Quite often, when I would pick up a vintage attic or basement toy collection, I would notice
a couple of broken 8-inch battery-operated space vehicles called Moon Scouts. They never
ran and were always missing stickers or essential accessories like grabber-arms or satellites.


I looked in my toy books and searched the web and couldn't come up with any information
on these space toys. Occasionally I would see them on sales or auction sites going for
next to nothing. I decided to compile what I do know about them and make it available for
you here. They must be hard to find, certainly in good condition, because there is so
little data available on them. If you know anything about 'em, please don't hesitate to
drop me a line.


I believe that the Moon Scout line covers at least a decade, probably from the early '60s to
the early '70s. I think that the double-bladed helicopter is one of the earlier uses of the
Moon Scout name and the Moon Grabber series is the latest. The Moon Grabbers, which are the
vehicles that I kept stumbling on, are about 8 inches long. They are battery operated which
propels the 4 wheel drive forward or in reverse. They are white plastic with big all-terrain
tires (they can climb up a 30" incline), chrome accessories and clear plastic windshields
and bubbles. They came with NASA, Flag and Moon Scout stickers and 2 silver astronauts in the
front of the vehicles.


As I indicated earlier, the vehicles almost never work and are frequently missing the
fragile plastic arms, blades and accessories. The clear plastic in the windshields are
very susceptible to melt marks.


The helicopters and the 8 legged walker can cost as much as $25-$40. The Moon Grabber
series can be found alone or in toy lots for well under $20. I've got maybe a dozen
and have never paid more than $10 for one.