Gran Fury Lives!

A couple of Sundays back I bagged a beaten up Dinky Plymouth Gran Fury for 50p.

It's the black and white one below the fire tender.

With a basic all-black respray, some new Green Hornet style green headlights and some rear light reddening it's ready for gran to get furious again!

Hope you like it.

Is it one you had?

Simon Snorkel Rides Again!

 A couple of Sundays ago I picked up this incomplete Simon Snorkel fire engine, Superkings 1978 for 50p at Wetherby.

I've had a pop at fixing it up a bit: 

new extension ladder end, new cage, new side ladders, new turning dial, new hose and nozzle and a general paint touch-up. Twas tender fun.

Here's the revamped version.

Hope you like it.

Is it a toy you had? I was too old at 17 in 1978. I'm not too old now at 64! 

Secret Rendezvous

 Some snaps of my latest car boot cars, both very slickish CIA and FBI!

Elementary my Dear Die-Cast

 I like this Die-cast set by Orli.

Sherlock Holmes!

Four cars in all.

There's a Wacky Races vibe going on to me.

Zowees even!

Not a set I know but I like them.

Do you readers?

The Corgi Dick Dastardly Racing Car

The Corgi Dick Dastardly car recently came up, so I thought it was time for a quick look. It was part of a series devoted to film and TV related models, some of which had Corgi Comics on the boxes.

A few were original models, such as The Beatles Yellow Submarine; while others were based on an existing Corgi toy, with a few changes, and the addition of a plastic character figure. This allowed a 'new' model to be produced very cheaply, using a retired die-cast, as the only new items needed were some plastic figures.

This is usually described as a Wacky Races model, but I am not so sure. Wacky Races originally aired in the US 1968-69, while the spin-off show Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines was on 1969-71.

Both Dick Dastardly and his sidekick Muttley the Dog are wearing WW1 style leather flying helmets and goggles, so I think they are actually from the latter show. But driving a racing car.

The Corgi Comics 809 Dick Dastardly Racing Car was released in July 1973, and was available 1973-74. According to The Great Book of Corgi, 117,000 were sold.

Now we come to something odd. The Great Book of Corgi says 'This car was originally designed for the Qualitoy's range which had long been discontinued'.

The Qualitoys line was introduced in 1969, as a range of simple, sturdy models aimed at younger children. The models were all trucks, and shared a large number of components, which kept costs down.

There were no cars in the range, and I can not find any other Corgi models that look anything like the Dick Dastardly car. So was the Racing Car intended to be part of an expanded Qualitoys range, that was never actually produced ?

I have no idea, but looking at the Dick Dastardly car, it seems to be a dragster or dirt track racer which has been modified to turn it in to a Character Car. Everything which follows is pure speculation on my part, with no evidence at all to support it.

Having the rear-mounted engine enclosed within a cage seems very unusual – was this originally intended for the driver ? The large, plastic Dick Dastardly figure then going where the engine might have originally gone ?

Muttley the Dog is clinging to the top of the vehicle, and looking very unhappy (I would be too). This figure often seems to be missing from models being offered on-line.

The underside of the model says Corgi Comics, Dick Dastardly Racer (although the box says Dick Dastardly Racing Car), and Made in Gt. Britain. 

The model came in the usual 1970s Corgi window box.

Four photographs from Worthpoint

Paul Adams from New Zealand

THE GREEN HORNET LIVES!

 Junior gave his new Green Hornet Black Beauty the Sharpie treatment yesterday.

Not finished yet but Kato looks happy!

Groan Hornet

 Fixing up Junior' Green Hornet scrapper, before he colours it in in two weeks, has been as fiddly as Kato's cap.

The scanner and missile ejector mechanisms are groaningly temperamental and may yet spoil it for Junior. They do work now and then and when they do they fly! I just hope they work when he has a bash! 

Still, my part of the job is nearly done now.

I bought some plastic half-jewels for a squid and filed two down for the green headlights. Some of the Missus's red wire made the trim. 

I also re-chromed the grille.

Kato was missing so a small figure was cut to size, cap heat-flattened and painted.

A new windscreen was added using an old polypocket folder.

The Green Hornet was twisted inwards so some pliers dragged him round to the window again. He's lost his gun but that's life.

I just need to glue Kato in now if Bruce will let me! 

He did!

LIGHT UP THE CLOWN! WATCHING MY CORGI LINCOLN CONTINENTAL TV

 I adored my Corgi Lincoln Continental die-cast as a kid in the 60's.

Everything about it was just the best. The atom symbol on the rear window frames were just fantastic.

The bestest of all though was the TV screen at the back! Yes!

Mine was the clown picture - at least that's the one I remember [I must have had them all though!]. 

You could illuminate the lenticular picture and I would have loved to have sat in the back and watched it as a little Woodsy!

I liked my own 'clown' TV screen so much that I melded it into a radio story about ten years ago called Sarge, which was brilliantly produced and aired by Bill Everett and Dave Carrington over at Celtica Radio [were you a listener?]

Looking further into that TV screen I thought I'd change channels and see what the six pictures were in the Corgi Continental.

Despite reading they were everywhere on the net, I found finding pictures of the whole lenticular strip of six not easy to find.

Here's what I did find, courtesy of Ebay, Worthpointt, various auctions and Planet Diecast.

Here you can see the uncut strip of five mini TV screens resting on the front blister plinth, with one already in the rear of the car; the boxers.

All six were: clown, racing car, Mexican [or is it a US General?], rocket, galleon and boxers.

Here's a similar strip placed in the screen aperture [Image: Planet Diecast]. Again, the boxer is in the hole.

Here are three of the screens cut from the strip; boxers, rocket and Mexican/ US General.

The best thing though is seeing the screens in situ and ideally illuminated as they were meant to be seen when we were nippers.

Which was your favourite?

Clown [my own fave!]

Rocket

Racing Car

Boxers

I've been unable to find any images of the galleon or the Mexican/ US General in the TV screens. Can you help?

My final shot was one I saw on auction recently and captures for me the fabulous simplicity of play;

some of the TV screens cut and stowed in the boot of the car!

How cool is that!

Is this a car that you had? Which lenticular screen was in your TV?