Godzilla Fire Monster Kaiju sparking windup toy shops by Yonezawa Japan 1965

Fire Monster Kaiju from the Godzilla films of the 1960s, made by Yonezawa Toys in Japan 1965

Kaiju is simply a generic sort of term for the Godzilla monsters, which simply means giant monster. The character more specifically represents a fire dragon monster of some kind- I'm not sure if it is a specific monster from a specific film. The toy company made several different versions of this toy with more than one color and sculpt.

This windup toy has a metal base and gears inside a hollow but sturdy plastic body in red with painted decoration. It has wheels on the underside and a flipping metal tongue in the mouth.

Originally the lever on its chest could be slid to the up position to make the tongue move, which made sparks fly out of the mouth. The tongue does move on this one when you push the lever up but it no longer makes any sparks.

I had to hold the wheels still manually while winding the key before letting it go in order to get it to work- uncertain if that is original function that way.

It does run, and it is FAST!! It nearly flew off the table before I caught it.

This is the first one of these that I have found "in the wild" while hunting vintage toys from original owner estates, so if I've missed anything about the function of this one or you need more photos, just ask.

It is in lightly used condition and has the usual subtle wear around the edges you might shops expect from play.

Nice example of a very hard to find 1960s Godzilla windup toy.