Sears Christmas Book 1964
3-Stage Rocket with gantry and astronauts $7.89, the US basis for the SWORD Apollo Saturn Rocket.
Only the Japanese Nichimo original Moon Ranger is older.
JC Penney's Christmas Book 1966
Bell Helicopter $4.44, which I'd like to think is my beloved TARHEEL Rescue Helicopter but is most likely the MARX Chop Chop version.
FAO SCWHARTZ Christmas Book 1967
DINKY Thunderbirds die-cast - Christmas Stocking toys North American style!
JC PENNEYS CHRISTMAS BOOK 1970
Golden Astronaut Set $8.88 complete with YELLOW Space Patrol at the front (Reconnaissance 1 in the SPACEX range) and BLUE Nuclear Pulse.
I love the Sears Three Stage Rocket...very Fireball XL5.
ReplyDeleteI had the Golden Astronaut Rocket and MLP, that was a fun toy.
I also had the Nuclear Pulse in yellow. and always remember it took me ages to figure out how those hover things worked on it!
I think my fav little Spacex vehicle was the orange one on the caterpillar tracks with the radio dish. Loved that one.
'Gold Tone'? WHAT? They're not real gold...that's it, mine are in the bin!
ReplyDeleteNow here's a coincidence that blows my mind.
ReplyDeleteJust yesterday, I made a comment on the "Garden 21" post recalling my Dinky Thunderbird 2? Well, it came from the 1967 FAO Schwarz catalog. The same one seen above. I remember staring at this very page in the catalog endlessly in the weeks leading up to Christmas, waiting waiting waiting for it to arrive. In subsequent years, FAO Schwarz carried all the other Dinky toys from Anderson shows, so I've always associated that store and catalog with those series…and this page is where it started. (I do realize this blog isn't entirely about me, but the coincidence here was just too remarkable not to mention.)
Also, the S.T.A.R. Team toy line was even cooler than it looks here in the Penney's catalog page. But I'm envying you guys your Golden Astronaut and Spacex collections...
Toad rummages through Maverick's bin: Political leaflets, "Don't want those". Bournville chocolate wrappers, "Yeck! Definitely don't want those." Half-eaten pizza slice ... hesitates, "Save for later." Ah, gold-tone astronauts ... "Come to me, my pretties!"
ReplyDeleteOver my dead body (I had a rethink!)
ReplyDelete"You'll have to pries my Spacex from my cold, dead hands"
Great FAO Schwartz memories RAB. We didn't have them in the UK. In fact I would say that the 60's in the Uk were characterised by independent toy shops in every town. In my home town of Preston it was a shop called Thomas Mears, where my Mum and Dad got all my 'stuff'! Not many of those independents left I don't think.
ReplyDeleteThere were two near where I lived. The name of one escapes me completely, much to my annoyance. The other was called "Ottleys" (possibly with one "t"). If you look through the book, "Airfix: Celebrating 50 Years of the Greatest Modelling Kits in the World", there's a box with a price label from that very shop!
ReplyDelete