Darth Vader Van

If the Heroes Van represented the Rebel side of Kenner's 1978 SSP experiment, the Darth Vader Van supplied the necessary villain—and did so with all the subtlety of a late-1970s custom van. Sold individually as well as inside the two-van Racing Set, it is a separate retail product with its own dark-side graphics. The toy is fascinating because it is almost completely detached from film reality. Darth Vader never needed a panel van. Kenner did. The company already had an SSP play system children understood, and Star Wars imagery gave it a fresh reason to exist. Mechanically, collectors should judge the van as a racing toy: wheel condition, flywheel response, launching components and body integrity matter as much as the graphic surfaces. The decoration is especially important because it is what transforms an otherwise period-specific racing van into a Star Wars product. Heavy play often le This is the documented first commercial issue for this territory and anchors descendant packaging, variant and reissue records.