Shell Game in Order for ’81 El Camino

Susan Johnson of Whittier is looking for a firm that rents camper shells for an ’81 El Camino pickup truck. Can you help Johnson get away from it all, or will nobody have any truck with a reader who insists on having one for the road?

Verna Palm of Glendale wants to know the rules for the card game 99 , which is usually played between bridge hands. Can you help Palm cross this particular bridge, or is learning that game just not in the cards for her?

Clara Chesner of North Hollywood is looking for a store that carries boy s ‘ backless, heel-less, closed-toe house slippers in Size 4 or 5D. Can you help before this one slips by, or will her youngster grow up to be a flat foot?

Reader-to-Reader Help Line: Doris at (818) 880-6033 would like to get her hands on a magnetic sponge mop , about eight inches wide with a wood handle dividing the two sides; Jewel T carried the item years ago. Please take Doris up on this attractive offer and make sure she gets swept off her feet.

Note: The Reader-to-Reader Help Line is only for items no longer available in stores. And you must give us written permission to publish your phone number, so that readers may contact you directly.

For the many, many readers trying to complete sets of discontinued china, we have good news: House Beautiful magazine has updated and revised its Directory of Matching Services, which lists dozens of companies and individuals who deal in difficult-to-find china patterns, sterling, silver plate, glass and crystal. For a copy, please send $1.50 to Directory of Matching Services, House Beautiful, Room 2845, 1700 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10019.

For Diane Hoover, who was looking for someone to repair a mangled gold lame evening bag, it’s in the bag. Lillian Joseph says Regency Jewelry Co., 8129 West 3rd St., (213) 655-2573, has been in business more than 40 years and repair just about anything. Marcia Weiss of Rancho Palos Verdes says to contact Finley’s Jewelers in Rolling Hills Estates; they did a masterful job on a chain-link bag for her. And Mrs. R. C. Evans of Hemet suggests the House of Renew, Suite 55, 27601 Forbes Road, Laguna Niguel, (714) 582-3117.

More zip-tie sources (these are mail order): According to Gloria Lee of La Crescenta, a brochure put out by Handsome Rewards, 19465 Brennan Ave., Perris, Calif. 92379, explains that their zip ties, which sell for $14 and come in four patterns, are regular men’s ties with a built-in half Windsor and a nylon zipper. We also have a mail-order source for the regular knotted ties: Betty Taylor says the recent J. C. Penney catalogue has ties in boys’ Sizes 8 to 22 on Page 508. Finally, four readers say they have these knotted ties and wouldn’t mind cutting them loose. Please send a stamped, self-addressed envelope for the names.

Olive Reuschel of Los Angeles, who was looking for arch supports called Balancers, need not feel out of joint. Robert Mote, who says he used to manufacture the shoes that Reuschel bought at Robinson’s years ago, says he is semiretired in Ventura but still does some mail-order business for old customers; he can be contacted at (805) 654-1893. Another Robinson’s customer says to call Gayle Sabel in the Women’s Shoe Department at their Fashion Valley store, San Diego, (619) 291-5800, for a proper balancing job. A South Bay area reader suggests Trani’s Shoe Store on 7th Street in San Pedro. Armando at Armando’s Shoe Service, 1457 Westwood Blvd., (213) 477-7978, says he can help; but call him first, and only on Wednesdays and Saturdays. And Jim Mull of Mission Viejo says the John M. Staley Co., which has specialized in handmade foot balancers for over 40 years, can now be reached at P.O. Box 405, Verdugo City, Calif. 91046, telephone (818) 249-6211.

Edna O’Connell, who was looking for a mixing bowl with a handle, might wish to contact Tupperware manager Laura Orozco in Alhambra, (818) 281-9247; she has several bowls that will do the trick. Maxine Williams says Anchor Hocking makes two-quart measuring bowls with handles; they are available in housewares departments. Lois Jenks writes that Pyrex mixing bowls with handles are available at Sav-on Drugs. And Phyllis Brown says most gourmet shops carry such bowls.