People Say We Monkey Around

 What do you do when you get so incredibly busy over the weekend that you forget to post? You do a follow-up post from the week before!

As you may (or may not) know, last week's post was about my MPC Monkeemobile model. In it, I mentioned wanting my old Corgi Monkeymobile back. As it turns out, I completely forgot that I have yet another Monkeymobile from another company! 

Introducing, the Playing Mantis, Johnny Lightning Monkeymobile!

Yes, in the late 90's Playing Mantis came out with this one! It's actually very well done. Note the pinstriping down the side and the detailed engine and chassis. The only thing missing is the Monkees logo on the side, and this tells us that this particular car is a second run. 

You see, Playing Mantis got the rights to the car, but NOT the logo. This was only discovered after the first run went out, so there are cars with the logo, but they are tougher to find. I found this one at KB Toys on the rack, so it wasn't tough at all.

Well, there you have it. I really like this little car. Maybe someday I'll put in the effort to go to eBay and see if I can get a logo version...or not.

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!

Hey, Hey, It's a Blog Post!

 Greetings from the Attic! This week we have a blast from my childhood (that I built as an adult). The Monkeemobile! First, settle back, class, and listen to a little history... (insert wavey lines across screen)

In 1966 the producers of a new show called The Monkees approached Dean Jefferies about building a car. The show was about a band made up of young people who may or may not have seemed remarkably like The Beatles.

Anyhoo, Jefferies knew someone at Pontiac, and a deal was struck  the Monkeymobile would be a (very) stretched 1966 GTO convertable, tricked out with the drag strip in mind. The original had a supercharged 389 with a 4 barrel carb (that's car talk for lots and lots of power). However, it proved difficult to drive, so a fake supercharger was added.  

There were originally two cars built. One was for on camera and one was for touring. Jefferies was working for MPC at the time, so they got exclusive rights for the plastic model. That's where I come in.

This is my MPC Monkeemobile that I (more or less) carefully built in a fit of nostalgia. Here she is!

The "artistic" angle.

    The nose was sharpened considerably.

   Oversized tail lights frame a drag chute.

         The Model T style top comes off!

The details of the interior. I didn't do great, but at least I tried!

       The underside is pretty detailed...

I keep it in a plastic case to scare off any pesky dust. So far, it's done pretty well. 

It was a fun project! Someday I might replace my Corgi Monkeemobile from my childhood... Stay tuned!

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!

BOOM! Goes the 8 Track...

 This week we have an item that was given to me by my daughter, a Panasonic Dymamite 8 Track Player! Here it is:

Mine is Detonator Red (the most popular color). It also came in Bomb Blue and Explosion Yellow. Actually, I've read that it also came in white and clear, but I haven't seen them.

This player came out in 1974, and was an instant hit. There were really only two controls, a volume dial and the plunger track changer. Mine works well and sounds pretty good. What I found intresting (and something I didn't notice for quite a while) is that it only plays mono. That makes perfect sense when you think about it. It only has one speaker!

As I mentioned my daughter, Jessica and son-in-law Josh  gifted it to me a few years ago. She knows I like to collect various music reproduction items. I sometimes brag that if it was recorded, I can play it! 

She found it in a second hand store. Although I never owned one as a kid, I really like it. I very recently looked up sold examples on eBay and by golly I like it even more! Working examples are going for about 250.00! Now I know she didn't pay anything close to that, so she must have gotten a killer deal. 

Like Daddy, like daughter! That's my kid!

Needless to say, I'll never sell it. One doesn't sell a gift, especially a really cool one!

Until next time, keep searching for treasure! (and train your kid to also!)

Collecting the Boss

 In 1970 a new line of Hot Wheels debuted, The Spoilers. This series of cars is pretty easy to identify since most have exposed engines, and...well...spoilers. They are actually a retooling of the 1968 line of "Custom" cars, which were lightly modified street vehicles. These care are generally quite sought after by collectors because they are very nice examples of the muscle cars they represent. One of the most popular "Spoilers" is the Boss Hoss Ford Mustang that was released in 1971. Here are my examples:

 Actually only the car in the middle is from 1971. The chrome cars are from 1970.

What? (you may ask yourself) I thought you said it came out in 1971! What gives?

Well, as it turns out, the Hot Wheels Club gives (or gave, anyway). You see, you could mail off to join the Hot Wheels Club and you got a really cool chrome car in your kit. You didn't know what car you were getting (there were three different ones) but one of the possibilities was the Boss Hoss, which you could NOT buy in a store! 

In the picture above we have (from front to back) 1. My first Boss Hoss Club Car, 2. My standard 1971 Boss Hoss, and 3. Another Club Car that I bought because it was pretty cheap. Which brings us to an interesting fact. Even though the Club Cars were regarded as a special release, and came out one year before the standard release, they really don't command any extra money. In fact, it sometimes seems that you can find chrome Club Cars for less that the standard release. The most sought after car is the "over chrome" model. These are Club Cars that were not used, so they simply sprayed over the chrome with spectraflame paint. 

In all honesty though, I do like the Club Cars a bit more. I can only imagine being a kid and opening up my long waited for Club box and finding a car that none of my friends could even buy! Now THAT would be treasure!

Speaking of which, until next time, keep searching for treasure!

Invaders From Planet Q!

 ...or maybe it should be Planet Corn!...or Planet Sugar!

It doesn't really matter what planet you're talking about, though, in 1965 there WAS an invasion of grocery store cereal aisles...by this guy!

Yes, Quisp became the hottest cereal in the U.S.! He and his frenemy Quake proceeded to mesmerize a generation of sugary cereal eaters (kids, mainly) And I was one of them!

