Hot Rods & Munsters!

Here’s a vintage “Alps” made in Japan tin & plastic hot rod my son Dante and I discovered at a local antique show we attended last week. We had lost all hope of finding any vintage toys there, but it wasn’t until the very last aisle we went up before leaving, that amongst all the antique furniture and endless booths of freakin glassware did we discover one guy in a booth with a treasure trove of toys. Our eyes bulged out of our heads and paying admission was worth it after all.

We stepped in the booth and began talking about some of toys he had and my interest in robots by Daiya, Horikawa and Nomura which lead to collecting toys that were MIB (mint in box), that’s when he said,
“Let me show you this toy I just found at an estate sale”. He reached under some other boxed toys from a corner of a table against a wall and pulled this beauty out. It was mib, it even included the instructions. I asked if he could throw some batteries in it to see if it worked and sure enough, the stop and go action kicked in and the radiator even began smoking (not a defect but a feature).

I made him an offer and it was ours.

What I’ve always admired about the Japanese tin toys is not just the overall quality and ingenuity, but the tin lithography they’re so famously known for.

The only kaiju (monster) figure (not included) I could get in the drivers seat was the Gargamel crouching mini Zagoran ( a modern vinyl toy made in Japan). He’s got the perfect expression to be driving a hot rod so he worked out just fine.

Here’s it is with some smaller tin friction cars.
The hot rod itself measures a whopping 11 inches long, 5.5inches wide and 5 inches tall.

There’s also a really  great “limo” version of this hot rod that Alps made.
It reminds of the Munsters hearse hot rod…one of these days I’ll track those versions down.

The Munsters on a family outing in the Munsters hearse hot-rod.

A Marilyn Munster pin-up!

Shikaruna Koubo Giant Madalla figure

Click on the photo to see more images

This the Giant Madalla figure from Shikaruna Koubo, made in Japan. He’s larger than a standard size kaiju figure which is normally 8-9 inches…he’s almost 12 inches tall. This is a small edition, beautifully painted on glow vinyl, and I love the baroque pose! I’m not a fan of all the Shikaruna Koubo sculpts, but this one I really gravitated towards because it reminded me of “S’pell Sejin” (see below), the famous alien from the 1960s Ultraseven, episode 12, “From Another Planet With Love” in which Ultraseven, in order to ultimately defeat the alien villain, zings his helmet blade and cuts him in half! My son and I were floored! That scene was so crazy and outrageous!

The episode was also never shown again after it’s initial broadcast in Japan because many survivors of the Atomic bombings during WWII in Japan were offended by the portrayal of the alien villain. The alien race was poisoned by nuclear or “S’pellium bombs” on their own planet and in order to continue living, they needed to feed on the blood of human children, so they invade Earth. This negative depiction of radiation victims turning into alien vampires caused the uproar and Tsuburaya Productions pulled the episode. More detail on it at  August Ragone’s excellent Japanese film, pop culture blog that’s also up for a “Rondo Hatton” award. Go vote (category 15)!

Spell Sejin

Ultraseven

Marusan Mini Red King Model

An inexpensive little model kit that put a huge smile on me and my son’s faces.
Based on the legendary, larger, plastic remote control Redking kit from the 60s, this little gem
was quick and easy to snap together. The figure itself has a dash of paint on him adding a little more of a nostalgic feel to him.
More info on the history of Marusan model kits here.

Box art is fantastic!

Even includes the battery operated remote control! Siiick!

Giant B-Club RedKing playing.