Saturday, August 6, 2016

#707 EIDAI GRIP - MITSUI ZOSEN HOVERCRAFT (Around 1980)


I found this toy hovercraft a few months ago in a flea market. It is not 100% complete, since the big propellers and its fans are broken.

I have found out that Mitsui is a Japanese engineering and shipbuilding company, and Zosen seems to be the Japanese word for Shipbuilding. I do not know who made this toy or if it is actually a toy... maybe it is some promotional ítem? It has a logo on the base that resembles some kind of "G". A reader from this blog gave me the hint and correctly identified the toy to be an Eidai Grip. I will update this entry with some more data soon.


Anyway, a die-cast hovercraft in 3 inches size is something rare. We already saw the two ones made by Matchbox and I am already aware of a vintage model made by Tomica, which is the one that can be found easily in Google when searching "Mitsui Zosen". The Tomica model, however seems to have a plastic base.


Despite intensive search in Google, I couldn't find any pictures of this toy, so I guess it is a very rare one. If you have information about this toy, please leave a comment here. Maybe some Japanese reader can provide some link or hint. Thanks!
FACTS AND FIGURES:
  • Name: MITSUI ZOSEN HOVERCRAFT
  • Scale: 1:210
  • Year: Around 1980
  • Company: Eidai Grip (Japan)
  • Size: approx. 7 cm

5 comments:

  1. Pareciera ser Eidai Grip. Saludos!

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    Replies
    1. !Cierto! el logo es idéntico. Jamás había oído hablar de esta marca, !muchas gracias!

      No es la primera vez que me sacas de una de éstas, recuerdo al menos otro comentario tuyo. Eres un verdadero experto, gracias.

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    2. Dë nada :) De hecho, tanto no sé, pero me sonaba el logo y ya sabia a quien preguntarle ;)

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    3. !Gracias de todos modos! A ver si saco tiempo para buscar información sobre Eidai Grip...

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    4. Hey, acabo de descubrir tu blog, y me lo he apuntado en el feed para seguir lo que vayas publicando. ¡Saludos!

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