Being a fan of JR21 toys I'm intrigued by the Thunderbird 2 jeep, which came inside the pod. I haven't owned one since childhood but I understand that it simply says Made In Hong Kong on the jeep base.
My question is: did JR21 get the toy jeep from another toy company? My only evidence for this theory is the fact that so many different coloured versions seem to have been available. Here's the red one sans windshield. The wheels are black.
Here's a green version.
Here's a beige one with red wheels, which came as part of Molto Thunderbird 2 from Spain.
Molto also provided a grey version also with red wheels.
I've had a good look round for a similar vintage toy jeep unconnected to Thunderbird but with no joy. The cool toy blog Geoff's Toys features a slightly similar jeep pictured with a Thunderbird 2 but he makes it clear its not JR21. It's not the same though. The JR21 jeep is quite boxy.
What do you think readers? Seen any similar jeeps?
Firstly dude...that's a Land Rover or I'm the Earl of Skaros!...there are lots of soft plastic versions from HK and they all seem to be copies of the Matchbox one...this looks a little ebtter though, and may be the HK one all the others are copied from?
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth (if anything), when I had the TB2 as a kid, the jeep was green. I've heard that some contained the Mole instead.
ReplyDeleteThe Molto version had definitely a landrover, and most of them were greyish (even the ones that came with the set of 3 vehicles) The Landrover, and not the mole, is depicted on the Spanish paper instruction sheet that came with the vehicle. I do have a picture I got long ago from the web with a grey "mole! - but cannot say if it is from a Molto toy or a Century 21 toy. If you want I can send it over. Thank you also for the comments about Geoff's toys blog :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for that Maverick. I can't tell my Nad Rovers from my Jeeps obviously! And Kid, I think your'e right, I bet most JR21 'land rovers' were green, although I really like the red colouring. And Geoff, yes please, all contributions welcome. Just email me at moonzero@ moonzero.freeserve.co.uk
ReplyDeleteand Geoff If you have the MOLTO triple set it'd be so cool to have some decent shots of the box and contents on the blog if your'e up for it?
Nad Rovers! I meant Land Rovers! Blimey! We don't want to discuss nad rovers!
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