Fire Water Speedboat

Marx Fire Water Boat: Circa late 1920’s. 9” long X 2” wide X 2” high.

            The Marx Fire Water boat was made in at least two variations, one version with a canopy over the driver and one without the canopy.  Both versions are uncommon and rare to be found in working order or at all. There are no catalog references to either version so this writer speculates the toy was made in the late 1920’s. The driver was commonly used in several vehicles from the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. The Marx Royal Bus came with the same driver as did the Sparks Racer and the Royal Coupe made in the same body style (see pages 51, 52,53,70 of the Greenberg’s Guide to Marx Toys Vol. #2).

            This toy is constructed of tin with a wind up mechanical motor with a fixed key. The hull is lithographed yellow while the deck is lithographed in red. Written on the hull is “Fire Water” and then the early (pre-1939) Marx logo. One the rear of the deck there is a larger early Marx logo. The canopy has black-lithographed arms and windshield with a top that has alternating red and yellow stripes. The yellow stripes contain stars in them; the starts are red and black. The wind up mechanism powers two wheels in the rear of the boat, there is a single wheel in the front with an offset axel pin that raises and lowers the front of the boat mimicking it going through waves. There is also a lithographed instrument cluster in front of the driver. 

            The second version of the Marx Fire Water Boat has the same dimensions as the one described above. The second version has an all red hull and deck, which is outlined in black. The hull also has “Fire Water” and the Marx logo lithographed in black on the front portion of the boat. The other difference is this version did not come with a canopy.