I've always loved rack toys. My two favourite toy shops in Preston when I was a nipper, Thomas Mears and Zodiac, had stacks of toys on racks. They were mostly cheap, knock 'em out quick coloured plastics.
I still love rack toys and one of my favourite adult acquisitions was the Ghost Rider by Fleetwood. It came out in the 1970's. Fleetwood did loads of cheapo rack stuff and despite their pocket money origins they are all quite beautiful and now very collectible. Ghost Rider the comic hero was born in Marvel comics in the summer of 1972.
Fleetwood made a later version of the Rider with a different card. The bike came in red with no silver.
Not being one of Marvel's A-listers, Johnny Blaze aka the Ghost Rider has a strong comic following and every now and then he rode out into the toy stores again. Here's another carded rider but the transparent toy remains a mystery to me. I found the image on an old Ebay archive.
Toy Biz re-invigorated many Marvel heroes in the Nineties and Naughties. In 1995 they issued the Flamin' Stunt Cycles including this, Blaze's Dark Cycle.
Ghostie got at least seven incarnations in the Marvel Legends line including this 2004 issue with another red bike.
In 2007 Ghost Rider made his Hollywood debut and came of age. I loved the fact that the rider had his own film but Nic Cage was wooden as the lead. The 2012 sequel was awful. Rider's brush with Tinseltown spawned some cool toys though, like this Ultimate Ghost Rider by Hasbro.
I still prefer my Fleetwood rack toy from 1977. Issued just 5 years after the rider's fiery birth at Marvel it remains true to the comic and untainted by the glitz of Hollywood.
I'll end with another beautiful Rider collectible from the Seventies, equally as cheap as a rack toy at the time but no less cool, the Ghost Rider gumball ring. Blazin'!
Are you keen on rack toys readers? Which ones?
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