Back in the mid -1990's I advertised in Model Mart for anyone who knew about Project SWORD to get in touch. In those pre-internet days anything like this was done by post so I was thrilled when one Will Osborne got in touch. Will was a SWORD and SpaceX fan and new lots about both including the existence of the Century 21 Lunar Climber.
Will sent me a copy of an old article from the 1960's which described and pictured the Lunar Climber, as shown below. This was the very first time I had ever heard of it or seen it. It's inclusion in an article about SWORD toys, ringed in red below, only increased its legendary status for me!
A few years later I got to know Bill Bulloch by which time we had entered the cyber age and the era of Ebay. Excitingly a Lunar Climber surfaced on the 'Bay, which I attempted to win but alas to no avail. My misfortune's epitaph was Bill's immortal counsel, "You should have put the ton on it!". The photograph, below from that original Ebay listing remained the only picture of the actual toy we had ever seen.
From the blog's start in 2008 some further sporadic information about the Lunar Climber came in the form of Project MOON adverts from 1969. We've also seen many examples of the Zancudo, the Spanish version of the toy by Paya, together with pictures of the Climber in kit form called both the Super Beetle and Astro Car from Japan.
Despite my annual pleas for any further sightings there has been no further word about the Century 21 Lunar Climber for years.
Until now!
Blog reader and SWORD friend John Swan contacted me last week with an amazing development! I will let John himself take up the story:
"The only markings are a "Made in Hong Kong" on the base (no date), no figures in the cockpit but the drive mechanism for the antenna is visible behind the windscreen. I haven't tried it out with batteries yet as it uses 2 "AA" of the slightly smaller 1960's type (don't want to force modern ones into it!). The rear purple missiles are spring loaded with a simple push down red plate clip (again a bit too fragile for me to play with !)."
"The main thing that struck me is how bright the colours are and the lack of any surface detailing - these factors detract from the realism of the craft, unlike the excellent colours and detailing on some of the best S.W.O.R.D. craft e.g. The Scramble Bug, but this does give it that unique 1960's larger than life "bubble gum" look."
John continues "Of particular interest is that the collector I traded this from confirmed that it is the actual one that was on Ebay all those years ago - he won it and has had lots of offers since and even mentioned seeing the photos on the Blog!) So I can confirm that as far as we know this is still the one and only example seen as yet!"
John kindly sent some superb scans of the three different sides of the box too. John says:
"as you can see there are no model #'s, maker's mark or date other than the "made in Hong Kong" on the undercarriage and box and the "Century 21" logo on the box. There are no card inserts in the box - the Climber fits snuggly. The bottom half of the box is plain cardboard and the top half is a folded metal stapled lid like most S.W.O.R.D. toys.
There are no more clues inside the battery cover other than the usual icons for the battery positions. Of course the obvious thing is that on the box art it's red instead of lime green ! Hard to check for colour variants when this is the only one we've ever seen ! - it was good timing that I pulled this trade off during Blog Legends Month!"
Best Wishes
John Swan
John Swan
Aaaahhhh + envy overload imminent!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations John, an awesome addition to your accomplished collection.
ReplyDelete