I took some time off in January and made a road trip through Argentina, including the northern part of Patagonia, La Pampa and Buenos Aires. All in all, it was a 5555.3 km or 3459.1 miles long ride and I don’t regret any little bit (actually, I want more road trips!). It was awesome. The first stop was in Buenos Aires, where I visited a really cool toy museum I found by coincidence.
On the first picture above, you can see a really cool pedal car. It looks pretty though to bring up to speed, though. Obviously, it has working doors. I wasn’t allowed to open them – as it is usual in any museum, you should not touch or use the stuff displayed, fair enough.
Some taillights would habe been nice, though. I can’t tell if it is supposed to be some real car – but I wish I have had one like that as I was a kid.
This pedal car is a bit more simple, but seems to be more old school – it even has the “original wear and tear”. The wheels look pretty nice. This looks much lighter to pedal, though.
This jeep seems to me a more modern toy – still worth a mention here, for the jeep fans. But I would totally go for the first one – although I wouldn’t fit in it.
This one is a little 40s coupe (could be a 1940s Ford with a different front end… who knows). This is somehow a little bigger than 1/25. These cars were really popular for racing in Argentina back in the day.
This other car looks pretty much to a Chevrolet Corvair. As the racing coupe from above, this toy is a little bigger than a 1/25 scale. As the cars where hanging from the roof, so you couldn’t see really much of the details. Interestingly, all the toys are really clean and very well conserved.
Guess what this little plain has to do with cars? Have a second look. It is a spark plug with some small details to turn it into a plain. I really liked this one.
This projector is a small reminder of our own childhood. My brother had this same projector but in green. Some of of you may know this or similar ones. The projector has a regular light bulb inside and a lens that makes the image bigger while projected on the wall – simple but pretty effective. I can remember my brother, Seb, making a film role with lots of cars on translucent paper, copied from magazine pictures or freehand draw. Once, he projected a car on the wall and copied the car on a bigger sheet to make a poster. Pretty cool memories.
Many thanks to the museum staff. They were very nice and told us also their stories behind the toys – which they also knew from their childhood.
I will show more pics of the roadtrip in some of the next posts. And yes, they will include some junkers and maybe one or the other cool car. Stay tuned!
If someone is wondering where the museum is: Defensa 219, in Buenos Aires (pretty close to the presidential house and the “Plaza de Mayo”).
The blue car is a peddle version of a Henry J, a car built by the Kaiser-Frazier Corporation in the early 1950’s.
I enjoy your emails very much. Thank you.
Dave Ruch
Bloomington, MN
Nice one- that first car is a Henry J- I am building a Revell one with many modifications- search on Henry J and you will find many photos- Jay
Very nice the old toys , I hope visit same day when I travel to Argentina
Claudio