Fissionable Material Not Included

I know that all the kids out there who came across this ad lusted after the idea of becoming the envy of the neighborhood with this baby. I think I begged my parents for this more than once, but their sense, reason and control of the home’s finances won out over my grade school desire for nuclear first strike capability.

It turns out Mom and Dad were right. I’ve heard from people who had overly indulgent parents who forked over the $6.98 plus 75¢ shipping (NY residents please add sales tax) that the fabulous submarine turned out to be made of cardboard. I guess that’s what they meant by 200lb test material.

This ad was in issue No 93 of Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos published in 1971. The ad itself ran for years before that and well after that. I guess the Honor House Production Company did all right selling cardboard submersibles you couldn’t submerge.

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2 Responses to Fissionable Material Not Included

  1. George says:

    Me and my brother actually purchased one. We saved our monies, stole our neighbor’s pop bottles for the deposit, and finally broke into our youngest brother’s piggy bank.

    Sent off for it…

    When we got home from school one day, mom says a package came for us. We were so excited until we actually seen the box. You should have seen the disappointment in our faces.

    The brown cardboard box was just inches thick and maybe 3 foot by 4 foot long.

    We knew there was no way there could be a submarine in that box.

    A bigger disappointment came when we opened the box…. You literally had to piece this thing together. It took us HOURS!

    YES it was made of cardboard, painted to look like a sub.

    Torpedoes and missile were launched through a tube similar to toilet paper rolls using rubber bands.

    The electrically lite instrument panel was a battery operated flashlight bulb… battery not included.

    It had no bottom, you had to put it over 2 chairs placed back to back.

    No way this thing would float let alone survive 5 minutes in water.

    But we were so proud of it that we slept in it that night.

  2. Joe_Williams says:

    Great story! Thanks so much for commenting!

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