Robert Campbell - Connecting with Days Gone By...
October, 2004

Robert Campbell is the owner of  RTC Collectibles located at 1010 Taylor Street in Punta Gorda

“The basic core values instilled in me by my parents have carried me through life and have given me the guidance to succeed.”

Robert Campbell was born and raised in Burlington, NC. As a shy and skinny child he often became an easy target for the neighborhood bullies. Robert soon realized that every fight he got into meant two beatings. One from the bully and one later from his mom would give him a whipping for fighting in the first place.

Robert grew up in a strict Southern Baptist family. There were a lot of things that were not allowed such as dancing or going to the movies. In fact, he didn’t see his first movie until he was 21 years old. Church was very much the center of his family’s life. On Sunday he generally attended four services including, Sunday School, the 11:00 worship, youth bible study and the Sunday evening fellowship.  

His dad held various jobs in the construction trade, i.e. contractors – plumbers, electricians, drywall installers, carpenters, etc. and for years his mom worked at the local cotton mill. However after Robert’s birth, she no longer worked outside of the home.

Robert’s family lived about a hundred yards from the railroad track and he remembers his mom feeding the hobos that would come to the back door for food. Even though Robert’s family was poor, his mother somehow was always able to give their visitors something to eat - even if only a bowl of beans and cornbread. The hobos were grateful for what she gave them and would often, to show their gratitude, offer to do some work around the house.

As a young boy, Robert enjoyed fixing things. He would often find bicycles that needed repair, fix them up and then sell or trade them for other bicycles. When he was 13, he started mowing yards to earn money. His family lived on the northwest side of Burlington which at the time was considered to be the poor section of town. His dad told him he wouldn’t earn much money mowing poor people’s yards and suggested that he should take his mower to the other side of the tracks, where the rich people lived. He also told his son not to give them a price up front, but instead just tell them to pay whatever they felt the job was worth. That way, his dad proclaimed, you will earn a lot more money. And, as it turned out, he was right!

By the age of 15, Robert earned enough money to buy his first car. It was a used yellow and green Bantam Austin which cost him $300. In those days, Robert could drive without a driver’s license as long as he stayed in the country.  But before long, being a typical teenager, he blew the engine. However, it wasn’t long before he saved up enough money to purchase his second car. Robert has always liked cars and from necessity he had to find out how they functioned and how to keep them running. Even to this day Robert can often be found working on and restoring his cars.

In the mid-fifties, Robert moved to Daytona Beach, Florida where he drove a delivery truck and worked at a Phillips 66 gas station.  After moving back to Burlington in 1958, he had saved enough money to buy the Pure Oil Service Station. He ran the business for almost 4 years when a gentleman who owned a local cabinet shop stopped by with a business proposition. He was tired of making cabinets and he offered to trade his cabinet business for the gas station. A deal was made and Robert successfully ran his new business for the next seven years.

Knowing that Robert had a knack for working on engines, a building contractor stopped at his cabinet shop, one day, to ask Robert if he could fix his tractor. Robert made the repair and when the fellow asked what he owed him, Robert responded by saying “since you don’t know anything about your equipment, you can trade me your tractor, bulldozer and dump truck for my cabinet shop. They made the trade and Robert began his many years in the “dirt business.” He worked hard at developing his new grading and landscaping business. It wasn’t long before many of the same people he mowed lawns for when he was 13, were once again his customers. His father had always taught him to treat others as he would want to be treated and to this day, Robert attributes his success to closely following that principle. He built his business on his reputation of honesty and providing the highest quality of work.

Robert soon took on larger and more profitable jobs. His company handled a number of housing developments as well as roadway grading and construction. He built roads in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and here in Florida. He even built a ten mile stretch of I-75 in the Pine Ridge Road area of Naples.

In 1979, Robert made Naples his home. Upon retirement, Robert traded one of his bulldozers for an old car which he promptly began restoring. Robert admits he has a love for things from the past whether it is a car, furniture, buildings or collectibles. It is a way for Robert to connect to the days gone by. He especially has an appreciation and a sense of value for those things made here, in this country. Through the years when he was growing up poor, he understood the importance of fixing things and making them last.  “When you’re born poor, you have to learn how to do things for yourself.” In Robert’s family there was no such thing as a “throw away mentality.”

After living almost 2 decades in Naples, Robert yearned for a smaller community and in 1998 he moved to Punta Gorda. He felt that Punta Gorda was not only a beautiful little community, but the people were also very friendly. He bought a home in PGI and then found some property on Taylor Street, across from the old Train Depot where he could build a place to house his collectibles.

Robert enjoys the simple things in life: good food, friendly people, old cars and beautiful sunsets. He enjoys spending time with his seven grandchildren and two surviving children. He has spent the last twenty years with the love of his life, Willie, a lovely, vibrant woman who just happened to be the first person he met after moving to Naples.

After Hurricane Charley hit Punta Gorda, we touched base with Robert to see how he weathered the storm. Unfortunately, the roof on his home was ripped off and the inside received extensive damage. His building on Taylor Street also suffered roof damage as well as some damage to his collectibles inside. On Saturday morning, August 14, a couple of friends of his drove up from Naples to help secure his roof with plywood and by Monday, a roofing crew made the necessary permanent repairs. Robert felt it was so important for the residents of Punta Gorda to be able to drive by and see at least one building that still looked nice amid all the destruction. After assessing the damage to his beloved Punta Gorda, Robert said “it hurts your heart to see what happened to all the old buildings.”

Robert’s RTC Collectible building is not old, but at first glance one would think so. The colorful old gasoline pumps that stand tall in front of the building beckon you to come in and step back in time. Robert’s eclectic collection has something of interest for everyone.  In fact, it is like visiting a museum filled with old cars, toys, furniture and memorabilia. He is located at

Punta Gorda has often been referred to as a hidden jewel; well, Robert Campbell is certainly one of Punta Gorda’s precious gems and we thank him for being a big part of why our community is so special.