Post by Volktales on Oct 18, 2014 12:36:15 GMT -8
Ok here comes a few old Beetles from my collection...
These two are the popular Dinky ovals from the '60's. I bought the tan one in an antique store in Chemainus about 25 years ago. The blue one has been in the family much longer however. My sister used to babysit in the '70's, and as the kids she sat for got older, she brought home some of there unwanted toys. It took a long time before she eventually gave me the Beetle however....
This was the next generation of Dinky Beetles. Although it had more opening features than the ovals, it lacks some of there charm. Don't remember where I got it, but it was very cheap because one of the "diamond" headlights was missing. I ended up finding a button that had one in the centre, and it was a perfect match!
This little wind up VW has been in the family for eons. I don't ever remember it not being there. Made in Japan too. My dog was not impressed when I wound it up and "drove" it on her fur. Mom had to cut it off! I was very little when I did that and luckily my dog forgave me!
This one has an interesting history. Found it lying in a field at a friends Grandpa's house almost 30 years ago. It was very rotten and missing its chassis and rims. I gave it a "rustoration" and found some tires, and made up a frame for it. Just realized it kind of looks slammed and narrowed on earlys!!!! Jerry would approve.
And here is a piece of history... If you are of a certain age, then you will remember when you used to get cool toys in boxes of cereal. This Beetle was one of those, and are kind of hard to find today. Look closely and you will see the Herbie #53 on the hood. The plastic "launcher" in the background had a rubber band attached to it. You would place the car on the track, preload the rubber band, and let er rip! And they did come in other colours including orange, blue, and yellow and maybe others... I am the original owner of this one....
And finally this isn't really a toy.. It is a relatively recent diecast of a '70's era Euro-spec 1300 Beetle. Overall it is very similar in appearance to my full size Savannah Beige '70 Beetle. Don found this for me in Greece of all places, and I traded him a nice Fastback for it. He should post a picture of that, because it was a great colour.
Here is a few more...
All these from the '70s. The plain white Beetle was my first ever VW. It is the Matchbox "Volkswagen 1500 Saloon" of 1968. The Police Beetle is a Corgi Juniors Whizzwheels edition from the '70s. The red Matchbox Superfast Volks-dragon is from the early '70s. The green Beetle is newer and is a Majorette Volkswagen 1302 better known to us as a Superbeetle!
These are a few Tonka Beetles. The green and yellow one on the right are 70's era and came in other colours too. The one on the left is from 1983 and clips into the tower thingy on the left. You would pump up air pressure in the tower and the car would fly out across the floor. Never worked very well even when new!
Some more plastic toys I have had forever... The green Bug on the left came from my Granny and was packed full of chocolate, so naturally it was my favourite. The blue rubbery bug was another tubby toy and was made by Galanite of Sweden. (Surprisingly it wasn't a SAAB!) The white bug I got at one of those "fun-fairs" we used to have in elementary school. (Really dating myself, aren't I?)
And finally....
This has quite a story behind it... First of all, it is not a VW, but a Porsche 356! It was one of four that I received from my Granny almost 40 years ago! In case you have not figured it out, it is actually a chocolate. Being a car fanatic I never could bear to eat them, but played with them instead. Granny thought that was strange... Anyway all four survived intact and eventually made it into my display case with lots of other toys. Unfortunately for me, my son Victor discovered them when he was very little. As you may have guessed, three of them went down the hatch before Mommy figured out what he was up too. I bet that 30 year old chocolate tasted great....
Here is a few more goodies from my collection of VW stuff...
First up is a couple of metal Beetles. The blue one is an early version of the popular Tonka Beetle. This one has had a tough life, but like a real VW it still rolls along perfectly even after decades of abuse. Think I got this in Elementary school at another one of those fun-fairs. Early Tonka Beetles feature narrow stock VW style rims and tires, and had stock looking European style bumpers (unfortunately loooong gone from this example). Later Tonkas featured much fatter rims and tires with a weird "spider web" pattern rim. The rear bumper featured a tow hitch on the later versions too. There was also and intermediate style with narrow rims but spider web pattern wheels too. There were MANY different colour combos available too... The VW on the left is the much rarer Japanese built Cragstan , which is very obviously a copy of the Tonka but a few sizes smaller. Again these are hard to find with intact bumpers..
The blue Tonka Beetle in the above picture has since been restored. The thread is here: miacvw.proboards.com/thread/283/more-tonka-restorations-pictures-restored
Next up is this large plastic Beetle with a supercharger sticking throught the front hood! Dated 1970, I have had this since I was very little. And despite its good condition, I played with this ALOT! I remember I almost cried when I lost the steering wheel while walking from the parking lot to the beach at Rathtrevor. Went back to look for it and luckily found it too! Pretty sure they made a bay window Bus version too. More to follow..
Was doing the e-bay thing the other day and this is the result....
Yup, you guessed it, another Tonka! This time another first generation version (1965/1966). The early versions are the best quality when the tooling was in better shape. The stampings were better with less rippling in the early versions. This example is in decent shape and was fairly cheap too. All the way from Hartford Connecticut.
This metallic green version arrived a while ago but I forgot to show it here. This is a second generation stamping and the quality is noticeably inferior to the first versions. The panels are not as tightly assembled either. This is a decent example so I was happy to get it. They made thousands and thousands of these toys and most versions are not really rare, so you can be choosy and wait for one to show up cheaply. I am going for the different early versions and am doing OK so far. Still need a really nice red and blue one to complete the first series. The second series had a metallic reddish one and I will eventually go for that too. I am paying for it by selling off the last of my Cougar stuff too...
Oops. Forgot the photo...
This last convertible was purchased in Taiwan on one of my trips there. Not the greatest quality, but it was cheap!