1955 Chrysler New Fashion In Motion Balloon Powered Press Kit PR Toy Car Vtg NOS

Description

This auction is for a very unique piece of automobilia. It is a new-old-stock balloon-powered toy car that Internet research says was a press conference giveaway in October, 1954 by Chrysler Corporation to help launch the new 1955 line of Chrysler, Imperial, Dodge, Plymouth and DeSoto passenger car vehicles.
The actual item is a plastic toy car that is
red, white and blue with black wheels. It measures
4 1/4 inches long and 1 7/8 inches wide. It has a blow hole in the back attached to a red balloon underneath the chassis that then comes out of a hole in the hood. The balloon is red with white type that reads "New Fashions In Motion by Chrysler Corporation." The ways that it works is that you blow the balloon up and then let it go and the air being released powers the car along a flat surface. We found this item still wrapped in its original plastic wrap that had partially broken apart over the years. The car is in mint condition. The balloon is in great condition. We blew a little bit of air into it and it inflated well, but we did not go any further. The bottom of the car is stamped "Beverly - Made in USA."
Internet research again indicates that this car was given away to attendees of a press conference review of the 1955 Chrysler Corporation passenger car line at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. This launch was part of Virgil Exner's Forward Look design exercise. It was called the "Million-Dollar-Look," which was the line's total development cost. There was a print ad at the time featuring L. L. "Tex" Colbert, the President of Chrysler Corporation, with the headline "7 Top Fashion Designers Find Chrysler Corporation's 1955 Cars a Stimulating New Concept of Good Design." The seven fashion designers pictured around a car were: Torn Brigance, Ann Fogarty, Pare Potter, Uly Dachi, Nettie Rosenstein, Pauline Trigere and Claire NieCardell. Ad copy called this launch "a new fashion in modern motor car design," "[gives a] sense of motion even when standing still" and "purposeful as an arrow shot from a bow."
This is a very interesting item with a great story behind it. You will receive the car and the original plastic wrapping as pictured. Please see the photographs for details. Happy bidding!