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It
was the Japanese toy makers that ruled the tin toy industry
when the Ford Mustang debuted in April 1964. And, no surprise,
it was they who were quickest to capitalize on Detroit's popular
new Pony car. Toy makers with such strange-sounding names
as Bandai, Haji
and Yonezawa began
cranking out Mustang tin toy cars within months, in fact,
of the first Mustang rolling off the assembly line in Detroit
46 years ago. Although they were able to manufacture and sell
their tin cars very inexpensively, the Japanese toy companies
produced tin toy cars of surprisingly high quality.
Mechanical Marvels
Many of the early battery-operated tin toy Mustangs were small
mechanical marvels. Using a little creative engineering, the
Japanese toy makers could get their small electric motors
- some barely the diameter of a nickel - to perform all sorts
of interesting tasks. In addition to propelling the cars forward
and backward, some models automatically open and close the
drivers' doors or rotate engine parts under a clear plastic
hood. Taiyo specialized
in cars with its "Non-fall, Mystery Bump'n Go" drive
system, which utilized a gear-driven fifth wheel underneath
the car to pull the vehicle forward until it hit an obstacle
or a ledge. Then it would reverse direction briefly before
taking a different course. Toplay,
another Japanese toymaker, became famous for its "Stunt
Car" Mustangs. Some of these cars did doughnuts while
projecting a screeching tire sound. Others could drive on
two wheels, then flip completely over on all four wheels with
assistance from a motorized catapult underneath.
And the peculiar . . .
One of the most peculiar examples came from Alps, a Japanese
toy maker that created the "Auto-Doggie"
Mustang tin toy car. This large Mustang convertible had
a man at the wheel and a fluffy white dog in the passenger's
seat that bounced and barked as the battery-powered toy drove
around the floor. It goes without saying that these early
toy makers would try just about anything to grab a child's
attention!
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1967
Mustang Fastback - the REAL one!
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