1949 Marx Dick Tracy Police Squad Car in Original Box
Tough to find metallic blue version of Marx's classic "Dick Tracy Police Squad Car". Tin litho with battery operated flashing light. Comes in strange green and white illustrated box which I've never seen before (typical box shown below). Best of all is its amazing condition; car is near mint, box is VG and complete! Beginning in 1949 Marx produced their Dick Tracy version of using the classic roadster design. I'm aware of at least 12 versions of this car. That is three different colors in four different variations. There's probably more. And that doesn't include the smaller 6½" Riot Car. I believe that this metallic blue body is the most difficult to find. However, until I found this example I wasn't aware of a variation of the box! A typical friction driven, electric flashing light Dick Tracy Squad Car is usually red and white with a completely different illustration. This box is green and white. I've seen other green and white boxes for the non-electrified vehicle, but not with this illustration. The car itself is the classic design showing different perspectives of Tracy, Ketchum, The Captain and Lieutenant in each window. It features a long, sleek front hood and is literally covered with assorted graphics goodies. Body is metallic blue, roof is navy blue, and underside chassis is silver. Tires are all solid black rubber. It uses a single D-cell battery to power the emergency roof light. It has its original bulb which flashes randomly depending on the rotating position of the rear axle. The friction motor powered by the front wheels produces a whirring siren sound. The box, which is correct for this toy, shows a very early comic style illustrated Squad Car from its front right corner. The car model is completely different from the more commonly seen version (again, see below). It also features a large insert circle of a portrait of Tracy in the upper left corner. The other two main panels show the car from the left side without the Tracy portrait. The endflaps repeat the name of the toy, along with the Marx name. Here again, the Tracy circle portrait was used. It's also interesting that one of the main box panels has a factory applied yellow sticker with "with siren" printed on it. Presumably there was a version without the siren. The sticker is on one side only. Oh, and the box is complete with all six original endflaps. Size: 11". Sold: Sep. 2011
Price Sold: $ 464
