Winchester Crusty the Cat V1 (Animatronic)

Crusty Promo Photo (1977)

Release: May 1977 - 1984
Units Produced: 1
Manufacturer: Fantasy Forest

Winchester Crusty the Cat (V1) was an animatronic created by Harold Goldbrandsen of Fantasy Forest in 1977 for the Pizza Time Theatre on San Jose, CA (370 S Winchester Blvd) as an animatronic version of Crusty the Cat. The bot was controlled & programmed through the Winchester Control System & Winchester Hardware Setup. The bot was used until Summer 1978, when the bot replaced with Winchester Crusty the Cat V2 (Animatronic). The bot was sent to The Sunnyvale, CA (1213 Innsbruck Drive), where it remained until 1984.

History

Crusty was the second animatronic built by Harold Goldbrandsen for the Winchester Blvd location after Winchester Chuck E. Cheese V1 (Animatronic). His original design called for him to wear a baseball cap to go along with his jersey, which was never implemented on the animatronic. The bot was placed in the Left main diner entrance corner wall.

Replacement

In Summer 1978, Crusty, was upgraded to Winchester Crusty the Cat V2 (Animatronic) alongside Chuck E. Cheese (V1) to match the mechanics of the other bots, since Chuck E. and Crusty were the earliest models of the set. After this, Crusty was presumably sent to the Sunnyvale, CA (1213 Innsbruck Drive). After PTT vacated the building due to bankruptcy, Crusty would, along with many of Winchester’s animatronics would be considered lost, as its fate has not been revealed- although the most likely option is it was thrown away.

Design

Crusty the Cat was a half-bodied figure which was fixed to the backdrop, similar to the original Chuck E. Cheese animatronic. Crusty wore a blue and yellow basketball jersey which read ‘Swingers 13’ in yellow text. His eyelids are blue fabric, with green rounded eyes, unlike Chuck E’s black eyes. His face is covered in short white fabric, with thicker black fur covering his head. Originally, it was planned to give Crusty flashing lights behind his eyes to add to his appearance of apprehension.

Movements

Sadly, due to no videos of Crusty in store or after his use in the store exist, the motions can be inferred due to his design being nearly identical to V1 Chuck E. Cheese and the few existing photos we have of him.

Installations