C21 BRIDGE AND TANK

The CENTURY 21 MOBILE BRIDGE AND COMBAT TANK is one of the less common C21 offerings. Like the Hurdler it is a straight military vehicle but it wouldn't look out of place in a SWORD fleet I don't think. I've never seen this toy in the 'flesh', the above picture of an incomplete example is courtesy of Ebay from a couple of years ago. And like the Hurdler it has its doppelganger (or origin?) by MARX in the shape of the CAP FIRING TANK and more closely the SPACE TANK pictured below, which even has the same red barrel tip shown on the box art. Odd that Century 21 didn't opt for a space theme rather than military. I do love this C21 toy though and can't wait to actually see it one day!

C21 HURDLER

I posted pictures of the wonderful Century 21 HURDLER earlier in the year on the main blog. I've still not worked out what it is that the Hurdler is driving over? Bright orange glass? Lava? Since getting it I have come across similar if not identical versions by Marx, all HILL CLIMBING and in civilian and military styles.

Marx also did a realted range of HILL CLIMBING trucks such as the DUMP and the WRECKER (below). This naturally begs the question, whether Century 21 did too?

C21 VAUXHALL CRESTA

Here's another beautiful Century 21 toy car, the Vauxhall Cresta from the 1960's, which was recently sold by 'verstecken' on Ebay. It has rear wheel friction drive, chromed wheels, tinted windows, lift up bonnet revealing chromed engine and is approximately 12.5cm. The model number on the box edge is 3009-1 and on the car underside is embossed 3009.

If you look at the picture of the underside above you'll notice that the toy is actually a LUCKY car! So it would appear that Century 21 simply re-boxed it and that's it! Lucky toys also had their identical own boxed version as well pictured below.

Are there any more links between Century 21 and Lucky?

JR21 MOTORCYCLE

Earlier in the Spring and grieving over being knocked out of the running for the JR21 Atomic Submarine Aircraft Carrier, I purchased this unusual and diminutive JR21 piece of obscura to make me feel better! I haven't seen another of these JR21 beauties, which has the JR diamond cartouche on the underside and never seen a box. What I have turned up is the virtually identical and far more commonplace 1967 SCALEXTRIC TYPHOON COMBO, which came in a whole range of colours as pictured below. I suspect that the Scalextric toy came first and JR21 followed. Were there other JR21 colours made?

JR21 DART PISTOL

Donated by Steve, proprietor of the cool Vintage Thunderbirds Toys site, this fab JR21 toy is a prize on the blog's first birthday car booty competition. Points of interest are the US Cents price tag and Sean Connery lookalike, both obviously trying to appeal to the American market. Assuming that this is from the mid-Sixties, its contemporaries on both side of the Atlantic will have been Topper Toys's popular Secret Sam Attache Case, which also had a periscope, and the Multiple Toys James Bond Attache Case. A gorgeous JR toy!

CITY OF FIRE CAR

Similar to the Telsada Trans-Continental Express bloglet, this plastic Japanese Amphibious car can be found as the basis of a fire-tender in Thunderbirds (bottom picture). The toy recently featured on Ebay and sold for well over £200 (top 3 pictures), although I am still unsure of the manufacturer or indeed the name of this toy (sight of a box would be truly excellent). The transformation of the toy car, like the Trans-Continental Express, into the Thunderbirds fire-tender, Meddings-style, is once again the subject of the talented Mike Delamar's scratchbiuld thread on the impressive Space 1999 Eagle Transporter Forum. You can view the fire-tender in action at the start of this You Tube clip of the City of Fire episode of Thunderbirds:

TELSADA EXPRESS

TELSADA TRANS-CONTINENTAL EXPRESS

Not JR21 or Century 21 I know, but besides looking truly brilliant and ultra modern, the Telsada Trans-Continental Express does have Anderson form. These pictures are from it's recent appearance on Ebay. I had a flutter but was quickly despatched to the rough grass as the serious bidders took over. It reached a handsome £300+ !

I first came across it here on the excellent Space 1999 Eagle Transporter Forum where a talented young modelmaker, Mike Delamar, has started a wonderful project to re-create various Anderson TV fire-tenders. If you have a spare half hour you could do nothing better than read the thread from 'scratch' to the current last page - it is a work in progress so keep checking in like me to see how far Mike has got.

It has appeared in a number of Anderson shows including this footage from Stingray The Loch Ness Monster, where it's bright yellow and transporting Stingray on its roof across Scotland! - courtesy of the indispensible You Tube (from around 6.18 minutes)!

Further pictures of the bus from an Ebay US auction November 2009

C21 DECIMAL DOMINOES

This was originally posted by Jim Lewis on the excellent Space 1999 Eagle Transporter Forum. Century 21 goes educational!

C21 ASTON MARTIN DB 5

Here we have the sleek and beautiful plastic Aston Martin DB-5 by Century 21. In immaculate condition it comes with a red racing stripe and friction drive. With its obvious 007 heritage it really is a cool toy. The scalextric-like box shows a red Aston numbered 1. The actual toy is white and numbered 4 so it does beg the question whether there are other colour variations out there? I wonder if the Scalextricness of this car (compare with a real Scalextric DB5 below - the white DB5 - the real Bond car was silver - was only ever sold as part of the Scalextric 007 set) ran further than its looks and along with the JR21 Typhoon Motorbike posted here were there more formal links between the two companies? What's for sure is that this is just one of a bigger fleet of Century 21 toy cars.

C21 HUFF 'N' PUFF TRAIN

Keen-eyed Jim Lewis spotted this bit of Century 21 Obscura on Ebay UK recently, the Amazing Huff 'n' Puff Hill Climbing Engine! A new one on me and continuing evidence that Century 21/ JR21 spread there wings beyond the mega-toys of TV shows and comics. BTW Huff 'n' Puff is not to be confused with the 1960's US TV puppet show, HR Pufnstuf starring Britains young star, Jack Wild ( yes, the Artful Dodger no less). Not sure if it was ever shown in the UK - I never saw it. Finding it very difficult to spell for some reason, I can find only 1 toy on the whole of Ebay US, namely a flute and none on the UK site. So I assume it didn't spawn many.

Whilst watching my favourite film of all time tonight, Enter the Dragon starring the late great Bruce Lee, I came across this doppelganger of the above, this time on Ebay US and made by NASTA, 1971, battery operated, made in Hong Kong and in a large box is measuring 15 x 8 inches. I've come across NASTA before I think - possibley a plastic lorry. I'll have to look it up but for the minute I'm engrossed in Enter the Dragon! After Space and Monsters came Kung Fu! there was a time when my parent's house cellar was my dojo and I what I didn't know about Kung Fu and oriental arts wasn't worth a shuriken! I've a kwai chang cane of a collection of books, mags, comics, paper cuttings, photo's and LP's. To think, back in the early Seventies when Bruce hit the big time and Gung Fu (it's other spelling) went global, I'd have rather read Inside kung Fu or Karate and Oriental Arts rather than TV21 anyday! By the time I was a teenager and had seen Enter the Dragon, at which point I became a shaolin monk in all but name, virtually all my childhood toys had been chucked - the entire SWORD fleet including Zero X, all the Colorforms Outer Space Men (I know!), the Billy Blastoff range, the Major Matt universe, whole Airfix armies and if all that wasn't enough, a boxed Johnny Seven One Man Army Rifle. It's beyond a joke! I should have court-marshalled my parents on the spot!