I found an old toy car a few months ago. An old woman had passed away a year before and her family was just getting around to clearing out her house.
I met some people there who told me that she never threw anything out. That much was obvious – there was just a ridiculous amount of stuff being thrown out for over a month. I found a lot of great things there, but when I think of the place I think of the bags and bags of sugar that must have been 20 years old. (Someone actually took a bunch – he said it was useful for his zero-waste cottage somehow). There were also probably a good bag full of old chocolate. Not to mention the unopened 1986 Cheez Whiz I took!
I never showed you this old toy car though, and think is worth it’s own post (especially in these slower winter times). I’ll try to tell you about it as best I can (as someone who didn’t know anything about it before reading a wikipedia article).
This sturdy car is Lady Penelope’s Fab 1 Thunderbird. Lady Penelope was a fictional secret agent for a secret English organization in the old TV show “Thunderbirds,” which first aired in the mid 1960s. I guess she was sort of like a female James Bond.
Lady Penelope was a secret agent but in her free time was also a supermodel and fashionista; everything about her therefore had to be fab. This was her car – a six-wheeled Rolls Royce called FAB 1. She also had a yacht (FAB 2) and a racehorse (FAB 3), not to mention a mansion. She also liked tea.
The front grill of the FAB 1 comes down to reveal a missile bay. The toy also does this (I just discovered this so I’m pretty pumped)! It also has a bulletproof bubble roof. Oh yeah, it’s also amphibious. Overall, the car is pretty dope.
The superior craftsmanship of this little toy car is evident. It’s made of a sturdy metal that would hold up well to being dropped (an essential quality for a kid’s toy). The paint is still bright even after about 50 years.
The only thing wrong with mine is that the plastic bubble-roof has mostly broken off. The interior plastic is also slightly off-color but that could probably be restored quite easily.
Nonetheless, it’s enough to devalue this car, which is actually a valuable collector’s piece. A FAB 1 in pristine shape and original box recently sold for 600$ on Ebay.
I could probably get 10$ or so for my FAB 1 as is but I’ll probably keep it for now. Maybe I can give it away as a gift someday, or maybe sell it if I become truly broke. Regardless, it’s a pretty cool toy and a pretty bad-ass car.
Pretty rad car. Too bad about the roof. I guess you could say it’s an early Transformer.
That’s pretty cool. Thunderbirds collectorables are always popular, and just as an aside the creator of the series (and many others), who was very well known here in the UK, passed away at Christmas. So if you were thinking of selling it there might be a slight upsurge in value!
Can I just say how much i enjoy your blog. It strikes me as very odd people in Canada just put perfectly good things out for trash. Don’t you have recycling centres? Still it makes for an interesting read. Keep up the good work.
Ah, I didn’t hear about that!
My guess is that people have largely forgotten or don’t know what their “stuff” is worth, both to themselves and to other people. And sometimes they just might not care, not have the time, or just be too busy to really deal with it.
Glad you enjoy the blog 🙂
Did you sell it? My kids are just getting into thunderbirds and would love to show it to them.
Nope. It’s sitting in my living room. I’d let it go for the 10$ I could get on Ebay though. Let me know if you want it!