TOYBOX TREASURES Of The PAST: The RINKY-DINK PANTHER (Mark II)...

Pink Panther copyright relevant owner

A couple of months back, I took my DINKY PINK PANTHER car off display, put it back in its box and tucked it away in a cupboard.  Remember the one with the big black rubber wheel in the middle of the chassis?  You pulled a plastic strap through it, causing the wheel to spin at great speed, placed it on the ground and watched it disappear into the horizon - or against a wall with maximum force.

Yeah, that's the one.  There was a series of other cars (by another manufacturer) with the same feature of course, but the Panther-mobile (if that's what it's called) is the one that everyone of a certain age seems to recollect.  Anyway, I'm not about to make a mess of my room by dragging everything out of the cupboard to find it, so, until I do, in the meantime you'll have to be content with the Mark II version.  (In case you're wondering, I stashed the original away because I was worried about the rubber wheel deteriorating in the arctic conditions of my room - the rubber arms of my MATT MASON MOON SUIT suffered just such an inglorious fate.)

The first version of the car was manufactured by Dinky which, as most of you will know, was a MECCANO company, and it appeared in toyshops sometime around 1972.  At some point Meccano and Dinky parted company, so when the second version of the car appeared around 1979-ish (I think), it no longer bore the Dinky name on the base, but rather that of its once-parent company - Meccano.  The mould had been altered to remove the large wheel from the centre of the car, and the car itself, as well as the Pink Panther driver, were in a lighter shade of pink than Mark I had been.

So, until I get back into that cupboard, here's the slightly more aesthetically-pleasing model for your eager eyes.  I've still got the bubble-card package it came in, but that's in the cupboard along with the other car, so you'll have to live without it for now.  CORGI TOYS also produced a Pink Panther item - Panther on a motorbike - I'd have shown it here, but guess where it is?

Right first time. 

TERRY NATION'S DALEK ANNUALS...

The DALEKS copyright BBC TV and the Estate of TERRY NATION

DOCTOR WHO has been one very lucky guy.  If it hadn't been for The DALEKS, it's unlikely the programme would have survived on TV more than a few years after its debut back in the 1960s.  It was the pepper-pot tyrants who virtually created (or at least consolidated) the merchandising arm of the BBC, ensuring the show's survival as a potential cash-cow ripe for financial exploitation.

The Daleks have been immortalised in many different incarnations over the decades.  Transfers, bump'n'go toys, friction-drive, model kits, bubble bath, wallpaper, remote-control, clockwork, banks, games, playsuits, pencil tops, badges, jigsaws, bagatelles, greetings cards, comics, writing paper - you name it and they've probably been it.

This time, however, it's the Dalek Annuals I'm focussing on, and in particular the annuals of the '70s.  Presented here, for your consideration and appreciation, are the front and back covers to the four publications which appeared on newsagents' shelves from 1975 to 1978 - each for the subsequent year obviously.

Look at them, study them, but most of all enjoy them.  Nice, aren't they?  Not all that long ago, the '70s Annuals could still be bought for a reasonable price, but they're now commanding higher amounts.  I suspect that a few uninformed eBayers noticed what the '60s books were fetching and just assumed that the '70s ones must be worth something similar.  

And, for all you completists out there, here are the three books from the 1960s.  The first one introduced the Emperor Dalek, later seen extensively in the back-page TV CENTURY 21 strip, as well as those handy little hoverbouts the Daleks used.