Barbie Star Traveler
Apparently, 1980 was the peak year for me and Barbie. Plaid Stallions has the 1980 Mattel Catalog, showing some of my favorite toys:
I earned half the money for my Barbie Star Traveler. It was forty dollars at Gibson’s Discount Center. My mom fronted the other half. My dad helped me put it together because it was REALLY complicated. There were a million stickers that had to be stuck correctly on the frame of the toy. I played with that thing long after it started falling apart.
I ended up giving it to The DI just a few years ago. I hope another little girl had the luckiest day ever at the DI and is still playing with it today.
I also saved up the eight dollars to buy the Barbie Starvette. I felt so proud because I put the car together myself and even put on the stickers correctly.
She could carry one friend in the seat next to her and two friends on the back. The seat belts were so impossible to use that they were removed the first day I owned the car. I always worried about the friends sitting on the back when we were driving because I knew that it wasn’t safe for them to do that.
My sister, Stacey, had this Ken doll. He came with a marker to draw on a beard on Ken’s face. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize that we shouldn’t draw on his face with just any marker. Ken ended up with a permanently blackened face within days.
We eventually shaved his hairy head. His hair wasn’t nice like these pictures show it. It was a full-on afro mop-top mess. I convinced Stacey that he would look much better if we just cut off all his hair. He didn’t.
Sorry, sister…
If you didn’t see your Barbie here, Plaid Stallions has a bunch of other stuff:
Mattel Superstar Christmas Fun Book I Pulsar I Barbie I 1976 Catalog I Plaidstallions.com
True Value Toy Catalog from 1976 I Barbie I Tuesday Taylor I Plaidstallions.com: Check out this one to see the Tuesday Taylor doll that I had when I was a kid.
Update 04-05-10:
Here is a better picture of my Barbie Star Traveler from the 1977 Sears Christmas Catalog:
I still have the table, BBQ and plate from that set. The chair, pitcher and glass are long ago lost.
You can also see my Superstar Christie on that same page:
I also found Tuesday Taylor wearing the same outfit I still own.
She was a cool doll because she could have brown hair or blonde hair with a swivel top head. Now, though, her hair is matted and unbrushable. At least she still has her awesome Maude-like fashion sense.
Well my sister had the Barbie house back in the 80s i was $79.99 and a cool toy for the Barbie generation of that time. Now I find the ‘divorced Barbie!’ it cost $399.95 because is comes with the house, the RV, th ecar, boat, pool and Half of Ken’s stuff!
Comment by Jeff Norris — 2/10/2008 @ 5:05 pm
Ha! Our Barbie conversation made it to the blog! :) I inherited the Barbie plane from my older sister and I had that same Ken doll! I might still have him. He even still has his hair which is amazing since I cut off the hair of several of my Barbies. I’m still not letting my kids have Barbies though.
Comment by B. — 2/10/2008 @ 6:31 pm
my mom was against barbie (don’t know if it was for feminist or moral reasons) when i was little but she’s happy to get tons of them, along with outfits, tiny shoes, houses, cars, castles, whole furniture sets, etc, for my daughters. and where does she get all this stuff? DI. oh yeah, baby.
thanks for the tips on best DI’s in SLC. i don’t have much stamina for shopping there; gets pretty depressing, but it will help to know where the good stuff is. and when you do find some good stuff, it’s like winning the lottery. without even buying tickets.
Comment by What About Mom? — 2/11/2008 @ 9:44 pm
I was wondering if you have the Barbie Star Traveler for sale.
Comment by Jane Shelton — 6/5/2011 @ 9:18 am
Im now 33. Love this bus! my cousin passed it onto me n my sister when we were kids. I remember my nan brought it with her in a huge box in her luggage on tha train from South Australia. I thought it was fun n cool n loved playing with it. Unfortunatly, our mum had a clean up and gave it away to other children who wrecked it to peices. My heart was broken. I have been trying to locate one for sale on ebay in America, it is to big to ship to Australia. Do You have any tips or ideas of where i can get one of these Barbie star travelerS?
Comment by Tash — 9/17/2011 @ 7:49 pm
I have two available, one has most all pieces minus the car and trailer. If you are interested leave another comment and I will send more information. Thank you
Comment by emilee — 10/10/2011 @ 8:09 pm
Emilee, Do you still have the Barbie Star Travelers for sale? I had this when I was a child and would love to buy for my 5 year old twins!! Thank you.
Comment by Jessica — 1/1/2012 @ 11:12 pm
I have a Barbie Star traveler for sale (US). Contact me at hollyzell [at] gmail [dot] com
Comment by zello — 5/16/2014 @ 5:03 pm