Liquid operated Trans Am toy?

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LightForceKittFan
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Liquid operated Trans Am toy?

Post by LightForceKittFan » Mon Aug 28, 2006 3:04 pm

A month ago I found a big (20 cm long) Trans Am toy (Lewis Galoob Toys 1988) from a flea market. It took me some time to figure out how it worked, but after searching the patent number at the bottom of the car with Google, I found that it needed some conducting liquid to work.

There's a hatch at the rear end of the car and you can put a 9V battery there. On top of the rear is a hole and a button. I put salty water in the hole and wow! the car started to move. :D

I've never seen these kind of toys before, have you? It's in a good shape (it's missing the spoiler) after I removed all ugly stickers from it. :)

Here's some pictures. Sorry about the small size, but I took them with my webcam because I don't currently have a digital camera.

Sideview:
Image

Top view:
Image

Front:
Image

Back:
Image
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Post by James_kr » Mon Aug 28, 2006 5:17 pm

Awesome! I wonder how that works. A bit hard for the driver to see where he is going with that engine!
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Post by FuzzieDice » Mon Aug 28, 2006 6:26 pm

Salt water is conductive to electricity. Funny that it won't go on just a 9V battery though. The water really is a moot point when you think about it. Or just designed that way as a novelty.

Or, is it that it can run on either/or? Have you tried running it on just liquid?

Or maybe they figure it's a toy that kids can "gas up" the car using a conductive liquid, part of how to play with the toy, making it closer to a 'real' car. :)

Pretty neat, though. And probably a very rare toy.
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Post by Lost Knight » Mon Aug 28, 2006 10:12 pm

Looks like K.I.T.T. on steroids. Cool toy, though. Never saw it before.
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Post by HondaSiR » Mon Aug 28, 2006 10:58 pm

That toy is very nice! It kinda looks like a cross between KITT and the DeLorean Time Machine. If KITT was to travel through time, this car would definitely fit the bill. It even has accurate bowling ball caps, way way cool! 8)
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Post by andy-kitt » Tue Aug 29, 2006 7:16 am

Does the water boil away or stay in the car?

Clever idea as it is like you fuel the car yourself
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Post by LightForceKittFan » Tue Aug 29, 2006 10:47 am

The 9V battery is required, because the liquid only closes the circuit and the car can't run without it. The big button on top of the car releases the liquid when pressed, and the car's engine stops. The car also makes quite horrible noise as it goes on. :D

I have heard about toy cars that produce steam from the water, but this doesn't, the water is just like piece of electric wire to complete the circuit.

When I saw this car and heard the price, I almost left it there (because I don't like wasting too much money) but then I thought it would be the last time I'll ever see one of these. It was part of the fun to figure out how it worked. :D

Some new pictures:

Battery hatch open and closed:
ImageImage

Bottom:
Image

"Fuel tank" and water release button:
Image

There's some kind of mechanism at the bottom of the car, you can see a switch that goes back and forth and it locks in the rear position and a white piece of plastic rises next to the left back wheel. I haven't yet figured out how that works or what it does. There might be some kind of a "launcher" for this car and that thing may have something to do with that.
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Post by andy-kitt » Wed Aug 30, 2006 7:46 am

Thats definatly a interesting car, thanks for sharing that with us
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Post by James_kr » Wed Aug 30, 2006 7:50 am

most of it is actually quite acurate apart from the big wheels and engine parts its a really cool toy.
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Post by PBH » Thu Aug 31, 2006 1:25 am

LightForceKittFan wrote:
Bottom:
Image

There's some kind of mechanism at the bottom of the car, you can see a switch that goes back and forth and it locks in the rear position and a white piece of plastic rises next to the left back wheel. I haven't yet figured out how that works or what it does. There might be some kind of a "launcher" for this car and that thing may have something to do with that.
Not sure why I think this, but I THINK I've seen something like that before. I believe it's only function is to have the car do "spinouts". I could be wrong.
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Post by rhdaussiekitt » Thu Aug 31, 2006 4:55 am

kitt with a mad max theme, ive never seen one before
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Post by Skav » Thu Aug 31, 2006 1:50 pm

It sounds like they got the idea the way the car runs from BTTF. In BTTF, the delorean had a long gas cylinder pipe thing sticking out vertically and when doc puts things in it, the car runs.

Sounds like the same idea here...original to say the least. :)
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