The Quercetti Fireball XL5 is one of my favourite Gerry
Anderson toys and, apart from a Budgie Supercar , one of the oldest Anderson toys I have.
As a collector I tend to be drawn to things that I had, or remember
as a youngster.
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t fascinated by space
travel, and in the very early sixties, Fireball XL5 was one of my favourite
series as a kid.
I was too young to bother collecting Zoom wrappers for a
Kitmaster Fireball, and I was totally unaware of the Fairylite version. The
only Fireball XL5 toy I really wanted was the Quercetti, which I knew about
through its eye-catching advertisements.
I wrote about my early recollections on wanting this toy on
the blog some years ago, and re-reading it I thought it might be time for
another airing.
Cue wavy lines and a journey into my past…
During the mid sixties my
family and I spent a week at a Pontins
holiday camp at Middleton Towers near Morecambe. It was notable for being the
largest camp in the Pontins empire and for having a huge entertainment centre
built in the shape of an ocean liner, named the
S.S. Berengaria.
But for me one of it’s main
attractions was a gift shop selling toys.
In the shop one particular
item stood out from the rest, a Quercetti Fireball XL5 spaceship.
Not many XL5 toys or models
were available at the time. I was never aware
of the Fairylite version and the plastic kit from Lyons Maid Zoom was only
available mail order. The Quercetti XL5 was extensively advertised in comics
exploiting the colourful box artwork and it looked great.
For a holiday treat I asked
my Dad for the spacecraft with the catapult. That was my mistake, I should have
been more specific. I was given the
Quercetti Tor spacecraft. A fun toy, I’m sure you’ll agree - but it isn’t an
XL5.
To make matters worst the
spoilt brat in the next chalet to us got a Fireball, although, after one day of
play he did lose it on a chalet roof!
Anyway, from that day on I promised
myself that eventually I’d possess a Quercetti XL5 and fire it into space,
avoiding chalet roofs of course! .
The years passed and life
moved on. The next time I came across a
Quercetti XL5 was when I attended the first Fanderson Convention in 1981. During
the charity auction a boxed example was offered. It went for far more than I
could afford. - and dealers had a nice high book price to work with.
Fast forward to the present
, and the evils of eBay.
All I wanted was a
reasonable example of a toy that is, let’s face it, nearly fifty years old. I’d seen a few dog eared, well used and
dubious examples of my target toy, but then a decent and apparently unused one
came up. I bid and won it. I probably
paid too much for it but what the heck, I had been waiting for a long, long
time.
And what do I think of the
toy after my wait?
Well, considering it’s a
flying toy it’s a pretty good representation of it’s TV counterpart. Any
deviations are probably there to aid it’s performance in the air and to
accommodate Quercetti’s clever parachute opening system . The durable yellow Fireball Junior of which
there are two versions depending on the weather, no doubt helps in finding the
toy following landing .The instructions enclosed are very detailed, even giving
technical notes about the working principles of the Fireball. The decals are
quite adequate considering that the odd scratch would be unavoidable. The only real downside is the Steve Zodiac
figure which is simply a generic spaceman.
Much as I‘d like to fit the
decals and catapult my Fireball way up to 200 ft in the air ,thereby finally
fulfilling part of a promise made all those years ago, obviously that’s not
going to happen.
The damn thing is just too
precious now.
Still, in spite of that it
was well worth the wait.
Mike B (age 6 years &
564 months)
As a bit of a post script, when I attended the Future is Fantastic
convention last year, A.P Films and Century 21 merchandising maestro,
Keith Shackleton mentioned the Quercetti Fireball during his talk and reckoned
it was the best Fireball toy on the market at the time. He'd travelled all the
way to Turin to meet the owner of the company, and strike a deal. He didn't
think a child launching something 200 feet in the air was an advisable thing to
do these days, but he was still thought it was still a clever toy.
I got my first Quercetti Fireball toy in 1963 I think, without ever seeing the ads. (TV21 wasn't even out yet.) I got another one in 1969 or '70, at a vastly reduced price seeing as how it was old stock. (2/6 I think.) I've now got two boxed versions and, interestingly, they're different. One is the same as in your photos (the same version I had as a kid), but the other is all silver with an orange nose cone (Fireball Junior). The instructions give no mention of the alternate nose cone, so I assume it was a later, cost-cutting version. It's good to see an all-silver body 'though, which makes me wonder why they went for the two-tone version of the original.
ReplyDeleteInteresting recollections Kid. I can't say I've seen that silver version you mention (it does sound good) Probably dozens will turn up on eBay now you've mentioned one ;)
DeleteI'm a Fireball XL5 fan as well, Scoop. I didn't have the Quercetti toy as a kid, but I can certainly see the appeal now. I wonderful piece to have in your toy collection!
ReplyDeleteNice to know you're another Fireball fan Tony. Yes, it's a prized possession to me.
DeleteI had one of these as a kid together with the 45 rpm single with an extended version of the show's theme 'Zero G' on side A and the end credit song on the flip side.
ReplyDeleteI remember the first and only time I flew the toy from the garden at my home. It all worked fairly well although I am pretty sure Steve's parachute didn't open.
About a year later I got the superior Mach 1 ( I saved up my pennies) . This had a dual band catapult and a launch system involving you lifting your foot off the launch pad so the rocket would smartly slide up the hook and zoom straight-into my chin!
I am not sure that the stars I was seeing for about ten minutes were intended.
Ah the pre health and safety days-it's a wonder we survived.
It sounds like you don't have the best of memories of these two rocket toys, Hari. I never had the Mach 1 but from what you're saying it was a health and safety nightmare. Thankfully, the XL5 I've got will never get tested for reasons of preserving the toy, and, now you've mentioned it preserving my chin ; D
DeleteThanks for sharing your thoughts.
I think it was a pretty good representation of the spacecraft from the tv show. The Mach 1 certainly resembled a Gerry Anderson rocket from Thunderbirds.
ReplyDeleteThere is a postcript on Mach 1-after the chin got better I tried firing it into the air while stopping the parachute from deploying by tying a rubber band around the fuselage. I recall it got to an impressive height before plummeting into the still warm remains of my Dad's bonfire.It never worked at all after that.
I had several TORs before a got a Fireball, and found it a bit of a disappointment. The launch was nowhere near 200ft - the model was heavy and bulky compared to the TOR and hardly performed at all on the beach at Yarmouth....
ReplyDeleteA few years later I got a MACH-X. That WAS a rocket - great high launches in the park, reliable high opening and a well-detailed capsule. Toys that we will never have again...