Other Topic: 1976 Star Traveler

1976 was a very good year indeed for Mattel's Barbie line. The start of the Super Star era, it featured new faces, great fashion, and this mammoth vehicle. I had this and the '78 A Frame in my room and it took up most of the floor space. They truly do not make them like this anymore. It was bright, cheerful 70s sunshine yellow. It alluded to the exuberant optimism of those bygone days. I do not currently have one, but am considering acquiring one most likely from Marketplace. I would definitely order replacement stickers from Feebay and look for thin plastic "window glass" to upgrade this ride. Now, just where to put it? 

I think the largest vehicle Mattel made for Miss B is related to the largest house Mattel made for her. They are both late 70's, iconic in design and are bright, sunshine yellow! Here are more real life examples from TV/movies. The beige one above is from 1980's film, "Resurrection", starring Ellen Burstyn who has had a near death experience and emerges a hands on healer. I only saw this movie because I watch a lot of netflix since good, current TV shows are essentially non-existent. The exception being Raising Hope (please check it out) which last week featured, 'The Kisser', a rambling semi homeless guy who travels around (in what else besides a restored 1978 Star Traveler) to see the 'worlds smallest' exhibits.  Where else can you see Chloris Leachman making out like that I ask you? There is an actual sunshine yellow one in my town, I just havent bothered to pull over and take the picture yet but I will I promise. Eventually. Siansonea, this post is for you! ;-)

Mint enough for ya?

Reinvented as the 1985 or '86 Rockers tour bus, it still blows any Barbie RV since  made out of the water in terms of size and coolness. 

70's awesomeness! 

Recent reinvention, ala silver bullet campers of days gone bye. 

I always did enjoy the artist's rendering on the back of these boxes:

You could get your very own Star Traveler AKA a GMC Glenbrook, nearly factory original here:

If you would like to pick one up for yourself, just know that it is very large so it will take up some space in your toy area, but you can get some amazing deals on facebook marketplace in your area like this one: 

It's only 15 minutes away from me, but I literally have no place to put it, plus it's a restoration project, though I think there is an online seller who makes reproduction stickers. When I sold the one I had it took a very LARGE size box to mail it, so it's a lot of trouble. =-/ 

Miscellaneous: A Frame on 'American Dad'

I love the show American Dad. Its not for everyone, but always makes me laugh. This 'frame' kind of looks like the two side pieces put together with the center piece behind it and the cottage in front of it. Probably should have been drawn as a garage. Anyway, there you have it.  

Real Life Examples: Diagonal Slats in the Movies

This real life version of the diagonal slat walls is from the 1983 flick, My Tutor, starring some very well know actors like Kevin McCarthy. Its a coming of age/T and A flick with a fun intro (80's aerobics with spandex leotards). I have some mroe recent ones this week to be added to the post

Ebay: Further Tales of Terrible Packaging

I didnt get the memo about there being a cardboard shortage.

Random, newly scratched and bent valuable pieces.

Mr Owl, how many hours does it take to clean off explosive Cockroach excrement off vintage toys? 

ZERO packing material!!!!

Pictured above are 2 seperate Feebay transactions. You can see in the patio triangles I bought, they fashioned a homemade box sparing not even a centimeter for packing material. They weren't damaged, but still. The most recent (and last one I will ever buy) house bought on Feebay was a good deal ($20 for house, $35 for shipping). The house advertised online looked great and nearly complete. The house that arrived came in a home made box that was more tape than cardboard, all the post covers were brown and shattered, roof panels and windows were severely heat warped, the box insides and roof panels had white scuff marks from the walls rubbing agianst is in shipping and many pieces seen in the listing photo never made it to me. The seller thought it was acceptable to ship a very large, vintage toy this way and I had to go through Feebay to force a refund since they refused to reimburse me for original shipping much less return shipping. So, in conclusion I will no longer be buying houses on Feebay because its gotten so bad with dirtbags out there that damage the item while they have it stored in a hot garage for years (complete with browning, warping and bug carcasses) and facilitate further damage by crappy packing when selling. This last one has completely removed any joy or motivation I have had in the past to renovate and resell these houses.

