OTAKI MONSTER CAR 1964

I've always liked the brown and yellow Otaki kit Monster racing car after it was discovered as the likely source for the Project SWORD Probe Force 3.

Here's a great shot of it built up in an old Japanese Otaki kit catalogue from 1964, 3 years before the UK's Century 21 Toys released its Project SWORD range.

https://boxartden.com/collections/gallery/index.php/Vintage-Model-Kit-Catalogs-1950-1999/Otaki/Otaki-1964/Otaki_1964_Page_11-960

Check out the brilliant website Box Art Den for more catalogues and kits. Link is above.

Have you got this Otaki kit?

OTAKI PROBE FORCE MONSTER

Have a look at this old Japanese Otaki 1964 kit catalogue. On page 11 is the Monster Car, the brown one with 45 on it. Project SWORD toy fans who have read MC for a while might recall that this is the origin of the Probe Force 3 in 1967. From a Monster car to a space plane!

I have one of these kits. Do you like it?

https://boxartden.com/collections/gallery/index.php/Vintage-Model-Kit-Catalogs-1950-1999/Otaki/Otaki-1964/Otaki_1964_Page_11-960

Otaki Space Patrol Car?

Arto alerted me to this Alphadrome thread, with a Moonbase mention

http://alphadrome.net/forums/topic/23573-space-car-identification/


Arto also pointed out this old Moonbase post, which may provide the answer


https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2018/09/birthday-file-yanoman-otaki-space.html


What do you think?

CAMEL TOYS SHOOTING STAR RACE CAR

This caught my eye online.

Shooting Star friction race car by Camel, a company I've not heard of before.

Sadly there were no pics of the toy on Yahoo Japan, just the cool box, although I may have seen this in kit form.

The toy looks very sleek and almost Project SWORD-like.

It's got that Land Speed Record vibe going on.

There's a whiff of other toys here too, Hoover's Space Racer and the X-series X50. Maybe even Project SWORD's Task Force 2 in car-form.

Here's the kit I was talking about, the green one bottom left by Otaki. The brown one next to it is the forerunner of SWORD's probe Force 3.

Anyone got one?

OTAKI MONSTER CAR

I love this old ad I saw on Yahoo Japan.

It shows three of Otaki's model racers.

The brown one is the monster based on the Arfons Green Monster.

Century 21 Toys Project SWORD Probe Force 3 is based on this kit.

The green racer is superb too and could easily be a space toy!

What do you think of them?

REMCO ROCKET CAR

Always on the look out for rocket cars here's an interesting one from Remco.

Its the rocket attachment  from their Swap Mobile range.

Rocket cars interest me, aside from their obvious charm, because the Probe Force 3 from the Project SWORD range most likely originates from the Arfons Green Monster jet car.

Here's a full boxed set of the Swap Mobiles I saw online showing the different attachments, which all look very cool indeed.

Have you any of these toys?

*

PS. Bill B has his own personal rocket car story,  the Corgi Jet Car, which he posted on the blog 5 years ago

http://projectswordtoys.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/corgi-jet-dragster.html

DAIYA ASTRO SPACE RACER AND PROBE FORCE THREE

Ages ago I established the likely link between the Otaki Monster car kit and the Project SWORD Probe Force 3. The origin of them all is the Green Monster car, famous in US rocket car history. Here's a short film courtesy of You Tube.

Now here's some footage of the Otaki Monster Car kit from Japan also courtesy of You Tube.

And finally a You Tube clip of the Daiya Astro Space Racer tinplate car, another likely relative of Probe Force 3 and the Otaki Monster car, as they all share the similar bulbous engines and lateral exhaust vents.

To finish here is a nice shot of the Probe Force 3 itself released in 1967 by Century 21 Toys.

Are there any more similar rocket cars readers?

PROJECT SWORD TIMELINE 1965: THE OTAKI GREEN MONSTER CAR KIT DATED

Proof positive that the Otaki green Monster Car kit was released in 1965. It appears on the back of this Japanese magazine [name?], the brown car bottom left next to the sleek racer. This Otaki kit was the forerunner of the Project SWORD Probe Force 3 toy space jet. The year is on the magazine's spine!

Result!

THE BIRTH OF PROJECT SWORD PROBE FORCE 3 ON FILM

Last year I established the likely link between the Otaki Monster car kit and the Project SWORD Probe Force 3. The origin of them all is the Green Monster car, famous in US rocket car history. Here's a short film courtesy of You Tube.

Now here's some footage of the Otaki Monster Car kit from Japan also courtesy of You Tube.

And finally a You Tube clip of the Daiya Astro Space Racer tinplate car, another likely relative of Probe Force 3 and the Otaki Monster car, as they all share the similar bulbous engines and lateral exhaust vents.

To finish here is a nice shot of the Probe Force 3 itself released in 1967 by Century 21 Toys.

Are there any more similar rocket cars readers?

GLICO MONSTER CAR AND WOMBAT

Woodsy,

Have a look at the Japanese photo attached and in particular the little yellow vehicle bottom centre - what does it look like? * Mini Wombat looks good too.

Terry H

* possibles are: Project SWORD Probe Force 3 or maybe its forerunner, the Otaki Green Monster Car

TERRY's CHILDREN'S SHOWA BOOK AD: OTAKI RACE CARS FROM JAPAN

Hi  Woodsy, Got this little book in the post today and this is on one page - maybe you have seen it elsewhere. Terry

A PLASTIC OTAKI TOY RACING CAR

Last year I found the connection between the Otaki monster car [above, purple] and the Probe Force 3. I've wondered since if any other Otaki Monster cars existed as toys rather than model kits. Looking at the above catalogue page there's another Otaki racer kit pictured, to the right in green.

Well, fortuitously I also found this plastic toy on Yahoo Japan which looks just like the green racer, particularly from the side view below [I'm unsure if the typed company name is the toy manufacturer.]

Could it be just a matter of time before we find a plastic toy version of the Otaki monster car and therfore a toy relative of Probe Force 3?

OTAKI MONSTER RACE CAR DATE DISCOVERED

I made two exciting Project SWORD discoveries yesterday. Here's the first one and it pushes back the date for the design of the Probe Force 3 if correct.

A couple of weeks ago I found the Otaki monster race car model from Japan on You Tube and realised pretty much that its a clone of Probe Force 3. Its just in the shape of a racing car. I was not able to date it though.

Well, here's an advertising leaflet for Otaki, which includes the monster race car and it has been dated as 1965 on flickr. Can anyone verify this? [there's a Task Force 1 lookalike race car next to it too! Could it be?]

If 1965 is right then this Otaki design appeared a year before Probe Force 3 in SOLO comics and 2 years before the Century 21 SWORD toy. So where did Otaki get their design from? Any ideas readers?


PS. I have checked the size of the Otaki car against my Prone Force 3 using batteries for scale [ in my previous post the Otaki car is pictured with batteries]. They are the same size.