Anybody else a fan of vintage rack toys? If you aren't familiar with the term 'Rack toy" it refers mostly to the cheap toys you could find on racks at drug and grocery stores back in the day. The relatively cheap cost of making the toys allowed for some bizarre licenses to be pursued and sometimes required some great packaging to help sell the toys. All pictures marked Plaid Stallions are used from here:http://www.plaidstallions.com/. It's a great visual resource site too, if you are interested. The Rack Toys book is also a really great read.http://www.amazon.com/Rack-Toys-Che...UTF8&qid=1396124625&sr=8-1&keywords=rack+toys The first 2 pictures are from my collection. The rest are borrowed from Plaid Stallions. Fleetwood toys Ghost Rider with interchangeable Johnny blaze head: Fleetwood Toys Manimal: Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles figures: Azrak Hamway International Planet of the Apes wind-up: Larami Land of the Lost Safari Shooter: Super-hero toys:
While I had never heard the term rack toys used to describe this sort of thing, it is stuff that I love. I am really shocked that there were licensed toys for some of these things, especially the Manimal or Martian Chronicles ones. Very cool stuff. Plaid Stallions is a nice site, I have perused it many a time.
Really diggin' that Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider toy. Was curious when it was produced and this website gave a little background info: http://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/20 ... t.html?m=1 So wow, 1976... looks like yours has stood the test of time very well. Nice scores (and thread idea) analog
The one I got came from an unopened case someone found. I got it from Toons and Toys at NYCC2013.There are a couple variations that have different colored bikes and/or different background art too. Tracking down all the variations is on my list of things to do. I doubt I will be able to get them in the same condition,though.
I'm a fan too, got the book last year. The cheaper and weirder the connection between toy & TV show, the better!
^^^^ LOVE it Jeff! AND there was a time when pretty much anything was added to crappy parachutes to teach kids the joy of climbing high structures, and well... throwing stuff off. Ahhh simpler times... JUST like my hippie parachute guy: ...which is from the Parafools series:
Hmm... My Girlfriend picked me up a near identical POTA Soldier Ape wind up at Toy Tokyo in NYC a few years ago. Wonder if the molds are being reused, knockoff or coincidence. I will have to dig it up and compare.
