HEAVENLY PURSUIT `ANGELS' COLLECTIBLES HEAT UP.

Byline: Pam Park Staff Writer

A new generation of bikini-clad crime fighters has given flight to a bidding war for ``Charlie's Angels'' collectibles.

Collectors are running up bids on more than 1,000 ``Charlie's'' trinkets on eBay, said Chris Donlay, a spokesman for the online auction house. The modern movie incarnation of the 1970s TV series, which topped last weekend's box office revenues at $40.5 million, has put hundreds of trading cards, lunch boxes and other collectibles up for grabs.

``The Farrah Fawcett swimsuit (poster) is the hottest 'Charlie's Angels' collectible in any kind of realm. It connected a lot with the guys of the '70s,'' said Mike Pingel, a West Hollywood actor and avid collector.

Bidding for one mint condition 1976 Fawcett swimsuit poster rose from less than $40 Friday to $75 on Tuesday.

``With the new show coming out, fans are excited and trading has increased,'' Donlay said. ``I think we had a couple of hundred new items listed over the weekend. Some items have 10, 15 or 20 bids. That's quite a lot of activity.''

Pingel has amassed more than 1,800 Angels items, including a pinball machine, a gold shoe from Farrah Fawcett's Playboy Magazine cover shoot, and a script from ``Harry's Angels,'' which was the series' name before it became ``Charlie's Angels.'' He estimates his collection is worth at least $5,000.

He is watching eBay for a couple of major pieces to fill out his collection.

One of those items is an Angels walkie-talkie set, which showed up on the eBay site recently and sold for $2,100.

``I didn't buy because I didn't think I could buy the walkie-talkies and not pay rent for three months,'' Pingel said. ``I try not to spend too much every month, but if there's something I really want, I'll find a way.''

Pingel also needs an Angels logo watch/radio that sells for up to $1,100.

``It's actually quite ugly, but it fetches a lot of money,'' Pingel said.

Pingel doesn't sell items from his collection, because the prices are rising and it costs too much to buy them back.

He said he loved the Angels and had some of the Angels trading cards as a child, but he got serious about collecting about eight years ago, when he saw a collection of celebrity dolls and coveted them.

Pingel, who figures he is among the top five Angels collectors in the United States, was an ``Angelologist'' on a just-released DVD documentary that includes two episodes from the series, and wrote the foreword for the new Angels' photo novel. He also hosts an Angels Web site called ``Angelic Heaven'' and produces an Angels newsletter.

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(color) Mike Pingel has been collecting Charlie's Angels memorabilia for years, and has amassed more than 1,800 items.

Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer