During the past year or so when I was busy with military toys, I was also slowly adding to the space toy collection and, when time permitted, photographing the toys. It occurred to me that it's been quite a while since any space cars or futuristic cars were posted. To that end we present the Xonex No. 36001 Space Bus from 1998! yay! :-) The whole space bus theme is a little odd but ya know, it's Sci-fi so what the heck. I posted the Space Bus #MS-457 from China back in August 2014 which was a tin-litho toy with clockwork motor, but today's featured toy is diecast with no motor. The basic Zeppelin bodied design of this toy actually dates back to the 1930s when at least one car was built that I've seen photos of and Manoil produced a small diecast toy version of it back around 1936 or so. It features interior detailing and a nice red and yellow pin-stripe and lightning design. The doors don't open so unfortunately you can't actually load the bus up with passengers but it's still a nice toy. It measures 6 3/4" (17.14cm) L x 2" (5.08cm) W x 2 3/8" (6.03cm) H. Like so many other toys on the market this thing is 'Limited Edition'. - ho hum, big friggin deal. I don't know about you, but that whole 'limited edition' crap is beginning to grow really weary! Just make the damn toy and sell it - don't bother us with that phony 'limited edition' garbage. Ya know what? Back in the day when a toy didn't sell, the manufacturers stopped making it - period. A LOT of toys became 'limited edition' that way without stupid, bothersome edition numbers, or certificates, or overblown hype, and inflated prices! Really people, it is totally meaningless for everyday over the counter, store bought, plain ol' toys and you pay extra for no reason.
The preceding OpEd has been brought to by Opa
Thank You
Anywho, in spite of its designation, the toy is cool. It's original cost was $9.99 and today shouldn't have to set you back more than about $25-$35. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina
It was difficult capturing the interior through the glazing
Pulled out a couple of figures at random to show some size comparisons.
Glad to see you found an example for yourself after mine appeared on Moonbase Central.
ReplyDeleteThere's somebody on fleaBay right now asking around $150 for one of these!!!!! arrrgh! what a rip-off! Needless to say I paid far less for mine :-). I've noticed for toys in general that anything that cost around $10-$15-ish in the '80s and '90s seem to be hitting the $25-$40 price range today. I don't buy into that 'rare' line of B.S. for toys made during that period
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