Secret Rendezvous

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

The Day of the Attic

Secret Sam took the call in his attic office.

The Moonbase toy collection had to be protected at all costs. Stop.

The mission is go! You're on your own Sam.

Over and out.

The Wild Wild West DVD Box Set

The TV series The Wild Wild West came up recently. This was a show that combined two popular TV genres of the 1960s – cowboys and spies, and can be summed up as James Bond in the Wild West.

James West (Robert Conrad) and Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) were Secret Service agents, with their own train – as the gadget-packed spy car had not yet been invented. It was fitted out with all the crime fighting essentials, and was basically the Batcave on rails.

President Ulysses S. Grant (1869-77) appeared in a few episodes. But there were few other regular characters, apart from villain Miguelito Loveless.

Fighting mad super villains, the series ran for 104 episodes over four seasons, 1965-69. The first series was in black and white, and the rest in colour.

There were also two TV movies – The Wild Wild West Revisited (1979), and More Wild Wild West(1980), with the original leads. These were followed by a very poor Wild Wild West movie in 1999, with a new cast.

This magnificent boxed DVD set contains all the TV episodes, the two TV movies, and various extras, on 27 discs. Copyright date 2010.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

Open and Shut Case: a Near Mint Redbox Special Agent 707 Set

 After buying a well-used Redbox agent 707 set last week, I treated myself to this much less used and superbly boxed example I stumbled across online.

A real bargain on Etsy, this set is virtually complete and almost near mint.

The photographic box is fabulous! It also incorporates a camera-wielding-agent painted illustration that seems to hark back to much earlier sets to me.

The CE import address sticker is for Redbox in Swinton.

The actual Red Box home address is in California!

You can see how shiny the case is compared to my previous purchase.

Some of the gold print has come away. 

The contents are just brilliant.

 The gun and it's accessories are a more authentic black and it contains both large and small toy bullets.

One larger bullet was missing in the opened packet but amazingly I had a spare courtesy of Bill!

Interestingly this version ran with a Gold Tip cigarette box pistol too. The other case I have houses a less controversial radio gun.

It also comes with two smart pistol dart missiles reminiscent of Marx's spy sets.

The little box of smaller bullets is hard to find separately, although Bill did give me a loose box-full about 25 years ago! Sadly sold on since, my other case is still waiting for its own ammo.

The 707 passport contains the toy's original lucky owner's details and his agent CV! It dates the set to 1990. I thought it was older.

Assembled with shoulder stock, silencer and scope, the agent's black pistol looks stupendous I think!

It looks better than the orange version in my opinion.

So, there you have it. An open and shut Redbox case. Hope you like it.

Have you an attache case readers?

Special Agent 707's New Case Opened

Just before Easter I treated myself to two Redbox toy special agent attache cases, a classic design that goes back decades: Agent 707 may ring bells with you readers?

One I've bought is an older boxed version and the other unboxed set a newer release like the one I bought at the Ridings Index store in the early 1990's, sadly since sold on.

This later unboxed release arrived this week and I've been busy cleaning it up and replacing the odd missing part, as always great fun messing with special agent stuff. 

This set from eBay was more compete than I thought: all two badges and the key present.

I cleaned everything up, glued down ripped pockets and blacked out any scratches on the case.

Luckily I had a similarly coloured plastic pipe of a suitable size to make a decent ersatz of the missing silencer. 

The black shoulder stock came without a grip fastener, so a couple of bits and some glue later, I whittled a fair enough replacement, that does the job.

All that's missing now are the small brown bullets for the little secret radio pistol (amazingly I found another one of these tiny guns at the local boot sale yesterday!)

All in all it's a great example of this later Redbox set, with it's orange weapons. I'm unsure if the black stock is the right colour - should it be orange? - but it looks good and harks back to earlier Redbox sets.

For the time being, this case, 707, is now closed!

The Wild Wild West Sleeve Gun

 This is unusual. I only this week saw a reference to it in my Cramer Burke's Spy Toys reference book:

The Wild Wild West Secret Sleeve Gun.

By spy toy kings Ray Line it's a small Derringer style toy pistol on a telescoping frame. 

Oddly enough I can't see any mention of the show The Wild Wild West on the card.

Is it a TV show you know? 

Rooting for Cheroots

When I worked in Morley back in the 90's I'd scour the market and charity shops at lunchtime. On one rummage trip I was given an old sweet box for special agent chocolate cigars.

It was a great box with a picture of an agent or some spy kit I think. Like most things back then it went on my old toy stall I had at fairs or my mail order sales list.

Trying to find a piccy online I first came across this, Detective Cheroots.

It wasn't this I had so I kept digging. And I found it. In the Bristol Museums. Bingo!

Lears Secret Agent Cheroots!

Double Agents iD Unknown

I keep seeing these I Spy for Double Agents pun badge. I've no idea what it is.

I like the motif though.

Anyone any idea? 

The Secret Agent Crashmobile

This is another unusual toy mentioned in Cramer Burke's Spy Toys book.

The Secret Agent Crash mobile.

 It looks like all four cars are from US TV shows. The Secret Agent car is on the left.

Secret Agent was called Danger Man in the UK.

Is it a show you watched?