Strange toys

[Eric Gibson]

This is the real life Scarab I remember.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?...ndex=0&idpp=overlayview&ajaxhist=0&ajaxserp=0

 

[rosie]

I think our submarine came from a cereal packet, it didn't work! I don't think the diver worked either.
I had a dippy bird, I used to set it going and my son would fall asleep to the rocking motion.

 

[Tinpot]

I think our submarine came from a cereal packet, it didn't work! I don't think the diver worked either.
I had a dippy bird, I used to set it going and my son would fall asleep to the rocking motion.

In the early 50's my Dad used to take me to Small Heath Park and we would fire up a blue metal boat with a small methylated spirit burner to power it on the pond. I thought it was my boat but , of course, it was his. We used to have the Dandy and the Eagle delivered too. I now realise as his only child and daughter that they were for his pleasure as much as for me!

 

[mallyb2]

These are pictures of one of my favourite toys. Always known as a Scarab. I've just found out that there was a real vehicle in 1930s USA like that, a Scout Scarab.

The toy (exactly like these) was available to me as far back as I can remember. Dad had a business trip to the USA in 1938 and must have brought it back with him for me. Red, just like the one in the picture, and repainted more than once in the same colour, when it got a bit knocked about.

Dad had built a garage on the side of our house before I was born and this had a smooth concrete floor where this toy came into its own. It was quite remarkable in that it was able to pursue a triangular course. When it had run in a straight line for a few feet, a fifth wheel emerged on the underside at the rear, the vehicle swivelled around on it for 120 degrees, then a few further feet and then the same thing happened again. All rather remarkable! You could pull a little lever to disengage that and then it would go shooting off in a straight line, either hitting a wall, or disappearing under the workbench, or getting tangled up in the bicycle wheels.

Quite a solid thing, as I remember. I have no idea what its size really was. It was a two-handed holding job for me as a five or six-year-old.

Wish I knew what happened to it. No doubt just dumped. Might have been worthwhile addition to the pension with the help of eBay.

Chris

View attachment 158039
View attachment 158040

Hello Chris
I remember a similar looking car, which also had a transverse wheel on the underside of the vehicle, but this one rotated continuously. The wheel was clear of the surface the car ran on, until the front wheels of the car became clear of the surface. The idea was to let the car drive on a table-top, when it came to the edge, the front wheels would drop off the table, and the car would swivel around back onto the table-top. Very effective too !..................................Mal

 

[Richard Dye]

In the early 50's my Dad used to take me to Small Heath Park and we would fire up a blue metal boat with a small methylated spirit burner to power it on the pond. I thought it was my boat but , of course, it was his. We used to have the Dandy and the Eagle delivered too. I now realise as his only child and daughter that they were for his pleasure as much as for me!

No Beano? I used to get the Dandy & Beano!

 

[ChrisM]

Mal, this must’ve been a Schuco. You have reminded me that my kids used to have one of these, probably brought back by me from Germany in the 1960s. They were probably sold here as well. Ingenious things.

I can also remember another Schuco, this one prewar. When it was going along, if you shouted STOP over the top of it, that is exactly what it did. An absolute miracle at a time when such things as electronics hardly existed. It had slots in its roof and behind them, a delicate little metal plate which reacted to the flow of air from the nearby mouth and disconnected the clockwork motor. Again, very clever. I think there was another one which was steered by means of a little steering wheel attached to a long wire which connected it to the car. I think one of my friends had one.

Chris

 

[Richard Dye]

I used to have a bathtub Submarine. It had an airline connected to a rubber bulb that you squeezed to make it move. If you squeezed hard (it think) it went under the water, squeezed easily it swam on the surface!

 

[Morturn]

I do remember those but never saw one working. Hardly anyone had a bath to play with one then.

There was also a little plastic sub that you put baking powder in too.

 

[mallyb2]

Mal, this must’ve been a Schuco. You have reminded me that my kids used to have one of these, probably brought back by me from Germany in the 1960s. They were probably sold here as well. Ingenious things.

I can also remember another Schuco, this one prewar. When it was going along, if you shouted STOP over the top of it, that is exactly what it did. An absolute miracle at a time when such things as electronics hardly existed. It had slots in its roof and behind them, a delicate little metal plate which reacted to the flow of air from the nearby mouth and disconnected the clockwork motor. Again, very clever. I think there was another one which was steered by means of a little steering wheel attached to a long wire which connected it to the car. I think one of my friends had one.

Chris

Hi Chris,
I don't know if this is the model you are thinking of, but Victory Industries produced a couple of model cars that were controlled by a long wire connected to the vehicle. Quite probably they were not the first to produce one, but I always lusted over a 'Victory' model, they were made to such a high quality, and powered by the famous 'Mighty Midget' electric motor...........................Mal

 

[mallyb2]

View attachment 158048Hi Chris, Scout Scarab, odd looking item !

 

[Ray T]

I think our submarine came from a cereal packet, it didn't work! I don't think the diver worked either.
I had a dippy bird, I used to set it going and my son would fall asleep to the rocking motion.

Yes, thinking on it, I seem to remember getting my submarines as free gifts with cereals and not from Woollies. That probably explains why they never worked!