Where To Watch
10 collectable fast food glasses we still want
Did you collect these glasses featuring Jedi, Muppets, cavemen, pandas, frightened knights and more?
Top image: AP Photo/Steven Senne
It's a challenge to raise a toast at your local Burger King. Tapping a plastic fork against a waxy paper cup just isn't an attention-getter. It's just one of the many reasons why wedding receptions are generally not held in fast food restaurants.
Back in the 1970s and '80, however, having a family meal at the local Mickey D's was a classier affair. They served drinks in glass! Honest-to-god shatter-able glass. You could totally clink two tall glasses of Pepsi together in celebration. And there was reason to celebrate. The bigger fast food chains all offered collectible glasses featuring favorite characters. There were glasses for blockbuster movies and daily comic strips, Christmas and wildlife.
Let's take a look at some of our favorite. Did you collect any of these? No worries, they're easy to find on eBay.
1. Burger Chef's King Kong glasses
1976
King Kong is still a star, but Burger Chef is a faded memory now, best known as a Mad Men plot point to younger folk. This set of four celebrated the Jeff Bridges remake that brought the big ape to the top of the World Trade Center.
Image: Paxton Holley / Flickr
2. Burger King's Star Wars Glasses
1977, 1980, 1983
Jedi mind tricks were not needed. There are the glasses you were looking for. Every kid seemed to have a Star Wars glass from Burger King in his or her cupboard. A set of four was released with each installment of the original trilogy. We are particularly fond of the Empire Strikes Back set. Boba Fett and Lando keep a drink cool without ice.
Image: Paxton Holley / Flickr
3. Hardee's Looney Tunes glasses
1977
Pepsi offered Looney Tunes collector's glasses earlier in 1973, featuring its iconic cartoon characters. Those had just one character per glass. In 1977, Hardee's released this fun set that brought, say, Porky and Taz together in an amusing scene.
Image: YouTube
4. McDonald's Character glasses
1977
The McDonaldland characters — Grimace, Mayor McCheese, etc. — got into action poses on this set of six.
Image: jsutton6111 / eBay
5. Burger Chef's Endangered Species glasses
1978
Burger Chef went from fake apes to endangered ones with its wildlife series. There was an orangutan, a panda, a tiger and a bald eagle.
Image: jamjameamon / eBay
6. Burger King's Character Glasses
1979
Not to be outdone by McDonald's (but to inevitably be outdone by McDonald's), Burger King launched its own set of fantasy characters. They were a rather sad lot, with named like Sir Shake-A-Lot and the Duke of Doubts. The Wizard of Fries, who was a robot, was pretty cool, though.
Image: 4danesnj / eBay
7. Arby's B.C. glasses
1981
Johnny Hart's daily comic strip B.C. was a big deal back then. It even had a Thanksgiving special. Arby's also offered up a Tiffany-esque stained glass design with its logo around this time.
Image: fluteflutemadness / eBay
8. McDonald's The Great Muppet Caper glasses
1981
Nobody rides a bicycle with more elan than Kermit. The 1981 movie was the only Muppet feature film directed by Jim Henson. It deserved some glasses.
Image: brenjay / Flickr
9. McDonald's Camp Snoopy glasses
1983
Bonus points if you took these home for serving snow cones from your Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine.
Image: hsiehdy
10. Taco Bell's Star Trek III: The Search for Spock glasses
1984
"Spock Lives," proclaimed the glass with Leonard Nimoy's face. Which was kind of a spoiler alert for those who hadn't seen the movie. Well, not really. Star Trek was not going to keep Spock dead for long.
Related
6 Comments
