Key: Vibroplex Lightning Bug Deluxe
Serial: 119119
Vintage: 1942
Acquired: April 14, 2026
Plate: D5 | 833 Broadway N.Y. | 6 Patents + Others Pending
Base: Chrome-plated
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Review
Introduced in 1927, the seventh production Vibroplex (called the “#6”, oddly) introduced a few drastic changes to the semi-automatic bug. The cast frame and damper assemblies found on the previous Vibroplexes were replaced with a stamped sheet metal assembled frame and M-shaped damper and the pendulum rod was replaced with a flat bar. These new components would reemerge in 1939 on the Champion and Zephyr models.
The Lightning Bug, as it would come to be called, was first offered with a black japanned base as well as the optional nickel-plated base. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Lightning Bug could also be gotten with red, green, or blue bases. The Lightning Bug is one of only three Vibroplex bug models that ever got the Deluxe makeover, beginning in 1939.
During the Second World War, the U.S. government required rationing of certain metals, which included chromium. With a majority of chromium being used to support the country’s war efforts, manufacturers were forced to find alternatives. As a result, the Vibroplex company provided its Deluxe model bugs with a “Battleship Gray” crackle base instead of the usual chrome-plated base. These bugs would retain the same jeweled trunnion screws and bright, deluxe top parts and red finger pieces. As soon as the war ended and the rationing of goods stopped, the chrome-plated bases returned, resulting in WW2-era “Battleship Gray” deluxe models for the Original, Lightning Bug, and Blue Racer being a bit of a collector’s item.
The Lightning Bug design was cloned to make several Vibroplex and non-Vibroplex bugs. The J-36 military bug was just a Lightning Bug with a black crackle base and a different nameplate and was offered to the Signal Corps beginning in 1935 and into the early 1940s. The Lionel model train company also produced a J-36 bug for the Signal Corps.
Collectible Lightning Bugs would include early models with the colored bases. The World War II deluxe models with the Battleship Gray bases are also quite collectible.
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