1932 Marx, Busy Parking Station in Original Box
The Busy Parking Station was the first type of automatic "kicker" toy produced by Marx. It's complete, works great, and comes complete with its original box. It's also in excellent+ to near mint condition and is the only example of either the box, or toy, I've seen. 72 years after it was manufactured the concept looks simple. But it was really an advance from the standard, regularly unwinding clockwork motor. The racer rolls down an inclined track and strikes a polished steel lever hidden inside a bricked yellow and red building. This releases an external clockwork motor which rapidly pushes, or kicks the lever forward. A large seven-pointed, star shaped gear, also hidden inside the building, catches and stops the kick lever. The racer rolls up, down, and the cycle repeats. After the colorful Busy Parking Station was produced, Marx installed the kicker mechanism into larger, heavier toys; some with more track extensions. This continued until the late 1950's. But from my research this was the first toy of this type. It's also interesting to note that the racer used is the same "boat-tail type" included in the Marx Whee Whiz Racer in 1925. The only difference is.....the driver is facing in the opposite direction. This allows the kick lever to strike a flat rear, rather than pointed, surface. The toy was available for only one year through the 1932 Sears-Roebuck Christmas catalog. It was sold only in a group with four other toys (Acrobat Monkey, Auto Transport, Smitty Scooter and Toyland Milkwagon). All were light, "simple" clockwork tin toys. $1.00 bought all five. I could find no other reference, including Greenberg's, to this toy. The original box has plain, printed text on two of the main box panels which includes the toy name, manufacturer name, and address. This was repeated on the endflaps. One end is hinged (three flaps), the other has locking tabs (four flaps). Size: 17". Auto 2". Sold: Apr. 2009
Price Sold: $ 311
