Calling Dick Tracy! An ideal way to respond with haste on countless hardwood hallways

The Dick Tracy Copmobile; images by author.

Look hard enough at any swap meet, and you’re bound to find something from your formative years; it’s at that moment when you mutter, “Had I known it was going to be valuable, I would have kept it.” It’s another checkmark in the hindsight column, and after a few seconds and a flashback, you’re strolling on to the next vendor, hopeful that the part on your wish list will be waiting in a glistening beam of sunlight.

No doubt, more than one revelation and flashback occurs every time we eye another dusty Dick Tracy Copmobile perched on a dangerously overloaded swap meet table. Is it the same one we saw last year, or another uncovered during someone’s spring cleaning adventure? Whatever the case, it’s clear that these oversized plastic toys were rather popular. And how could they not be?

Detective Dick Tracy was a hit right from his October 1931 introduction into the world of newspaper comic strips. Full-fledged comic books, cartoons and live action movies accompanied the strip in the decades that followed, and with the rising popularity came a series of toys, including the Copmobile.

Measuring 24 inches long, the plastic car was manufactured by the New York-based Ideal Toy Company (originally Ideal Novelty and Toy Company upon its 1907 founding), and was released to an eager public in 1963. Packaged in a 27-inch-long box featuring the car’s likeness–complete with speed lines and an overjoyed child–the Copmobile was finished in one of two color schemes: white and blue, or salmon and blue, the former being the more popular. Only the driver’s side sported red graphics, which were molded into the plastic, along with a Dick Tracy sticker. The interior was completely devoid of details other than bucket seats and a center console. Although not modeled after any particular make, the exterior appeared to blend elements of both Fifties Oldsmobile and Cadillac up front, complemented by Thunderbird taillamps. Below the body was a battery-powered electric motor linked to the rear wheels.

Controlling the car was accomplished with a hooped wand that would slip over the front and rear plastic antennas: The front antenna controlled direction, while the rear operated forward and reverse. Both antennas were missing on the example pictured here, as was the wand, inoperable roof-mounted loudspeaker and a microphone that was intended to transform your voice into that of a dispatcher through a radio, which was stowed on the rear decklid.

Though we did not see an asking price on this particular example, they are not uncommon. We found two copies online in slightly better operating condition at an average asking price of $60. Look hard enough and complete examples, including the original box, can be found with a premium price tag.

Ideal remained in the mainstream toy business, although under different ownership since 1982, until it was purchased and phased out by Mattel in 1997. As for Dick Tracy, he’s still fighting crime today.

This article originally appeared in the April, 2013 issue of Hemmings Motor News.

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