The Austin-Healy

The Austin-Healy was a British made sports car which was built from 1953 until 1972. There were three models built; the 100, the 3000 and the Sprite. Barbie's car was a 1962, two-seater coral colored BN7 3000 Mark II, made by the Irwin Corporation for Mattel. She looked cool driving down the road in this baby! Interestingly, it did not only come in coral with the turquoise seats, but was available with lavender and white seats, beige with white seats, and red with white seats, all of which are extremely rare. I believe the red version was not even released to the public. The original price for the "real" car in 1961-1962 was about $3,700.00 and today it sells for more than $50,000 in good condition. This lavender version of Barbie's car sold in its original box a few weeks ago for $307.00, which wasn't a bad price for such a rare color!

Rare lavender and white version.

Standard coral and turquoise version

The Twist n' Turn Barbie, so amazing!

One of my favorite Barbie’s of all time is the TNT Barbie from 1967.  She was hip back then, and still looks amazing by today standards.  I spent endless hours playing with my chocolate bon bon beauty.  Mine was the trade-in version.  You know, the one with the one piece sexy fishnet swimsuit over the orange vinyl bikini!  Lose the fishnet suit and that girl would still get looks from the boys on the beach today.  Her long uneven hair is right in style with today’s fashionistas.  It’s so great when you witness rare beauties like the girl pictured here who received a big price on the secondary market.  A few weeks ago this 1967 blonde bombshell sold for $611.00.  And why the big price tag you ask?  It’s all about her hair.  Perfect Platinum! You see it from time to time, but not always in this fine of condition with an immaculate high color face.

 

I loved her wardrobe.  She’s a little like us today; tall boots, short funky dresses, and metallic whatever!  We have to have it!  Gold and silver metallic purses, belts and shoes, as well as dresses, tops and even pants are some of the must haves.  We all know Barbie has always made a fashion statement but this girl could appear today and would still be one!

Pyrex & Corning Ware....who would have thought!

Who would have ever thought that back in the day these tiny little items that sold for just $1.98 each would grab big bucks today!

These are "Teen Doll" Plastic Miniatures still in their original boxes with their original price tags. 

On September 12th, the Corning Ware cookware sold for $155.00 and the Pyrex bakeware sold for $256.00. These adorable miniatures were manufactured by Banner and made for the teen fashion dolls.  I don't have any more information on them, so if you know anything else, I'd love to hear from you!  Aren't they just so cute!

Nostalgia

Looking back on my lazy summer days as a child are some of my fondest memories; swimming in our backyard pool, playing baseball with the neighbor kids, riding my bike with my small dog who would contently sit in my bike basket, taking my Barbie dolls outside for summertime play, and drinking endless glasses of ice filled lemonade that my mom would often make.

Reflecting back to days gone by reminds me that the simplest moments are some of my fondest memories.  When times are hard or stressful, it’s good to remind ourselves what has made us smile in the past. Perhaps a bit of that nostalgia could make a bad day better, by helping us see more clearly what’s actually important, to remind ourselves to make healthier decisions, and to realize certain things that seem so vital to us are not even worthy of a small argument or minor worry.

American Girl

One of my favorites, the "Bendable Leg Barbie" was this pretty girl's original name.  But because of her hairstyle, it was eventually changed to the "American Girl".  These bendable leg dolls were made from 1965-1967.  Most have the shorter page boy haircut with blonde (several shades), red or brunette hair color.  But there are some rare versions floating around out there.  Some had longer hair, sides parts, high color faces, or unique hair colors.    Here is an example of one rare American Girl with the longer hair style with a high color face and a beautiful silver shade of hair color.  She's magnificent!  This girl sold on eBay for $909.99 on August 2nd.            

Nice Comment & Funny Story

Here's a nice comment that Janey sent me back in July on the old Blog.  Thought I'd repost it!

From: Janey

Love your site, Marie! I enjoyed the reading about how your love for Barbie began. It is amazing to see how much they are worth now, compared to what they sold for back in the day. It truly brings back a lot of happy memories. While I didn't have Barbies as a child, my cousin Kathy did and since we were frequently together, I played with them often.

In reading the latest issue of "Reader's Digest" today, I found an amusing story you might enjoy. In the section @ Work, there were several humorous requests related by the cabin crew on Virgin Atlantic Airline. The one about Barbie was the funniest. "A woman in first class was wearing a tiny pink crop top and mint green miniskirt. She had also booked the seat next to her for her 'Barbie' doll, which was wearing the same outfit and was sitting upright with it's seat belt on. The woman then requested a cup of tea and a massage for the doll."

Plaid....You Gotta Love it!!

My cousin just recently posted this great picture from 1971 of her husband and herself on Facebook in honor of their wedding anniversary. As soon as I saw their picture, it made me instantly think of some of the wonderful “mod” outfits from the late 60’s and early 70’s.  Plaid was so popular! “Mad About Plaid", "All About Plaid", and Perfectly Plaid" to name a few. I love how Barbie has kept up with the times when it comes to her fashion.  And this is just another reason why I love Barbie so much!