1990s Coin Operated Truck Kiddie Ride - Park Ranger

Filmed at Merrivale Model Village in Great Yarmouth on September 24th 2012. Manufactured by Whittaker Brothers of Oldham, this safari truck ride was released in the early 1990s. It came in several different versions. Firstly, it was available either as a one or two seater ride (with or without an animal passenger on one of the seats). The animal was either a lion or tiger cub. There was also a cub placed on top of the vehicle. On the one seater version, the roof cub would always be painted as the opposite species to the passenger cub. (So tiger in the passenger seat, lion on roof or vice versa) This is obviously the two seater version with a tiger on the roof. Later versions saw the entire van's colours changed and the ride renamed "Big Top Circus" or "Toytown Zoo". The ride shown here is the original version though, complete with original soundtrack of "Daddy's Taking Us To The Zoo Tomorrow" and all three push buttons complete with working sound effects. Quite a gem to find one of these in original working order these days...and especially one I could operate for just 20p! I am currently working on a website about coin operated rides, particularly those made (or at least commonly distributed) in the UK during the 1950s-90s. Please visit http://www.coinoperatedrides.weebly.com! If anybody has old photos/video footage that they wouldn't mind sharing with me, please e-mail me at coinoperatedrides@hotmail.com or leave a comment below. I would be eternally grateful. Thank you! :)