Mold 5

Wham-O Flying Saucer 7 (WFS7) Mold 5

Mold 5 is a very special mold. Every change in the mold raises questions, why this change was made and why the change was made in this way? But we have no answers to any of them. That is why this can be called a mystery mold.

5 Mold characteristics are: The front of the disc has planets, as with all 3 and 4 mold Flying Saucers. The word Frisbee is followed by a large-sized ® symbol.

On the left in the picture is mold 4 medium size ® mark and on the right is mold 5 large size ® mark.

There is a small reversed mold number 5 on the bottom of the disc. It is very strange that the number 5 was reversed in the first version of the mold. In any case, despite all our searches, we haven't found a single Flying Saucer where the number 5 is the right way up.

The most interesting mystery of this mold is why lines 2–4 and 5–6 of the script at the bottom of the disc use a different font. You can compare the letter O for example. On line 2, the letter O is narrow, and on line 5, it is wide.

In mold 3, the same discrepancy was due to the fact that we found an earlier version of the mold (LBFS1). Despite our search, we have not found an earlier version of the Flying Saucer made with mold 5. We have specifically examined discs made by license manufacturers.

We are also not sure when this version was made. All the WFS7s I have in the package come with Wham-O throwing instructions. They are updated for 1964.

Date Introduced: Early 1964?

Wham-O Flying Saucer 8 (WFS8) Mold 5

We have found a few Flying Saucers that have a small bump in the middle of the bottom of the disc. You can feel the bump with your finger. The change is not significant but we have accepted it as a new version at least for now. On the blue Flying Saucer the mold number is difficult to identify, while on the brown Flying Saucer the number is clearly visible.

Date Introduced: 1964?

Wham-O Flying Saucer X (WFSX) Mold 5

I have received Jim Palmer's old Flying Saucer research from Phil Kennedy. They also mention a Flying Saucer that has not yet been found. The bottom of the Flying Saucer has the mold number Backword (Reverse) 5, but the script on the bottom is missing Des. Pat. 183626. It was made before WFS12.

Date Introduced: 1965

Wham-O Flying Saucer 12 (WFS12) Mold 5

The next change (WFS12) DES. PAT. 183626 was removed by fading the text, but it is visible when the disc is turned to the light. I believe this happened right after January 11, 1965, when Wham-O filed the patent application. I believe the change was made simultaneously to molds 2 (WFS10) and 3 (WFS11). But in these molds DES. PAT. 183626 was hidden under the esker. But why was the Des. Pat. hidden in two different ways?

When Wham-O removed the Des. Pat. text from the mold, they did it carelessly. The bottom of the legs of the letter A and a piece of the lower left corner of the letter B were accidentally removed from the word San Gabriel. The error was never corrected, and the error is found on all subsequent discs made with mold 5. This also proves that WFS7 and WFS8 were made before WFS12.

There is a large bump of plastic at the middle of the bottom at the injection point on the disc. The bump looks like it is made up of two smaller bumps. The reversed number 5 is hidden underneath. Why is the mold number hidden?

Date Introduced: 1965

In 1964-1965, Wham-O signed several nationwide agreements with major consumer brands, such as Procter & Gamble (Top Job), Coca-Cola, New York World's Fair 1964-1965 and Indianapolis radio station WFBM (WooF•BoomM-erang).

Top Job was an American all-purpose cleaner launched by Procter & Gamble in 1963. The product was particularly known for its ammonia content, which made it effective at removing grease and stubborn dirt. The label says that the Flying Saucer was free ("FREE!") when you bought a bottle of Top Job all-purpose cleaner. The advertisement and Flying Saucer are from 1965.

The Coca Cola advertisements included the familiar slogan: "Take an extra carton of Coke". "Carton" referred to the typical 6-bottle cardboard carrier at the time. This ad was also an invitation to buy a multi-pack of Coca-Cola, which would give you a free Flying Saucer. The advertisement and Flying Saucer are from 1965.

This is what the 1965 Coca-Cola campaign advertisement looked like, highlighting that very "Carton" packaging (cardboard carrier).

Wham-O Regular 5 pat. pend. Mold 5

In 1966, Wham-O changed the Flying Saucers to Regulars. The front of the disc was significantly changed. The planets, portholes, Flying Saucer text, and four rings were removed. Inner and outer Flying Rings were added. Mold 5 has 12 inner and 30 outer flight rings. The texts Wham-O and Frisbee were enlarged and the font was changed. The ® symbol after the word Frisbee was also changed. Flying Saucer molds can be identified by the ® symbol, just like regular molds. Each Regular has a unique ® symbol. In mold 5, the loop of the letter R is oblong. When Flying Saucer became Regular ® the appearance of the symbol remained the same. Only the size of the symbol changed from five millimeters to six millimeters.

One more line was added below the faded Des. Pat. text. The bottom line reads PAT. PEND., with a slightly smaller font size used on the other lines. This makes this script a unique 7-line script.

There was no visible mold number in WFS12, but in the first Regular version, a small number 5 was added. The number 5 is correct.

There are four different versions of 5 Mold Pat.Pend. Regular.

1. DES. PAT. is dimly visible, small number 5.

2. DES. PAT. is hidden under several x's, small number 5.

3. DES. PAT. is hidden under several x's, number is not visible.

4. DES. PAT. is hidden under several x's,big number 5.

Date Introduced: 1966