Well it’s working again! Took it apart and found a few things in need of help. I blew all the dust off the workings and used some sewing machine oil sparingly on the moving parts made from metal. [Top tip: If you ever find yourself doing a similar job on an old toy or machine avoid getting oils on plastic components. Some can handle it but many types of plastic will start to disassemble itself fairly rapidly when exposed to certain oils.]
There were issues with the battery contacts, not corrosion but just tarnished and had a poor connection. Cleaned them with acetone and that fixed that issue. The main drive cog on the motor has a split through it and slipped on the shaft. As a quick and non destructive fix I used a small amount of BluTack (sticky tack?) and slid it back on the shaft, works for now.
I just love this old mechanical stuff! Silicon chips and transistors etc are great but something about the ‘living’ machines really floats my boat. There is one small electric motor just behind the front axle. It provides the power to make this car drive and steer as well as spin the clear engine in the back and it also provides the ticking engine sound. The sound is actually a fairly good representation of the tappets or push rod sounds of a 1:1 air cooled beetle, if you’ve ever heard an old Bug idling away you should recognise the sound in the clips below. The headlights still work and the globe below the clear engine still works. I’m not sure how it’s done but the engine globe flickers randomly. There is a mount for a switch near another cam that looks like it was supposed to provide the light flicker but it’s not been used and some other method is employed.
Here is the major issue. The brass cog has been worn down so much the teeth were completely gone in the area the were needed. I managed to fix this by carefully sliding the cog along the shaft just a little. I then needed to make a small spacer to keep the shaft in the correct postition to make sure the cogs are fully engaged.
Now to the sad news. This is how I remember this toy when I gave it back to my uncle, exactly as pictured below (but with the dent in the roof from me). Not sure how it ended up looking like it does now but I have a good idea...
Seems these cheap and cheerful pressed tin toys aren’t so cheap anymore!