Richard Warren Sears started a mail order catalogue service late in the 19th century, selling watches and other goods. This rapidly became a staple of american culture and in the late sixties the toy section of these grand catalogues was a cornucopia of delights at Xmas. Sears often had exclusive products and one such wonder of the age is this Space Mobile.
Looking like it could easily traverse any lunar landscape with comfort and ease, the Space Mobile is a solid, stylish vehicle - the caddy of the moon buggy world. Its basically a plastic toy, with a tinplate battery cover and powerful rubber belts driving the eight, pivoting wheels. It seems to have been influenced by the Matt Mason line of toys, as the rotating radar scanner is very similar to the Firebolt Cannon and the figural pilot has a look of a child sized Matt Mason too.
Although reality was way behind the Sears designers ideas for moon travel and NASA were still working the kinks out of the best way to get across the dusty, barren surface of the moon - Popular Mechanics magazine and German engineering firm Bohn were keen to speculate on the possible future of tractor design. Having been reared on Scramble Bugs and Prospectors, Moonmobiles and Americus Buggies, I recall been so disappointed when the basic, skeletal, moon go-kart of the Lunar Roving Vehicle was unveiled! What a missed opportunity! :-p
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