The Herbs and The Adventures of Parsley

On this page ...... a 1970 "Adventures of Parsley" spin-off .... with a very surprising place in Dinky Toy history.
"Parsley's Car" (No.477) came out in mid-1970 and is featured as a "new release" in Dinky's No.7 catalogue (below)

And it actually has a special place in Dinky history because of the way it was conceived.
As this press release from parent company,Meccano Tri-ang,explains  here

What's slightly puzzling about the letter is why no-one had thought to do it before.
Because 1970 may have been over 50 years ago,but it was hardly the stone age in terms of merchandising.

And whilst you have to applaud Filmfair for their initiative,you also have to assume it only occurred to them post-production. Because Parsley's car proved to be the only vehicle in the entire series.

A range is always preferable to a one-off of course.And that's whether you're a rights holder,manufacturer or customer.
Although,to be fair,even that may not have been tempting enough for Dinky if they'd all been as uninspiring as the one they did have to deal with.
Because the only selling points they could come up with were ...

1. the inclusion of some cardboard character cut-outs

and

2. the fact that Parsley's head swivelled and the boot opened ! 

Parsley's Car or a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or a 007 Aston Martin or a .... ?  Well,you get the idea.

But maybe I've just forgotten how much imagination kids are capable of. [ more than likely ]
And maybe I'm also showing far too much male bias [ ditto ]
So let's just say that if you had one and enjoyed it then that's great.
And I sincerely hope you did.

There are certainly plenty of boxed examples still floating around.
But if you do fancy getting one,just be aware there are a lot of examples with reproduction packaging.
And any purist collectors should also note that some had yellow wheels and some red.
Although quite why Dinky bothered to tinker with something so inconsequential is anyone's guess.

But the fact they bothered to make it at all is yet another reminder of just how popular the Herbs franchise was.
And when you consider that the car only appeared in 3 of the 32 sequel episodes,it shows just how keen they were to jump on the money-go-round .... no matter how tenuous it may have been.

And,with that press release stuck to the windscreen,it still has just as much right to be in the Dinky Hall of Fame
as the likes of the great UFO Interceptor on the catalogue cover .... even if it does slightly pain me to say so !


Below:- 

2 ads from 2 seperate 1970 issues of Playland Comic to finish things off

The 1st is a rather shameless attempt to incite some pester power.
And the 2nd,which offers a whopping 250 freebies,seems to be an advert for brand dilution !

And if you're interested in the Pippin / Playland comics,they have their own on-site page here
Buyer Beware !  Ejector seat and bullet-proof screen not included.
Issue date 22nd August 1970.

Acknowledgement :- My sincere thanks to Tony Clark for his help in putting this page together.
Official 1970 publicity shot
Click pic for a photo montage
Click for the Parsley page