Going Where the Action Is!

Howdy folks! This week we're going to look at a fairly recent addition to my vintage Hot Wheels collection: Action City!

Action City was released in 1969 by Mattel to go with their smash hit Hot Wheels line. The idea was that it would be a play set and carrying case combined into one fun item! I happened to find an example at Main Street Mall in my home town of Denison, Tx,  and so I snatched it up as fast as I could!

The case is in really good shape for its age (vinyl tends to split as it ages). It features three 1968 Hot Wheels on the front; The Custom Camaro, The Silhouette, and the Custom T-Bird. I decided to use these cars in my pictures (mine are not the same colors, but it's still cool). So, for your enjoyment, here are some pictures!

The closed case is about 14X18 inches.

The case is dated "1968," but Mattel always dated the item for the year before it was actually released.

There are several buildings in the case, including a bank!

The Custom T-Bird is getting a little service while the Custom Camaro cruises up the street.

Wow! The Speed Shop specializes in Hot Wheels tune ups! What are the odds?

The Silhouette comes out of the car wash squeaky clean!

The Hot Wheels Rent-A-Car houses the collector case.

An overall view of the opened case shows all the many details.

The roof of the Rent-A-Car opens to store six cars. Note the vintage 1969 stickers in two of the compartments. These came with the cars and were usually stuck on the bottom of the car by the owner.

So there you have it! This item now has a proud place on the top of the glass case that houses all of my early cars. All in all it was a great find!

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!

Re-Powered Powerline!

This week I have something a little different to share. A couple of weeks ago I bid on a Daisy BB gun in an auction. I lost. However, it reminded me of a gun I already had, so I went to my closet and dug out this:

This is an old Daisy Powerline 1200 that I purchased new over 25 years ago. It's a Co2 powered gun, and the cartridge was out, so I bought a new one at Walmart and plugged it in! All I heard was "sssssssssssssssssss..." and then I had an empty (and kind of frosty) useless gun. Every bit of the gas had escaped in about 10 seconds. Crud.

Did I give up???

Yes!

But then I remembered Google and went into 'fix-it mode." As it turns out, the seals on these old guns can give out, so I decided to tear into mine and see if that was the problem. After removing about seven screws, I had this:

Yup, that was a lot of parts, and I wasn't exactly sure where they all went (or even what they all did) but I was on a mission! Opening up the silver part that the Co2 canister screwed into (I don't know the name of it) I found this:

The rear seal was, indeed, shot! Now, I thought that this little o-ring looked pretty standard, so I ran up to Home Depot and found these:

I applied a little silicon oil, slapped in the new o-ring, put everything back together (ok, that actually took about three tries- who knew all those screws were different sizes???) and put in another Co2 cartridge.

I heard a "ssssss" but then....silence!

I won! I fixed the silly thing! I plinked off a few rounds in the back yard just to be sure and she shoots like a champ!

The moral to this story is.....uh.....Ok, there isn't really a moral, but I'm glad I didn't give up and toss the gun.

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!

Tricky Tin Toy Tanker

Usually when I drag something out of the ol' attic to show you guys, I know at least enough about it to write a couple of good paragraphs. This week...not so much. You see, last weekend the wife and I took in a couple of sales and I picked this little beauty up:

Yep, it's a tin toy tanker truck (with box) that was made in China. I didn't pay much for it, so I was willing to take a bit of a chance. Also, I like the graphics and the style. For some reason, it just seems like a "happy" truck to me. I don't exactly know what that means, but I'm sticking with it.

Anyway, here is what I was able to find out. One site said this is a 1960's toy, but I'm leaning toward 1970's (mainly because of the box graphics and the fact that most 1960's tin was Japanese, not Chinese.) I don't think this is a later reproduction piece because those are usually covered with "Collectible, not for children" warnings on them. Also, there is no bar code on the box.

Also, there were apparently two versions of this truck. The friction drive one (that I have) and a battery powered one. I like that they put a popping motor sound into the friction drive, by the way!

The detailing on the toy is actually pretty good. It's about 14 inches long, which is a good size. Notice that they have the chain hanging from the back to ground the truck!

All in all, I don't really care much about where it came from. It's just one of those simple toys that makes you smile.

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!

Disney Knives!

Wow, those are two words that don't often go together these days! However, there was a time not so long ago when one of the coolest Disney related items you could get was a pocket knife! I have a small collection, so I thought I'd share them with you! (Say this next line in your best Mickey voice) "Oh boy! Here we go!"

I think this is the oldest one in my collection. These came on a card that had a picture of Tinkerbell on it. It's tiny, and I think it was sold in Fantasyland in the early 1960's or late 1950's.

This was the Frontierland version! It's still tiny (about an inch and a half long) but it has a ton of features that a young Davy Crocket might need. I'm not sure how effective that tiny cork screw would be.... This probably dates from about the same time as the Fantasyland knife.

Ok, techically this isn't a Disney knife. It's actually from the New York World's Fair. But since Walt and company did so much for that fair that got transported back to Disneyland, I think it counts. So there.

This is how it looks open. It is much more of a "real knife" than the first two.

Now, this one has confused quite a few people over the years. The logo seems to indicate that it was some rare first day item! Alas, it isn't. In reality it was made in 1985 to celebrate Disneyland's 30th anniversary. Still, that's pretty cool!

Yep, those blades are way too shiny for 1955!

Of course now Disney is firmly out of the knife business (as far as I know). If you are looking for vintage Disney knives, eBay is a good place to check. They can be had for fairly good prices.

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!