I've always liked Gerry Anderson's Investigator boat.
Sylvia and Gerry Anderson
I didn't have it as a kid but have grown to admire its design as I've grown up. Fortunately you can often pick up one the Dinky rendition of this vehicle at toy fairs and car boot sales.
Below is the actual show's prop and what a glorious craft it is. There's just something about it that I love.
Vectis
The prop, sold by auction in 2018 first by Sworders and then in 2019 by Vectis, here's the Vectis description, which gives lots of great info about this iconic but less well-known Gerry Anderson vehicle.
Gerry Anderson The Investigator speed boat original film prop, 1973, would have been towed for the live action sequences, used in a twenty-three minute pilot episode of a new project that did not continue to further production; designed by Reg Hill, who had made many of the props for Gerry Anderson's other productions, including Thunderbirds, Stingray and Captain Scarlet.
This boat, along with the Investigator car, lot 4539, were manufactured by Space Models of Feltham, boat has storage damage and missing some parts, would benefit from sympathetic restoration, 98.5"/250cm long.
NB: The Investigator was to be the final Supermarionation production. Three Thunderbirds voices were used- Peter Dyneley (Jeff Tracy) as The Investigator, Shane Rimmer (Scott Tracy) as John and Sylvia Anderson (Lady Penelope) as Julie.
You can see close-ups of the cockpit on the great Downthetubes blog.
Earlier in the year I got hold of a very cheap Dinky Coastguard toy and after some restoration it turned out quite well and ready for investigating our glass table.
Ten years ago both Scoop and I were lucky enough to get hold, with different boxes, of large-scale plastic clones of the Dinky Coastguard car. A truly obscure but amazing toy, it came remote-controlled and looks awesome with the boxes.
For more info, there are tons of sites covering the Investigator's two vehicles including the Sylvia Anderson page.
I wonder if the two Dinky toys were available across Europe and the States?
Anyone got any Investigator toys or merchandise readers?
The late great Ken Holt told me about the issues filming with the boat and investigator car miniatures in Malta. Apparently the models were radio controlled, but on the same frequency as a local taxi service, so the models would unexpectedly take off down the beach anytime a call came in! Bill
ReplyDeleteThat's hilarious Bill! Ha ha
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