Barbie Convertible

Product Information

According to a series of 1960s novels published by Random House, Barbara Millicent Roberts—yes, that’s Barbie’s full name—grew up in the fictional town of Willows, Wisconsin. She likely didn’t venture far from home in her early years, maybe because she couldn’t. Forced for decades to walk on her tippy toes, Barbie was in desperate need of some wheels. She finally got her first car in 1962.

Having first taken to the controls of a 964-generation 911 cabriolet with working headlights, she later moved on to a red-on-tan Boxster with a motorised, retractable roof. Anyway, while I did really enjoy Barbie, I couldn’t help but notice the intense and in-your-face product placement of General Motors vehicles. Most folks seeing the movie probably won’t think much of it, but we’re different. We’re car people. We notice this sort of stuff, and it was honestly a bit distracting for me. It started with her pink-on-white 1956 model - which is the car that will feature most prominently in the new movie starring Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken. I’ll get this right out of the way: I loved Barbie. It made for an incredibly fun moviegoing experience mixed with a really wonderful message. I won’t say too much else about the movie’s plot, since it was just released to theaters and many of you probably haven’t seen it yet!There's little for Hagerty to put a value on this unique Barbie car other than the closest equivalent in the real world, which was a 2003 chassis sold by RM Sotheby's last year for CHF16.4million

Four years after getting her first Ferrari, Barbie welcomed her first Porsche. Available in white with hot pink interior or, well, white with hot pink interior, the German sports car has working headlights, so Barbie can see clearly on late-night runs to Taco Bell. (A Boxster came later.) And at the turn of the Millennium, Ford got another slice of the pie when it sold Barbie a 2003 Mustang GT convertible. Set off on camping adventures with the Barbie camper van, create your own fantasy world with Barbie Dreamtopia and discover what you could be with Barbie careers dolls. Kids can play out all kinds of open-ended dreams with Barbie and Ken, Stacie, Chelsea and Skipper. Singer: “Take Malibu Barbie and her suntan friends with their glasses and their towels … Where the road never ends in Barbie’s new Country Camper.” It was a Ferrari F1 machine that was exclusively offered for sale at the 2004 International Barbie Doll Collections Convention in Chicago.There's little for Hagerty to put a real-world value on this unique Barbie car other than the closest equivalent that changed hands recently - a 2003 Scuderia Ferrari F1 chassis sold by RM Sotheby's last year. Barbie had a lot of these home-away-from-home vehicles through the years—including a monstrous 3-foot Traveler Camper in the mid-1970s—but the Country Camper was the boss. It even had its own theme song (set to country music, naturally): During the 11 years after Barbie scored her first ’Vette, she also received a purple 1978 Donny & Marie Osmond van, a remote-control Corvette, a Volkswagen Golf, an unbranded off-road vehicle, a Jeep 4×4, and more ’Vettes in more colors than we care to count. Then came a bright spot: a 1987 Ferrari 328 GTS. The “red-hot Barbie Ferrari”—yes, TV commercials used those exact words—was the best, although a white version arrived later. In a commercial that featured a red Prancing Horse, Barbie literally turns Ken’s head when she drives past. Oh sure, she ultimately stops and gives him a lift, but she isn’t about to turn over the keys. Ken rides fucile da caccia (shotgun). Resist the Photoshop deal: Allowing Adobe to buy Figma puts UK's digital design industry at risk, says ALEX BRUMMER

So what about Ken Carson? (Yes, he has a last name too .) The muscle-bound doll—sorry dude, we can’t really call you an action figure—is two years younger and a half-inch taller than Barbie, but he looks up to her in the automotive department. In fact, we could find only two just-for-Ken automobiles: the 1984 Ken Dream ’Vette and the 2012–13 Ken Mini Cooper. (Not to rub it in , but Barbie’s little sister, Skipper, owns two Mercedes-Benzes.)That being said, I will give GM some credit for a couple things. First of all, their vehicles aren’t just for the good guys. The bad guys drive ‘em too. We also get to see GM poke fun at itself for the perception of some of it’s cars, but more on that later. And what did the fashionable 11.5-inch-tall doll drive in ’62? A Corvette, you say? Nah, Babs didn’t own America’s Sports Car until America celebrated its 200th birthday in 1976. An iconic Volkswagen Beetle? Nope, that came later too. Mattel decided the perfect car for a teenage girl living in cold-weather Wisconsin was … wait for it … an Austin-Healey 3000 MKII. Maybe it had snow tires? One thing it didn’t have was a top.

For comparison, you can count boyfriend Ken’s cars on one hand. Let’s face it, the guy is just along for the ride. More about that later. Barbie, the leggy doll that Mattel brought to life in 1959, recently celebrated her 60th birthday, and although she can be a bit controversial (hey, she didn’t choose her measurements), she’s much more than just a pretty face. Nobody accumulates Barbie’s car collection without being smart, successful, and handy with a wrench (albeit a plastic one). The sports car favourite in the US is also the most consistent model in Barbie's six-decade collection. There are no fewer than five General Motors products (and the goddamn logo) featured prominently throughout the movie.Imagine the possibilities with Barbie! There’s a wide range of Barbie dolls, playsets and fashions to explore, from the beautiful Barbie Dreamhouse to the latest Fashionistas. More than 100,000 car adverts on Facebook are SCAMS: Bombshell warning after 9 in 10 top results for Volvos were found to be fakes