Let us time travel back 50 years or so!
Picture it; a Woolworths store somewhere in Great Britain in the early 1970s.
The clothes are a riot of colours; the hair is long and swept over and around or cascading down the shoulders and that is just the men!
The snotty nosed children are in nylon shorts, long socks, and something their grandma knitted. They want a toy as compensation for being dragged out shopping when they could have been playing unattended on a bombsite with their mates or riding their bicycles miles away from home without a helmet.
They could have chosen a Dinky car if mother were feeling generous or if she had treated herself to a bar of Imperial Leather then the little urchin would have had to settle for a cheaper Husky or a Lucky Toy car instead.
Now as we know the chances of that toy car surviving that intervening half century is dependent on a number of factors – indoor or outdoor use; stunt driving; house moves; original quality; after all a Dinky of the period was much sturdier than a Husky with their super fragile plastic suspension bases, or the Lucky Toys being made entirely of plastic with opening parts and separate detail parts like grills and bumpers. And what of the packaging, that usually went in the bin as soon as you were out of the shop, especially for the Husky which was on a blister card so had to be destroyed to get the model out. The other two usually came in window boxes with header cards and opening end flaps so some people kept those boxes, but even their chance of lasting all this time without the top being folded over or the plastic windows shrinking, or splitting is quite slim. Which makes me wonder, how on earth this somewhat unlikely Fire Chief Jaguar XJ6 by Lucky Toys has survived in near mint condition for all this time.
Was it unsold shop stock that was never even made it out onto the shelf until recently or was it a present that was hidden on top of the wardrobe and forgotten about? We will never know but somehow it has found itself here in 2022 unscathed and whilst I like it a lot, I do feel a little nervous about trying to keep it that way. Wherever I put it does not feel like it is safe enough or far enough from harm’s way.
If you can find one then I recommend you buy it because it is a very good model – the proportions and details are good; the bonnet opens and on this one the red lights swivel as it moves along, and did I mention it has a siren?!
Just don’t be tempted into playing with it too much or you too will be transported back to the 70’s when after playing with it for 5 whole minutes it collides with the leg of the telephone table (Google that young people) and shatters into many razor-sharp shards of plastic and joins the rest of its brethren in toy heaven (the bin).
Get Lucky!
Are you a ‘plastic collector? We’re big fans of 60’s & 70’s Hong Kong plastic toys.
Let us know if you share the same enthusiasm – leave your comments in the box at the bottom of the page.