Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Goldo Bio !







UFO Saucer, Popy, Japan, 1970's

I am still looking for others in the serie...  maybe I was a gardener in another life... This thing was even supposed to float when you attached a motorpack to the hull !

Happy new year 2014 to all of you ! And don't forget  keep collecting toys ! Or, if you stop, give me a call !

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Water your flowers... Grandizer style !


All in Japanese...
Header Card













You put water in this thing, and the fists have little holes that help you with watering your greens and flowers. Way to go for a robot that saved the earth from alien invasion. Ecolo all the way !

Goldorak Go !
Grandizer, Popy, Japan, 1970's

Friday, December 27, 2013

Futuristic bus - PSA (Plásticos de Santo António, Lda.)

Here a number of new pictures of the Portuguese futuristic bus.

Futuristic Bus, PSA (Plásticos de Santo António), Portugal
1961 ?






















... and here a picture of the one they have at the Museu do Brinquedo (toymuseum) in Sintra : (unlike mine, it has a driver and painted hubcaps)



NEWS ! I have been contacted by Mr. Miguel Ritto, (managing director of Plásticos de Santo António, Lda.) and this is what he reported (I am publishing this with his authorization):

Dear Geoffrey,



I realised that your blog presents a couple of photos of the Futuristic bus which we launched in 1961.
Plasticos Santo António was established in 1955 by my grand father, and I am running the company (but we stopped making toys in the early seventies).
Our Futuristic bus was launched in 1961, and we called it "Autocarro atómico" ("Atomic bus") most probably because in those days Atomic energy was very recent.
Our bus is a miniature of a concept bus "The Golden Dolphin" by the Turin-based designer Vibert, in 1956 : you can find a photo at  
Our bus was a copy of a bus that my grand parents bought in Italy, which probably was produced in Italy. Therefore some collectors may have the toy produced in Italy. I have never seen the one made in Italy, but ours has the number plate PSA-61 
We only produced this bus from 1961 till around 1967. The reasons are:
- in 1964 we launched another bus (Ref. 178 presented in the attached file "img 6).
- the bus launched in 1961 required a lot of labour to assemble, and therefore was more expensive to produce than the bus Ref. 178

I was born in 1961, and I do not remember having this toy (although I remember having the one launched in 1964).
 
Note : The attached files (img 004 to img007) are our toy catalogue from around 1970.  The Futuristic bus is not presented in these catalogues because it was no longer produced.

Img004 - courtesy of PSA

Img005 - courtesy of PSA

Img006 - courtesy of PSA

Img007 - courtesy of PSA
Best Regards

Miguel Ritto
(Managing Director)Plásticos Santo António, Lda.
Rua Manuel Simões Maia
2416-901 Leiria
Portugal
www.psaplast.com


And here some images of the real "Golen Dolphin" and of the "Italian ?" toy (the box shows Viberti - Torino, but it may have been made under license by the Spanish company CLIM for the busmaker ...see here.)

The real thing !

Commercial poster from VIBERTI

"Italian ?" toy, presumably made by Spanish company CLIM
And this is the description of the CLIM toy (which had a tin underside compared to the plastic chassis of the Portuguese PSA toy) :

Se hacía constante mención a que estaba fabricado con licencia de la "Officine Viberti" de Torino (Italia), lo que tampoco tendría nada de raro a la vista de la exactitud de sus formas respecto al original.
Su comercialización puede situarse entre 1956 y 1960, con la referencia 105.

Raro autobus de clim climent hermanos años50 el delfin dorado friccion nº105 lic. officine viberti ch - modelo poco visto la friccion funciona tiene en zonas de bajos zona con oxido tratado, le faltaria el pequeño emparrillado que va delande cromado pon dairum buscador mas articulos no paya rico sanchis jyesa


Clim toy - internet image

Underside of Clim toy - internet image

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Somebody is watching...


Before the NSA, Echelon and other active "listening" entities, you had this one. This is a model of the space station used by the Tracy brothers to monitor if anybody was in danger on earth. The space station had a shuttle service with Tracy island through Thunderbird 3.

This little toy is quite nice because the whole domed section rotates when the wheels are put into movement.

Thunderbird 5, Yot/Zee toys, Taiwan, 1970's

Monday, December 23, 2013

The space beanie - no ears attached !


A "must-have" for any Space explorer in the 1950'ies... It comes with a plastic propellor at the back and was produced by the same company that made the famous "Mickey Mouse" -headset worn by the Mouseketeers.


Benay-Albee Novelty Co. c., USA, 1950's
Space Police Rocket Patrol,

Sunday, December 22, 2013

The pirates are back !



Kei / Nausicâa
2013
Play Arts, China

The new movie is coming out in Japan ! Hopefully we will get it over here soon ! It seems like our Captain and crew did get the "cyber punk" treatment... Lots of brass and boilers and bolts !





Harlock/Albator
2013
Play Arts, China