For those of you who didn’t figure it out yet, if I had to live in a third world country, and yes I said third world, it would be Argentina. Don’t get me wrong I know thier economy is nothing to write home about and a large percentage of them have let’s say a dubious european heritage if you know what I mean. But that is neither here nor there, they also have great food and best of all they have some of the most amazing bootleg toys ever.
How about this for a gem…
According to our south American friends B.A.’s beloved van was actually not a GMC Vandura but in fact a VW Samba Microbus, or VW Type 2 Transporter to be more precise.
I think the crudely applied paper stickers are just amazing.
They seem to have done a reasonable job with Mr. T but Hannibal looks more like Luke Skywalker than George Peppard. I can’t help but laugh when I look at him, he looks like he is having his temperature taken more than smoking his trademark cigar.
At about 12″ long this toy is a simple blow-molded piece with wheels/axles that just snap in place. They did add a chromed plastic front bumper, but I think it is interesting that they went to the trouble to also make side mirrors given the overall simplicity of the toy.
Amazingly this version of the famous A-Team van had even more humble beginings than you see above.
As you can see the manufacturer, namely Toyplas, started off with some generic passengers. Honestly if that were really B.A.’s van you can bet he wouldn’t let just any old schmo take the wheel. There are only a couple of things to suggest that this is from A-Team, of course who could miss the red stripe? But they also did the wheels in red and then just slapped an A on the side. Cool.
I am guessing they did this as a test run and when they didn’t get slapped with a cease and desist for trademark infringement they got bolder and made it a little more A-Teamy.
You can just imagine that this VW van was just tweaked a little every time a new show became popular on the TV or in a film. I would love to see any others that are out there.
Despite their flimsy construction and rough look they will still fetch a little more than you might expect. Here you have a classic case of the forces of supply and demand at work. The A-Team has had a loyal following since it began airing in the 80s and that is only going to get stronger with the new movie looming (urgh!). As you can imagine there are very few of these out there so depending on the day this could sell for not much at all or an amount that is bound to make you double take. I say if you want one search hard and then pay whatever you think is reasonable.
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Got to love those Argentinian toys. George Peppard looks awful. This is still a piece I would display however. I think the fact that it’s rather crudely done makes it more appealing. It would stand out in any collection.