Mattel Power Shop - Sam's Toybox

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One of the coolest toys from my youth, I spent many hours with my Mattel Power Shop out in the garage on rainy Saturdays. The neatest thing about this toy was that it was a real woodworking tool, it could cut real wood including hardwood (if you were patient and persistent). My mom and brother were kind enough to throw my Power Shop away when they cleaned out the garage after I moved to Albuquerque in 1987. Thanks guys.

1964 Power Shop

Upon discovering eBay in May of 1998, this is the first toy that I looked for. I was tickled to death to receive the toy and find that it was complete down to including some of the original pieces of scrap wood. Wow. Mattel Item #4401, the toy was packaged with slight variations through the years. This one in which the cardboard cover slips off comes from 1965 or later. Earlier versions had the cardboard attached to the plastic case and cut so that the case would open with the cardboard still around it. In later years, the toy was sold without the plastic case at all (mine came with no case, my parts were stored in a 1972 Aurora Glow Creature box, also discarded by my family -- ARGH!!!).

The instruction manual from a Power Shop. The manual has a tear-out order form that allowed one to order spare parts for the Power Shop as well as Thingmaker, Vac-u-Form, and Linoprinter accessories. Boy do I wish I could use this order form today - $.60 for a box of Vac-u-Form sheets! This is the parts list for the Power Shop. Since you really can't read it I will tell you that there is one of each item shown with the following exceptions: 3 jigsaw blades, 3 thumb screws, 4 pattern clips, 3 sanding sticks, 3 sandpaper discs, and 2 different tool bits.

Power Shops as All Four Tools

Here's something you don't see everyday - four Power Shops each set up as a different tool. It would, of course, be very frivolous to own four Power Shops and I am not frivolous, I borrowed the front left toy from my dear friend Jeff. One of the Power Shops I own was purchased for parts and is mostly incomplete.

1978 Power Shop

In 1978 Mattel re-issued the Power Shop in a new kinder, gentler, politically correct, can't possibly cut one's fingers version. A lesser version that is operated via a crank, this one can only cut thin balsa wood and is not nearly as cool as the original 1960s version.

Name:	Power Shop
Manufacturer:	Mattel
Vintage:	1964-197?, 1978
Obtained:	eBay, local toyshop, borrowed from a friend.
Other Links:	Power Shop Instruction Manual Scans of Jigsaw Block
Look for it:	Search eBay Auctions - Current Search eBay Auction - Completed

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Contact me: Sam Cancilla, sam@samstoybox.com.

Last Modified: February 11, 2004

One of the coolest toys from my youth, I spent many hours with my Mattel Power Shop out in the garage on rainy Saturdays. The neatest thing about this toy was that it was a real woodworking tool, it could cut real wood including hardwood (if you were patient and persistent). My mom and brother were kind enough to throw my Power Shop away when they cleaned out the garage after I moved to Albuquerque in 1987. Thanks guys.



Upon discovering eBay in May of 1998, this is the first toy that I looked for. I was tickled to death to receive the toy and find that it was complete down to including some of the original pieces of scrap wood. Wow. Mattel Item #4401, the toy was packaged with slight variations through the years. This one in which the cardboard cover slips off comes from 1965 or later. Earlier versions had the cardboard attached to the plastic case and cut so that the case would open with the cardboard still around it. In later years, the toy was sold without the plastic case at all (mine came with no case, my parts were stored in a 1972 Aurora Glow Creature box, also discarded by my family -- ARGH!!!).


The instruction manual from a Power Shop. The manual has a tear-out order form that allowed one to order spare parts for the Power Shop as well as Thingmaker, Vac-u-Form, and Linoprinter accessories. Boy do I wish I could use this order form today - $.60 for a box of Vac-u-Form sheets!	This is the parts list for the Power Shop. Since you really can't read it I will tell you that there is one of each item shown with the following exceptions: 3 jigsaw blades, 3 thumb screws, 4 pattern clips, 3 sanding sticks, 3 sandpaper discs, and 2 different tool bits.


Here's something you don't see everyday - four Power Shops each set up as a different tool. It would, of course, be very frivolous to own four Power Shops and I am not frivolous, I borrowed the front left toy from my dear friend Jeff. One of the Power Shops I own was purchased for parts and is mostly incomplete.


In 1978 Mattel re-issued the Power Shop in a new kinder, gentler, politically correct, can't possibly cut one's fingers version. A lesser version that is operated via a crank, this one can only cut thin balsa wood and is not nearly as cool as the original 1960s version.