#707 EIDAI GRIP - MITSUI ZOSEN HOVERCRAFT (Around 1980)

I found this toy hovercraft a few months ago in a flea market. It is not 100% complete, since the big propellers and its fans are broken.

I have found out that Mitsui is a Japanese engineering and shipbuilding company, and Zosen seems to be the Japanese word for Shipbuilding. I do not know who made this toy or if it is actually a toy... maybe it is some promotional ítem? It has a logo on the base that resembles some kind of "G". A reader from this blog gave me the hint and correctly identified the toy to be an Eidai Grip. I will update this entry with some more data soon.

Anyway, a die-cast hovercraft in 3 inches size is something rare. We already saw the two ones made by Matchbox and I am already aware of a vintage model made by Tomica, which is the one that can be found easily in Google when searching "Mitsui Zosen". The Tomica model, however seems to have a plastic base.

Despite intensive search in Google, I couldn't find any pictures of this toy, so I guess it is a very rare one. If you have information about this toy, please leave a comment here. Maybe some Japanese reader can provide some link or hint. Thanks!

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: MITSUI ZOSEN HOVERCRAFT
• Scale: 1:210
• Year: Around 1980
• Company: Eidai Grip (Japan)
• Size: approx. 7 cm