I'M FEELING A LITTLE HUSKY...

 

Don't worry. Robin is there - he's just shy

 

Here's a bizarre thought for you. You know how, when someone
is dying, their friends gather 'round to spend a bit of time with them

before they expire? That's how I sometimes feel when I add yet another

toy or comic - one I either owned or wanted to own - from my long-ago

childhood to my collection. It's like an old friend has popped in to keep

me company until I drop off the twig - although hopefully it'll be about

a hundred years or so before it happens.

 

Anyway, sometime back in the late '70s I acquired a CORGI JUNIORS

BATMOBILE from either WOOLWORTHS or JOHN MENZIES. I can no
longer recall whether it was me or one of my friends who had an original
HUSKY version of the car when we were kids (which means that, if it was
me, I couldn't have had it for very long), or I had simply longingly and
lovingly lingered over one in my local 'Woolies' back in the '60s.

 

Regardless, I coveted it, with its brightly coloured, tiny BATMAN

& ROBIN figures and little flame which went in and out of the exhaust at

the back. Needless to say then, I was slightly disappointed that the Corgi

Juniors version was an all new casting, with only an unpainted black
plastic Batman figure (no Robin) and without the fiery orangey-red
exhaust flame which had so captivated me as a child.

 

Ah, there he is now. Told you he was around
 

 I still have the Juniors version I bought in the '70s, but today I took

possession of an original Husky model of the car which I acquired on

ebay. The vehicle is intact, with its original bat-labels, but has a little paint

wear in places which I can easily touch up so as to be practically invisible

to the naked eye. (Snigger! I said 'naked'.) Another thing that elevates the

Husky toy over its counterpart is that, unlike the Corgi Juniors one, it has

the same moulded Batman figure on the base as the larger-scale Corgi

model version with chain-cutter and working rocket-launchers.

 

Anyway, so pleased am I to welcome yet another 'old friend' dropping

in to see me (before I take the 'long sleep'), that I thought I'd share it with

you here. And once it's been restored to its former glory, I'll post a photo

of the car alongside its Corgi Juniors counterpart.

 Hands up, anyone who'd like to see that.