Quisp and Quake were produced by General Mills. The characters were by Jay Ward of Rocky and Bullwinkle fame. What did they taste like? Well, first you have to realize that the were actually the same cereal in different shapes. Quisp was little flying saucers (no, they didn't really fly...unless you flung them at your little brother) and Quake was shaped like...Qs. They were pretty much baked corn paste and sugar. Think Capn' Crunch. Still, people swear that although they were very much like the good Capn's cereal, they were slightly different. I concur that they didn't "burn" the roof of your mouth like Capn; Crunch does. 

Ok, from the get-go Quisp had the edge over poor ol' Quake. He had the flying saucers. He had the cool propeller. Heck, he was a stinkin' ALIEN! Quake was a miner that had a pick-axe..and Qs'. This edge was important because in the early 70s kids were asked to vote which character they liked better and Quisp won handily. Unfortunately this meant that Quake was discontinued (who knew kids had so much power?). They tried to bring Quake back by making him an Australian and giving him an orange kangaroo. The new cereal was called Orange Quangeroos, and it went over about as well as it sounds like it should. Quisp-2, Quake- zip.  

What happened to good ol' Quisp then? Why don't we still see him on shelves everywhere? Well, in the late 70s his popularity waned. He met the same fate as his friend (Quisp-2, Quake-1 if you're keeping track). And that was that...

Except it wasn't. The internet came along and General Mills decided to market Quisp online! The shipping kept me away (wow, it was expensive!) and I still was Quispless. They they started doing "pop-up" stores in places like Target. The stores would get a limited run of Quisp and when they sold out, they were sold out for good! (or at least until the next "pop-up." This is when I got my boxes of Quisp! I gobbled them up with the gusto of a middle aged man reliving his childhood! Was it still as good? 

Yes. Yes it was.

Anyway, they had a mail in offer for the Funko bobble head and he's been on my office shelf ever since. Taunting me really. Because there hasn't been a pop-up store in a long long time. Sigh...

Until next time Keep searching for treasure (and Quisp!)

Pistol Packin' Pampers

 Ok...they aren't really Pampers. But my item for this week IS related. This is what I have:

That "gold plated" shootin' iron is only about 2 and a half inches long. The holster is made out of real leather, though. So what is the tie in? 

This!

Yep! It came on a pair of Diaper Jeans!

Diaper Jeans were invented by Martha Treadway in the early 1950's, and in 1957 they opened a factory in my home town of Denison, Texas. What could be more Texan than jean diapers with a six gun? Not much. 

I found the ad on the ol' interwebs. I also found an example. Here they are:

As you can see, the holster was attatched with a brad to the jeans, and the loop on the gun went through a loop on the jeans. It would make it pretty tough to fast draw, but since most of the hombres were struggling to walk, it probably wasn't a big issue.

Diaper Jeans were made into the 1960s, so they and I overlap. I never had any, though. I found the gun in a little antique shop. They didn't know the history of it, and I went ahead and bought it for a couple of bucks.

I think it's pretty neat, in a weird way. It certainly speaks to the western heritage of Denison, and to the cowboy craze that swept the country in the 50s. Now, I'm sure someone would get all bent out of shape about it, but back then everyone knew it was just good fun. 

They haven't made them in quite a while, so if you want your baby packing heat, you'll have to buy a vintage pair. But, my baby girl is 31 so I just keep it on the mantle where it's nice and safe!

Until next time, keep searching for treasure!

Hoisting the Jolly Rodger!

 As a kid, I loved all the wacky "show cars" from the 60s. Actually, the wackier, the better! Ed Roth, Tom Daniel and George Barris were my heroes. They could take a crazy idea and turn it into something insanely cool!

But what happens when someone who isn't a car designer decides to create a car? Someone who, say, oversees the model car division of a national hobby company. Like...AMT....

You might well get something like this:

Yep. The story I was told is that a boss at AMT wanted to use some existing molds to create a new model, so he picked up a car and a ship, stuck them together and said, "We'll do this!" Is that true? Heck, I don't know, but it is certainly possible.

The Jolly Rodger is a show car that never should have been. It went to the edge of credibility and plowed right over, without ever looking back. Where other models have had full size cars built of them, I'm pretty sure The Rodger never has. Why? It's kind of stupid.

Let's take another look:

Ok, that's not really any better. As you can see, the front of the car is a fairly standard rod. (An Olds touring car, actually. I'll explain how I know that later). The back is...well...a pirate ship. The ship part doesn't even seem to fit on the chassis real well. The rear wheels are almost in the middle of the...vehicle. 

Another look? Sure:

The rear of the car shows the lantern tail lights (which actually just hang on the back. No glue!). They are probably the coolest part of the ship section. You can also see the completely useless dingy, and you're looking down the twin cannon (that would, in all honesty, but fun in traffic).

What? A front view? Sure!:

Now we get to something interesting. The front of the car is actually a TV star! Yep, as it turns out, it comes from the AMT Beverly Hillbillies truck! It uses the parts Jethro added to turn it into a hot rod (you could build either version). That's how I know it's an Olds touring car. That's what George Barris used to create the truck. That also means that a car designer had at least something to do with the design. But not much.

By the way, the factory paint job on the Jolly Rodger didn't help its appearance. Here it is:

Yuck! Cream? Really? I went with a black and gold scheme that, I think, looks better. I also left off the hood because...well, it couldn't hurt. I also left off the saily bits in front because there is a limit to how stupid I was willing to go. 

So, there you go. A truly stupid car. Why did I buy and build it? I was drawn to it because it was so outlandish. Was it worth messing with? Probably not, but it was kind of fun. 

So, I guess the moral is if you like something, you can even appreciate really bad examples of it. Even this bad.

Until next time, keep searching for (buried?) treasure!