When we were in Detroit we went to the Henry Ford Museum. It was amazing and I have a whole post on it tomorrow! But first I've got to tell you about their Mold-A-Rama machines!
Mold-A-Rama machines were introduced in the 1960's and are usually found in museums and zoos. They are free standing machines that mold a plastic figure that you can take home as a souvenir! The machines themselves aren't made anymore, so any that you see out and about are from the 1960s! How cool is that??They are nostalgic for me because I used to get one every time I went to the Sanford zoo near my grandparent's house. I even brought Travis one of a snake back when we first started dating. Then I had no idea how old and awesome these machines are! I was so excited when we realized the Henry Ford has 10 of the machines scattered around the museum!
Here is the first machine I saw, right by the ticket booth! Woo-eee was I stoked!
After you put your dollars in, the mold goes together, you hear some machinery noises, and a little bit later a hot plastic figure is revealed!
Look at the Weinermobile!
The little foot in the back scoots forward and pushes your new souvenir into a metal basket. You pull it out and hold it upside down until it cools down. They come out pretty hot!
The Lincoln bust might have been the best one!
Are you excited I took a picture of every single one? I love them so much!
They aren't kidding! Travis loves cutting the excess plastic off.
This full body Henry Ford is pretty cute too.
I love how the different pictures look on their little pedestals, lit up in the window of the machine.
Cute!
We ended up with all ten! I have a few more from the Knoxville Zoo, and the Sanford Zoo, and some actual vintage ones I got at an estate sale. I guess it really is a collection now!
If you are interested, here are a few places you can read more about Mold-A-Rama machines.
Mold-A-Mania is a site where you can see lots of the molds from tons of different machines!
Moldville is a sit with TONS of info and great vintage pictures of the machines. And here is a great post about the machines over at
Retro Roadmap!
Oh my God! I love it! I have found some mold-o-rama over the years, but they have been mostly at zoos, and mostly just have animals......I love that these have some variety. My favorite is the weiner mobile!
ReplyDeletethat is really cool, even better then the souvenir penny machines
ReplyDeleteurban hounds
i agree! and i LOVE a souvenir penny!
DeleteThe problem with souvenir pennies is that you always loose them before you get home :)
DeleteLove these!
ReplyDeleteThose are about the coolest things ever! The molded pieces are bigger than I thought they'd be. I would have totally got all ten, for just $20 you have a great collection.
ReplyDeleteI've started collecting those molds too!! The zoo here in Memphis used to have mold machines except they used wax instead of plastic.I may have to go to Detroit just so I can make molds,lol.So much fun.
ReplyDeletei have some from the memphis zoo, but they are from when it was the overton park zoo!
DeleteMine say Overton Park Zoo too.The zoo later changed it's name to the Memphis Zoo.I remember going there for field trips and when the molds came out of the machine, they smelled like warm crayons.They were still pretty soft too, so alot of times they would break.
DeleteI have a friend that worked at the zoo and that was one of the most frequent questions they got: what happened to the mold machines?
I've never seen these before. So cool, I love how big they are, the first few pictures I saw I thought they were going to e pretty small but these are a good size.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that you got one of each!!! It would've been too hard to choose with the obvious choice being the weinermobile; but then you would've gotten home and realized how badly you needed a miniature figure of Henry Ford! I think Mod Betty at Retro Roadmap also linked me to a place that sells Mold-A-Rama machines among other old, coin-operated things. How cool would it be to have one at your house for party favors?!!!
ReplyDeletethat would be amazing! i can see a little Mr. Tiny bust!
DeleteI love these and feel like everyone needs a mini rosa parks bus in their home. So random. I only have one of these things but I love it
ReplyDeleteThose are great. I have one that I did years ago from the Mann Chinese Theatre in Hollywood wheni was in my teens. Love that you have a collection!
ReplyDeletelove!
ReplyDeleteone of my friends has a Mold-a-Rama machine in their basement. AND it works! It makes a boat!