I hope I am not breaking any rules

Post pics...

I have one of those too TANKER.  Texaco North Dakota she is.  They ran on D batteries I think.  Mine is in not too good shape but basically intact.  Yeah, it was fun to let it sail around our stock tanks back when it was new.   Best I recall, you simply adjusted the rudder, turned it on and let her sail.  I've seen a couple others over the years; I'd say they are around 50 years old.  They were really quite detailed for that time.  It has wheels on the bottom of the hull, right?

Gary

I can't help you with the value or anything, but your post made me remember that I had a Texaco tanker when I was about 6 or 8 years old, meaning it was a cool half-century. It may have been motorized, but I remember it as having wheels to play with on the floor, not in water. Anyway, thanks for the memory.

PICS ??? BTW, in 2007 icollector.com had an item (Texaco Toy Tanker motorized boat in original box with instructions and accessories) NOT SOLD. Priceless or moneyless?

stoutfella

I can't help you with the value or anything, but your post made me remember that I had a Texaco tanker when I was about 6 or 8 years old, meaning it was a cool half-century. It may have been motorized, but I remember it as having wheels to play with on the floor, not in water. Anyway, thanks for the memory.

stoufella, I believe, based on the tanker I still have, they had wheels and were "floatable" too.   All in all, a pretty darned neat toy in its day. Your time frame is about right;  I must've been 7-9 years old, and dang, I'll turn 60 in December.  Yikes!  How the time has flown...

Gary

It was made by Ideal. They had another  called a Phantom Raider that telescoped into a guided missile frigate.They have videos on Youtube that showcase it.

tankerbuilder

How many motorized TEXACO tankers have you ever seen??   TANKER-builder

Looking on eBay, if it's like new and you have the box- $ 219 to $ 400.

If it's a toy that's been played with and is missing stuff- $ 0 to $ 20.

tankerbuilder

IF NOT I intend on reconfiguring her to what she is supposed to look like ,instead of the very poor conditioned thing it is now.

I say go for it. i've seen plenty of Science Fiction modelers do 'upgrade' them from toys to proper models by adding details and correcting them.

I agree, if you have the used toy version.

A while back I started a thread about making scale models from toys, which for those of us who grew up a while back can remember that before action figures and all of their gear (sheesh Joe was an "action figure" for a while after all those glorious years when he had a scale Garand, a scale .45 and a scale flame thrower, but I digress...) oh and a rubber diver suit, skis. Got to stop now.

But all of the time when I go into a CVS or a Walgreens or Target or such, I always run up and down the toy aisle and look at possible basis for models.

Breaking any rules? Tankerbuilder, the only rules that I've ever seen you break are the rules of English grammar.

Here are a  few pics of my old Texaco North Dakota.  They are the last pics taken with my old Konica-Minolta point n' shoot.  She quit working right after the last of this batch were taken.  Somehow seems apropos...

As you can see, the old tanker is in pretty bad shape.  Several decades in a hot Texas attic can do that I guess.  There was a rubber (plastic?) dinosaur that was laying on top for many years.  It melted onto the ship and now it looks like a Martian heat ray laid waste to her.  Yeah...a Martian heat ray...yeah, that's the ticket!  A Martian heat ray! (apologies to Jon Lovitz!)  Well, here she is, as she looks now. 

btw. the real Texaco North Dakota has sadly gone the way of the ship breakers.

data:

the damage from the Martian heat ray:

Here's some interesting stuff about these "models":

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1142176

Now there's something you do not see anymore!............... "Made in USA"

Yeah!  AMF, shades of my ol' Harley!  I can just see the Texaco North Dakota sailing around our stock pond. Ah, those were the days my friend...