IDENTIFICATION GUIDE TO PAINTED HEAD ERA GIJOE'S

UPDATED AUGUST 2014

VINTAGE GIJOE MISCELLANEOUS SETS

There are a lot of sets or packages that do not fit into any of the normal categories. I am including as many of them as I can think of into this miscellaneous category. I may have missed a set or 2 and if so I will add them as the information about them can be obtained.

The single most common item found in the vintage GIJoe hobby might be the old wooden footlocker. I would love to know the actual number that Hasbro produced but it has to be in the hundreds of thousands. The footlocker was the ultimate accessory for anyone who bought a GIJoe including having enough room in the bottom under the tray to actually store a couple of the figures.


THIS IS A SLEEVE FROM THE AUTHOR'S VINTAGE GIJOE COLLECTION. There are LOTS of reproductions in circulation so be careful when you are buying one of these.

#8000 G.I. JOE WOODEN FOOTLOCKER


THIS IS A PHOTO SHARED WITH ME OF SEVERAL OF THE TRAY PATTERN VARIATIONS FOUND

#8000 G.I. JOE VINYLFOOTLOCKER


THIS IS A PHOTO SHARED WITH ME OF THE ONLY SEALED JEEP BOX I HAVE EVER SEEN. I WONDER HOW MANY KIDS COULD HAVE RESISTED OPENING SUCH AN AMAZING TOY!

#7000 G.I. JOE 5 STAR JEEP SET

#8030 G. I. JOE DESERT PATROL JEEP SET WITH DRIVER

#8060 LARGE BOX ACTION NURSE

#5904 LARGE BOX CANADIAN MOUNTIE

#38074 GIFT BOX CANADIAN MOUNTIE

#5300 ACTION JOE STATE TROOPER WITH MOTORCYCLE

#5305 ACTION JOE RACE CAR WITH RACE CAR DRIVER UNIFORM

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT ADVENTURE PACKS:
The 4-IN-1 SERVICE sets listed below were only available beginning in 1968. It is widely believed that they were created to help sell much of the overstock that Hasbro had built up. Late into the 1960's there was a strong anti-war movement sweeping across the country. The United States was heavily committed to the war effort in Vietnam and the U.S. casualties were mounting rapidly. As the bad news of the war filled America's living rooms through their television sets the anti-war sentiment grew ever stronger. Everyone bought war bonds and Moms and Dads across the country stopped buying anything even remotely associated with war for their kids. The whole toy industry was beginning to reel by 1968 and the once invinceable G.I. Joe product line's sales were waning. Hasbro had just really gotten good at producing mass amounts of merchandise, just barely catching up from the initial rush in 1965 and 1966 where every boy in America wanted a GIJoe for their birthday or under the Christmas tree. It is widely believed that Hasbro probably saw by late in 1967 that the end was near so they scrambled to jettison as many products as possible.

One thing they did to help move product quicker was to create "ADVENTURE PACKS" to help move out product as quick as possible. Many of the normal military items in the G.I. Joe product line were repackaged in 1968 and many of them into these "ADVENTURE PACKS". This was smart on many marketing levels and gave retailers a way of discounting merchandise without having to simply just drop the pricing on everything. The only thing new about the 4-IN-1 Service packs below was the outer packaging. Each of the 4 packs that were produced had the same outer box. The only distinguishing feature was a contents card which was added to the corner of the box before it was shrink wrapped. Each corner contents card was made in 4 different colors and showed the 4 different part numbers and 4 different sets of accessories. The contents of each box were simply 4 small accessory cards, one from each branch of service; i.e. 4-IN-1 SPECIAL. Each box contained a specific small card, one each from the Sailor, Soldier, Marine and Pilot product lines.

Each set below has a listing of the contents of the whole box. It is easy to imagine which exact accessory cards were included and I have a conclusion at the bottom of each listing. I have the word of three different long time collectors that have opened fresh 4-IN-1 boxes that indeed they just contained 4 common accessory cards. Interestingly, one of those people actually remembered very well that the cards were actually plain brown cardboard and not printed accessory cards. None of these 3 people have any photographs of what they opened so all of my information provided here is speculation. I have had a couple of the actual printed corner contents cards in my hands to confirm the existence of these packs. In addition, the cards matched what is printed in the 1968 Hasbro retailers catalog. For complete descriptions of each item please refer to the pages dedicated specifically to Soldier, Sailor, Marine and Pilot.

#8005.83 - CARDED G.I. JOE 4-IN-1 SERVICE ACCESSORIES PACK WITH RED CONTENTS CARD (14 Accessories)

#8006.83 - CARDED G.I. JOE 4-IN-1 SERVICE ACCESSORIES PACK WITH YELLOW CONTENTS CARD (12 Accessories)

#8007.83 - CARDED G.I. JOE 4-IN-1 SERVICE ACCESSORIES PACK WITH GREEN CONTENTS CARD (16 Accessories)

#8008.83 - CARDED G.I. JOE 4-IN-1 SERVICE ACCESSORIES PACK WITH BLUE CONTENTS CARD (14 Accessories)

Along the same line as the above 4-IN-1 packs, Hasbro also released in 1968 a very limited run of "SPECIAL VALUE" Footlocker Adventure Packs. I say very limited run because VERY few of these items have ever surfaced today. I have only seen photos of ONE in the last 15 years actually showing up in the hobby. I have seen pieces of the sleeve of all 3 packs to confirm the existence of all 3 sets. These Footlocker Adventure Packs were normal #8000 green wooden footlockers with a double wide paper sleeve. The sleeve had the normal footlocker artwork on the left half and a "SPECIAL VALUE" contents panel on the right half. Each footlocker came with several accessory cards inside, just like the 4-IN-1 Services packs although clearly not one card from each service as can be deduced by the contents panels.

#8000.83 - FOOTLOCKER ADVENTURE PACK WITH BLUE CONTENTS CARD (14 Accessories)

#8001.83 - FOOTLOCKER ADVENTURE PACK WITH RED CONTENTS CARD (15 Accessories)

#8002.83 - FOOTLOCKER ADVENTURE PACK WITH YELLOW CONTENTS CARD (22 Accessories)

BACK TO THE FIRST PAGE OF THE INFOSITE

UPDATED AUGUST 2014