Thomas Toys Sedan - Yellow HP

Last October 12, Toys & Stuff featured the Thomas Toys Sedan in Turquoise hard plastic (HP) and today - finally - we're showing the yellow HP version (there are likely more color variations out there but these two are the only one's in my collection - so far). This is one of those Nifty '50s toys when plastic was finally coming into its own as a medium for producing toys. Many of the cars, trucks, and planes of the day were based loosely on the real thing or were just fantasy designs of the toy maker.  I couldn't identify this to a particular make of car although it does remind me of a Nash. In Walt Hiteshew's 'Pictorial Guide to Plastic Cars and Trucks' (see below) it is identified as a Ford Sedan. The license plate reads 'IM 879' although the Thomas catalog number is I-183. The car measures 4 1/2" (11.4cm) long.

I haven't really posted a whole lot of vehicles, perhaps a couple of dozen or so in both plastic and tin-litho (haven't yet touched the die cast stuff) but in the past few years there have been a couple of reference sources which I've thoroughly enjoyed. The first is Bill Hanlon's "PLASTIC TOYS Dimestore Dreams of the '40s & '50s" the other is Walt Hiteshew's 'Pictorial Guide to Plastic Cars and Trucks'. Walt is both a tinplate train collector and toy collector and has put out several guides on CD which are excellent. He has guides for Marx trains, European clockwork trains, and this plastic vehicle guide. For all his products check out his website: http://www.toyandtrainguides.com/

You may have noticed I haven't mentioned anything about the O'Brien's guides which are also quite good but I just haven't plussed-up my library yet to include them. Books tend to get pricey and this year has seen a marked decrease in hobby spending. As budget permits, it would probably be easier to pick up some used copies from Amazon.com, but for right now I'll make do with what I have. In any case, hope you like this blast from the past. As always, Enjoy!

Pyro Jet

Here's a great little bin toy from Pyro Plastics from the early to mid 1950s. It's a generic styled jet but is very sleek and almost reminds me of The Orbit Jet from the Rocky Jones Space Ranger television show of the early '50s. This version is lettered 'USAF" for the U.S. Air Force, is a silver-gray hard plastic and measures 7 1/2" (19.1cm) long. One of my books shows that some versions had a longer, more pointy nose piece. Perhaps later models were blunted for safety reasons as mine has no evidence of a broken tip. Enjoy!

The Pyro jet makes an appearance at the Nellis AFB Aviation Nation Air Show as part of the Vintage Warriors display

Notice the rockets molded into the bottom of the wings 

Marx B-47 Stratojet

"The Boeing Model 450 B-47 Stratojet was a long-range, six-engined, jet-powered medium bomber built to fly at high subsonic speeds and at high altitudes. It was primarily designed to drop nuclear bombs on the Soviet Union. With its engines carried in pods under the swept wing, the B-47 was a major innovation in post-World War II combat jet design, and helped lead to modern jet airliners.

The B-47 entered service with the United States Air Force's Strategic Air Command (SAC) in 1951. It never saw combat as a bomber, but was a mainstay of SAC's bomber strength during the 1950s and early 1960s, and remained in use as a bomber until 1965. It was also adapted to a number of other missions, including photo reconnaissance, electronic intelligence and weather reconnaissance, remaining in service as a reconnaissance platform until 1969 and as a testbed until 1977." - Courtesy of Wikpedia

Okay, well with a history that spans from 1951 to 1969, it would be hard to pin down when Marx actually came out with this airplane but it was probably mid-1950s as Marx would have wanted to capitalize on the latest and greatest in aeronautical engineering.                                                                          

Plasticraft YB-60 Convair

Toys didn't have to be large, expensive, tin-litho brutes for us kids to enjoy. They didn't have to be wind-up, battery operated, mechanical marvels either. Sometimes they could be as simple as small plastic airplanes like today's featured toy on Toys & Stuff. The Convair YB-60  from Plasticraft was, in a way, an unusual choice for a toy. The real airplane was designed as a jet version of the propeller driven B-36. A contender for the role as the Air Force's new bomber in the early 1950s it lost out to the B-52. Although cheaper to build and having a larger payload, it was slower and suffered from severe handling problems. The program was canceled in 1953 after only two years. So, one would have to ask, why would a toy company make an aircraft that never went further than the testing stage? My best guess is that it just looked neat!.  It is a beautiful aircraft with long, slender, swept-back wings and that long pointy fuselage and the toy, though small, still does it justice. The Plasticraft version featured here measures 5 3/4" (14.6cm) L x 4 3/4" (12.1cm) wingspan. Enjoy!