Remember those clam shell Flying saucers?

[GlobalObserver]

Early 70's. They were made of pliable plastic. They opened like a clam shell and had a parachute attached. You would fold the parachute and enclose it inside the clam shell saucer. Toss it in the air, the saucer opens, and the parachute would deploy. I remember having a purple one.

[UnderdogDJLSW]

I had a red one. The thing would never open fast enough to deploy the chute correctly. I think I wound up cutting off the chute and just playing with the saucer as the Jupiter II from Lost in Space.

[GlobalObserver]

Yes, I am bumping a post I made 32 months ago. A post that absolutely no one was interested in at the time, and probably won't be interested in now.

After 40+ years, I have finally reacquired one of my minor grails. A beautiful MOC example of a cheap rack toy, that for reasons that I don't even understand, holds a special place in my heart.

As UnderdogDJLSW stated, these things didn't work very well. The parachute almost never deployed correctly. I always loved toy parachutes, and I also loved anything relating to outer space.

For the grand sum of $0.69, I've reclaimed a small relic from my childhood. It is also worth noting that this is approximately how much I paid for it 40 years ago.




Subtotal:
US $4.00
Shipping & handling:
US $3.00
eBay Bucks Certificate
-US $6.31
Total: US $0.69

[mazinz]

Well I appreciate it because I never saw your older post. Even cooler that you found it for the same price you paid for it back then and that you upped a nice pic of it--cheers

[UnderdogDJLSW]

I'll chime in two years later and say that is pretty cool! Now I'll have to look for a red one on ebay.

[GlobalObserver]

Yeah, I still need a purple one.

[mazinz]

Yeah, I still need a purple one.

curious, did you find it under the name "apollo ufo"?

[GlobalObserver]

curious, did you find it under the name "apollo ufo"?

I stumbled upon it while I was searching for "flying saucer" in the Toys & Hobbies section.

I also search "parachute" in the Toys & Hobbies section on a fairly regular basis.

Searching for fairly obscure generic unlicensed rack toys from 40 years ago can be quite challenging. This is the first one I've come across in the 11 years I've been searching. I have no idea how frequently they show up as I don't search for them every day, or every week, or even every month. I just lucked out this time.

[KosmiCKennY]

never heard of it, but I enjoyed playing with handkerchiefs as parachutes for plastic army men as a kid, I remember climbing up it the trees in the yard so I could launch them as high as possible, good times!

[GlobalObserver]

You gotta love the selling points for this thing.

"Aero-designed spaceship"
"Adjustable altitude control"
"Automatic parachute ejection"

[Saroyan]

I missed that one. Congrats on locating one- finding something like that can really rock your world!!

I recently found a Revell Snap-Tite funny car that I didn't think was ever made after emailing several model collectors \ dealers as well as a guy who wrote a book on the Revell kits- many thought they had seen it but couldn't be sure (it was from 1975) but 2 popped up the same week on ebay and I won one.