The Investigator (unshown pilot) - Dinky 4-wheeled jet boat

[Father Unwin]

Readers may be interested to know that Dinky made 2 vehicles for The Investigator series which were (eventually) made available to the public - but in disguise. The 2 vehicles consisted of an 8 wheel car with visual scanning device and a 4 wheeled speedboat with a jet engine at the stern.

The boat is much less well known and only became available several years later. The boat in the pilot was mainly white with yellow and blue trimmings as I recall. You will find it on eBay from time to time under the name of Dinky Coastguard Missile Launch 674.

The boat has a concealed missile launcher at the front which pops up if the bonnet is rotated on its front to rear axis. The pilot boat has no missile launcher as far as I could tell. This boat is of die-cast construction but the engine and wings at the back are made of plastic and do exist on the boat in the pilot film.

I do actually have 2 very near mint condition Investigator boats myself, one of which I would be prepared to sell for £40.00. I say "very near mint" to be cautious because the one I would sell was obtained from a Canadian who took possession of unsold stock from an old toy shop.

Of course, the difficulty with buying from me is that I actually know what it is that I am selling. On the plus side, I have a 100% positive feedback on eBay so if you are desperate, I could sell you a boat for the above price plus postage.

I can be contacted at ptaylor@chubb.com

Here is one currently on sale in the US but the price is extortionate! http://cgi.ebay.com/DINKY-COASTGUARD-AM ... dZViewItem

[shaqui]

When you say 'near mint', are these also boxed?

[Father Unwin]

Hello Shaqui,
Yes the Investigator boat that I would sell is boxed and I would describe the condition of the box as very good - certainly much better than the box shown on the US auction.