It was a dark and stormy day at the repair shop. The lightning and thunder was like being inside a base drum with strobe lights !! The shelves were full of MARX toys waitng for parts and repairs. Dan was holding a Honey Moon Express when Kobie asked, what time is it ??? Dan said, how should I know-- does this look like a clock ??? And that's when the two of them got the idea to make clocks out of perfectly good MARX toys !!!!! Please follow the numbered pictures with the appropiate explanation.
PICTURE #1-- This is a Prince Valiant shield that came in a set with assessories. This is NOT MARX !! The shield is made by Mattel. It is smaller in diameter than the MARX shields. We drilled a 5/16" diameter hole in the knights shield. Because the tin was thin, we made an aluminium bushing to take up the space on the clock stem. You can see the stick on numbers we used and to hang it, we replaced two of the rivets that held the straps on the back, and added light weight picture wire.
PICTURE #2-- is a Lone Ranger target by MARX. Again, we used a short stem clock motor but still had to make a bushing to take up the space. You can see it shine in the picture. We then took 38 caliber casings and cut the rim off and glued them on to represent the numbers 12/3/6/9. On the bottom left is a MARX silver bullet. Since the target was so thin, we added two tin legs to the back so the clock would hang flat on the wall. The target has a notch on the top back side and that's how we hang it.
PICTURE #3-- is the Honeymoon Express that until it became a clock, was a fully functional toy !!! This time we had to do a littile rework on the station. You will see a small piece of tin on the lower left of this picture. This is what had to cut off the station. We unfolded the station and trimmed off the building just under the words--GLENDALE STATION. We drilled a 5/16" hole through the area where the windup key was and used a long stem motor. The house and the base are held together by the motor and the nut on the stem.The train is bolted thriugh the hole in the engine and a washer under the base. We added numbers again. It hangs from the rim on the back.
PICTURE#4-- THIS IS A CLASSIC ONE OF A KIND !!! The Virtual Museum has two parade cars. One is a 1927 Buick series 60 automobile made into an exact duplicate of the MARX LIZZIE OF THE VALLEY. One of the former MARX artists made a hand lettered logo to display on the car. The Cracker Barrel restaurant had a 90% sale and we bought clocks for $1.00 each from them. The green round part is about 12" diameter. All we did here is glue the art work to the clock face and replace the hands and add numbers. Pretty slick !!!
PICTURE #5-- Marx made many Disney themed toys under license. This is the Krazy Kar battery operated. On the left is how the toy was sold. On the right is what we did with it. By moving the wheels up and adding threaded rod, we reconfigured Mickey. No holes had to be drilled except to enlarge the hole for the motor stem. We turned MICKEY'S head and the eyes were as if he were checking out what time it is !!
PICTURE #6-- shows a back view of the Krazy Kar.
PICTURE #7-- Well the boys felt real bad that they took good toys and made clocks out of them---SO-- to make this writer feel better, they went to the store and bought me a clock with MARX toys on it !!! To tell the truth, I like the kooky clocks they made better !!
Hope you enjoyed this story. I know I got all wound up writing it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bud,Kobie&Dan
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