check for both rot and structural integrity, as well as the steel.

"Not everyone can take a 205 foot hockey stick and bring it home like I did," laughed Robertson. "Everything was brought to Maxwell's by Coastal Trucking Transport, and we had Rockridge Industrial Services do a preliminary inspection, and the steel as well."

It was a bittersweet day for those who felt a strong connection to the longstanding landmark. But people can now get a piece of the action this holiday season and stuff a memory of the stick into their loved one's stocking. Robertson has created a four part series for those who have different memories of the world's largest puck handler. Robertson noted that the idea to do the four different designs came on the fly after many shared a myriad of memories on his company's website. There will be a total of 6.000 memorabilia pieces, with 1,500 keychains in each series, where each memory is encapsulated in plastic versions of miniature tires.

The first of the series focuses on where the stick lived in Duncan since 1988 B´ÎÔª¹ÙÍøÍøÖ·” the version that people remember the most.

"The shape has been dye cut, wood has a grain in it," said Robertson. "The reason for the smallness of the puck is because there is not much of it, whereas the stick is 205 feet long so there is lots of material. So with every keychain you get a piece of the handle, a piece of the puck, and then the black on the other side is the wrapping from the blade, so you get a piece of every section of the entire landmark."

According to Robertson the next version in the series, already in production, will be of the Penticton company where the legendary stick was first built, and will showcase the factory and the workers. The third one in the series will focus on the stick's time at Expo '86, while the last one will speak to the spirit of Canada with a couple of kids playing ice hockey on a frozen pond. He also has three to four person hockey arena cribbage boards in the works where one of these four collectibles can be used as centre ice. He hopes to have the boards ready for Christmas.

"Because everybody has a different memory of it, they may not want every version of it," said Robertson. "I received a call from a woman this morning who lives in Penticton, and she's a relative of one of the people who actually built it, and said she would rather have the one of the factory. Another person had a memory of them standing on the puck at Expo '86, the stick was in a different position and standing upright, and the puck was right on the blade like you were taking a slap shot, and at that time you could get your picture taken standing on the puck."

Those looking to get a Piece of the Action had better take their shot fast, as two runs of the collectibles have already sold out. Check their

"I hope the legacy of the hockey stick will live on through generations," said Robertson. "Nothing is meant to be forever, but this will make it forever with it being a smaller form of it. Making it smaller where everyone can share it, it will just touch more lives, and it reminds me of the young boy who was able to have something tangible from the race track."