A CHRISTMAS BIRD: THE SPACE BIRD 3 BY HOVER

Hi

Here, as promised, are some photographs of my Hoover Space Bird 3 car. It is in the same colours as the one you showed in the recent post on Hoover toys.

MOONBASE CENTRAL: HOVER SPACE BIRD 3 AND CO: NEW TO THE BLOG THIS ANNIVERSARY (projectswordtoys.blogspot.com)

Thank you to Woodsy for identifying this toy; and thank you to Wotan for identifying the real car the toy is based on, the 1963 Silhouette, a custom design by Bill Cushenberry. I had not known that before.

I have had this toy for a very long time, probably since the 1960s (or early 1970s), so it must be over 50 years old. I did not realise that it was considered a space toy - I always thought of it as a racing car, especially given the number 3 on the nose. I do not recall what the packaging for it was like, if it had a box or what type.

The toy is moulded in red plastic, with white spray-painted detail on the upper nose. This is rather 'soft and fuzzy'. The wheel hubs are silver-grey plastic, with black firm-rubber tyres. There are two half-figures in the cockpit, both moulded in silver-grey plastic. The driver is a normal racing car driver in an open-faced helmet with goggles, while his passenger is an astronaut - I always thought that was an odd mix. He seems to be the same astronaut as the crewmen in the Hover Space Tract toy shown a few months ago.

MOONBASE CENTRAL: ARTO'S MARVELLOUS HOVER SPACE TRACT (projectswordtoys.blogspot.com)

The box in your earlier post shows both driver and passenger wearing suits and ties, with racing car crash helmets, which is just as odd. The steering wheel has three spokes, and is yellow plastic. The clear plastic dome is held in place with three clips, but these have broken off over the years. The dome is also a bit scratched, and has a crack.

The toy is friction powered, with drive to the front wheels, although this no longer works. The box shown has 'With Siren Fiction Drive' - but I do not recall any sound effects. Metal axles front and rear. Moulded in to the underside is what I would describe as a winged-V, forming part of the word HOOVER (not HOVER). Below this is the number 303, then the words MADE IN HONG KONG. The upper and lower body are held together with two screws.

The logo seems to be the same winged-V for both Hover and Hoover, so was this the same company, just with a slight change of name ? My guess would be that as Hoover is a British nickname for vacuum-cleaner, they just decided to change it.

Length is about 8 inches, width just under 3 1/2 inches, height about 2 inches. It was a fun toy, and seems to have survived the years fairly well, apart from the clips on the plastic bubble.

Paul Adams from New Zealand

MATCHBOX TRACY ISLAND PHOTOS

 A few old photos of the Matchbox Thunderbird vehicles on Tracy Island.

The Las Vegas Dice Clock

Hi Woodsy

I just saw your post about the gondola music box. I do not recall my family having anything along these lines when I was little, but here is another souvenir item from a bit later.

My late Mother found a Las Vegas dice clock, similar to this example from Pinterest, at a flea market/car boot sale here in Auckland, back in the 1990s. The body was heavy orange plastic, which curved back to provide a stand.

The movement was a simple battery-powered type. The really great thing about it was that the numbers were all dice, glued to the clock face.

I do not recall ours having the radiating lines from the centre, but I can not find it to take a photo, hence this shot from the inter-net. Type in Las Vegas Dice Clock, and a huge number of different designs appear, in various colours.

Ours did need to have its movement replaced after a few years. But I just loved it - my favourite clock ever. Just so much fun, even if they were probably produced by the million for the Las Vegas souvenir market.

Anyone else got something like this?

Paul Adams from New Zealand

TIMBER!

Moonbase personnel and Junior had an exciting morning yesterday watching tree surgeons fell our three fifty foot poplars. They had to come down as Moonbase has subsided a little where they've drank the soil dry.

Junior had his Golden Nuggets stationed at a special table so he could watch the tree surgeon climb the trees and start chainsawing. He was in awe and thought the tree guy was spiderman!

Seeing the excitement on Junior's face got me thinking about Action Man for some reason. Had there ever been an Action Man tree surgeon set? I don't recall one. I do remember creating my own around 1986 for my toddler daughter to play with using some action dolls and belts. Barbie was a natural at climbing the settee. Ken just stared!

Looking through the interweb I found one action doll lumberjack. Big Josh from the Big Jim line. For some reason he's just dressed in flimsy denim summer wear. I think he's camping rather than lumberjacking as he's only got a hand-axe. You can see Josh top right in this Big Jim catalogue ad. Rugged seemed to be the look Mattel were going for with Big Jim and his pals.

Oddly enough, the plastic log Josh is splitting in half was one I found loose years ago at a German car boot sale. I think Big Jim was quite big there. Took me ages to ID the log, along with some other camping stuff I got.

Have you ever had any lumberjack or tree surgeon toys and games readers?

ANOTHER LOOK AT THE SIXTEEN 12 RETRO EAGLE

Another set of previously published Sixteen 12 Eagle photos I took a while back, and this time it’s Sixteen 12’s fifth 12” Eagle release which appeared in May, 2019.

The Retro Eagle Transporter is a celebratory tribute to the fondly remembered green and chrome Dinky Eagle Transporter which appeared during the mid-seventies. 

Of course it'll never stop people asking why Dinky chose green, in the same way it'll never stop people coming up with anecdotal theories as to why! 

It even has a display plinth and acetate cover similar to the original Dinky. Obviously, it’s just a regular 16/12 White Eagle painted in the familiar Dinky colours of metallic green and gloss red, with some lovely chrome engine bells. 

The fact that unlike the original Dinky Eagle, the pod doors don’t fold open is mildly disappointing, but I’ll get over that! 

Although, I for one thought it looked great, and a nice, if offbeat addition to the set, it has to be said a few collectors didn’t see the point. But, thankfully the majority liked it, and the limited run of just 500 sold out pretty quickly.

AQUACAR

 Some old photos of my Aqua car toy I took on Southport beach. Like Woodsy"s previous post on the Amphibious Car toy, a toy like this was painted red and appeared in Thunderbirds.

Here it is making a brief appearance in the episode, The Mighty Atom. 

JUST ONE GONDOLA

 

I'm pretty sure my parents had a gondola like this.

A wooden boat that doubled as a music box and a cigarette dispenser. 

It may have even been a souvenir from the Med.

Did your folks have fancy goods like this readers?

LITTLE AND LARGE COCKNEY CABS

Hello Woodsy

Further to the Hot Wheels: Little and Large post, Mattel issued little versions of early Hot Wheels cars some years ago.

Here is one of my original Cockney Cabs from the 70's with the small version. The Cockney Cabs II range is also pictured for scale.

Terranova47

USA