Hi,
Featured many times on Moonbase, I've just found a very interesting video on You Tube, showing the original 1953 Mattel Dream Car (on which the current Hot Wheels Dream Mobile is based).
It also shows a couple of other, smaller dream car models of a different style. Really good shots of the car, the removable top, and the friction motor - the car had front wheel drive, which was pretty unusual for 1953.
The Hot Wheels version is a very accurate copy of the original.
Toy Documentary - Mattel Dream Car - 1953 - YouTube
Paul Adams from New Zealand
Interesting video of some classic concept type/futuristic cars!
ReplyDeleteVery informative piece indeed. It seems that the Handlers were very good at importing German toy ideas to the U.S. market and claiming the inventorship for them. As it is well known that Barbie is based on a German Bild Lilli doll, there is a German predecessor to the Mattel Dream car in the Heinrich Wimmer Dream Car. It is marked as Made in US-Zone Germany which dates it at 1952 at the latest. The patent for the Mattel Dream Car was filed in November 29, 1952.
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