A regularly updated blog about my vintage Kenner Star Wars toy collection. Some stuff that I've recently acquired; some stuff that I've had since I was a kid. Some rare, some common, but all sharing the warmth, charm and character of the "first generation" of Star Wars toys - the ones we played with as kids in the late '70s and early '80s.
One of the more unusual toys in the Star Wars vintage line was the Sonic Controlled Land Speeder. Unusual for the technology used in its design and functionality, unusual for its rarity today, and unusual because it replicated with near-exact detail an identical but much less expensive toy in the range!
The "sonic control" was of course the defining feature of the toy. The Speeder incorporated an electric motor which ran a shaft driving the front wheel. Some rudimentary control was allowed by incorporating a microphone in the top engine nacelle. The "remote control" was just a loud clicker... when the microphone picked up the clicking sound, it engaged a motor to turn the front wheel through ninety degrees.
Tough to find a boxed example of this particular toy. This box is missing one end flap but it's not the end of the world by any means.
A little bit of an illustration here on how the sonic control works.
Very clever of Kenner to design the sonic controller to look like Artoo-Detoo!
Now to the tableaux... not a very creative play scenario on the box art I'm afraid, so I've just replicated a few of the box photos showing the toy and figures from different angles.
Only two components to this toy: the speeder and the sonic controller. Watch out for yellowed and broken windshields as they are commonly seen on loose examples. Note also the pegs on the rear deck allowing figures to be secured to the toy.
A couple pics here showing the detail sculpted into the cockpit dashboard by the Kenner designers. Unlike the regular landspeeder where the dash detail was provided by a sticker, the sonic controlled version got some really neat sculpted detail on the dash and the console. "On-off" switch can be seen in the centre of the console.
See what I mean? Dials and gauges galore... pretty cool.
Some more of the dash detailing.
Here's the bottom of the speeder. You'll note I've photographed two different examples here as neither one has a complete set of warning stickers. The driving wheel is at the top right of this photo. You'll note that it's mounted to allow directional rotation.
Note the two battery covers at left and right of image - these are often missing from loose examples of the toy.
The sonic control itself is just a little marvel of industrial design. Fortunately the sticker is quite white on this example - they tend to get quite ragged and yellow on loose examples.
Some copyright information included on the controller.
Here's a comparison shot showing the Sonic Controlled Land Speeder (R) and controller alongside the regular Land Speeder (L). As you can see there's really no mistaking one for the other - aside from the size difference, the Sonic Controlled model is distinguishable by the vented centre engine nacelle, non-retractable wheels, and battery compartments!
Now here's what you've been waiting for - some video of the Land Speeder in action. Listen for the clicks and note the response of the toy, quickly turning 90 degrees with each click.
I want to send out my thanks to JJ, a local collector who sold me this Speeder. He fixed the electronics and motor but a problem remained for me to address. The motor drives a shaft that extends vertically down through the Speeder body. A plastic gear fits onto the shaft and drives the toothed driving wheel in a bevel configuration. However a design flaw in the toy means that most will fail - over time the plastic gear slips on the shaft and while the motor might still drive the vertical shaft, no rotation is transmitted to the rubber driving wheel. This can be remedied by simply using superglue or JB Weld to firmly re-attach the gear to the vertical drive shaft. It's easy to see what needs to be done once you take apart the mechanism - there's a good video on Youtube that shows it all.