My interest in Beaver Cleaver 1950's suburban colonial homes lead me to this unfortunate experience.  Another hillbilly thought they could shove an antique fragile toy in a tampon carton that was more painters tape than box, use no packing material, no insurance and the house had a spiders nest. When first we practice to deceive.....I ended up with a partial refund.

Porch was bent in order to fit into the box that was too small for the house to fit into. Really?  The house did end up looking nice once it was de-grossed in the shower, polished, furnished, given a front lawn and photographed well. If I had the counter space I'd make a Nick at Night cul de sac. 

Straight from Reno, Nevada another bunch of dirty, broken toys thrown into a box last minute and shipped out. What, a dirtbag in Reno?, say int aint so! Not even the obligatory Walmart (WallofChinaMart) bag thrown in for good measure?

Wrapping a 35 year old toy in a priority mail envelope? Thanks sooooo much. ...

 Listing quote: Chairs are damaged, they still stand, one leg missing. Reality: This is what arrived in the mail-chairs smashed into 12 different pieces, missing 3 leg pieces. 

Once again, someone cheaply wrapped a 21 year old NIB item in paper only! GRRRR!

1978 Mattel A Frame Barbie Dream Doll House Red roof yellow floors mod groovy 1970s 1980s custom OOAK 

1982 Cottage : Buying Experience Numero Dos...

I had been trying to win a reasonably priced A Frame cottage for about a year when I finally won one for $20 plus shipping. It was mostly complete, I paid immediately and the next day got the email. The seller clamied she had broken some tabs while assembling it and wanted to refund my order. I told her not to, I still wanted it. She wrote back, I think I will refund you because per ebays rules you cant sell an altered item, it must be exactly as it was listed. And she did refund me after sending the email. My theory is that the week before she had been watching them go for $50-$100 and was disapointed not to get that amount herself and made up some story in order not to let it go for so low. Needless to say I was upset about it but there was nothing I could do. I ended up getting a cottage a few months later in good shape with most of the smaller parts and a box, so I was able to buidl one nice complete cottage and I sold the box/paperwork back on ebay for $35, and the leftover parts to almost pay pay for my house I kept. The cottages almost always get $50 plus and for that dinero I would rather have the big house, so I dont actively look for cottages anymore. Its still a cool playset though!

Personal Decor: A Very Barbie Hoarders...

This house is filled to capacity. Luckily the proud owner is a fellow renovator and has restored it to its original beauty since taking the photo. =-)

Okay, the furniture isn't too bad, but there are waaay too many people in this house. Theres even someone sitting on the toilet. Really?

Other Topic: 1950's Danish Modern Furniture

I thought you fans of good taste and design would appreciate a quick post about a recent Ebay transaction. It involved a customized Barbie Go Together Living Room set. Here are the pictures you can see for yourselves the quality of the work and sale price. I watched them for days and even I was surprised at the final price for each set. 

A Frame In Mass Media: Article in Atomic Ranch Magazine

Here is a mid century swiss miss with double yellow doors, white beams and a sweeping roofline similar to the '78 Mattel house we adore. Its an A Frame (roof line ends at ground) and the back drop is the desert of southern California. Based on experience I would say that its a 3/2 approx 1700 square foot home with pool built circa late 1950's. Next time I have my A Frame out, I plan on ading miniature cactus and palms to see how it looks.

A Frame: Article in Atomic Ranch About A Frames

Atomic Ranch is a great magazine for vintage architecture, mostly Brady Bunch style, with occasional A Frames peppered in. Its nice to see an article devoted solely to the style we are all so find of.

Ebay: Depressed Housing Market

This is a recent sale on Evilbay. You will notice that the total price with shipping was about $106. Being that shipping will be about $60 the actual price the seller netted was about $46 with the box and patio triangles, which according to my calculations would be $100 for a complete house, $100 for the box, and $35 for the triangles all plus shipping, so all in all that was a hell of a deal. I did bid, but I dont want the original box, so didnt bid high even though it sold for much less than it was worth. Thankfully the seller said they are shipping in a regular brown box to protect everything from damage and labels.