# A walk down memory lane - kid's toys



## Gark (Nov 29, 2012)

What were your favorite toys as a kid- say, 15 or younger? Some were just fun and some were both fun and educational. Some still around but most long gone. My best toys were:
 Visible V-8 Engine, Rocket Radio, Erector Sets, Daisy cock BB gun, electric train, Chemistry Set, slot cars, Wrist-rocket sling shot, paint-by-numbers, model cars & ships, archery set, telescope, wood-burning tool (like a soldering pencil) and other stuff no longer around.


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## BrotherBart (Nov 29, 2012)

Robert The Robot


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## cricketfarmer (Nov 30, 2012)

My favorite toy was a Johnny Seven One Man Army. I can't count the number of bad guys I killed with that bad boy.


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## nate379 (Nov 30, 2012)

Tonka trucks.  My brother and I would do "road building" and "snow removal" with them.


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## MasterMech (Nov 30, 2012)

Gark said:


> Some still around but most long gone. My best toys were:
> Visible V-8 Engine


 
Those are still around but doubt any kids today know what a Packard is/was. 

I still have mine.

I had an impressive fleet of Ertl die-cast model farm tractors and implements. Between the playroom, my bedroom, and the upstairs hallway (House was a Centerhall Colonial) I had quite the spread. Every few days or so I had the finest crop of medium shag anybody could offer.  
Upgraded the machine shed from lincoln logs to a nice 48" x 36" playwood barn with a loft!


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## fishingpol (Nov 30, 2012)

GI Joe with Kung Fu grip.








Footlocker too.







Also, anything that could get an object launched at someone. Elastic band guns, makeshift see saws to launch rocks, model rockets...


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## Jack Straw (Nov 30, 2012)

We were dirt poor, I had a stick with a 3' piece of string tied to it with a rock tied to the other end of the string. Well that's what I told my daughter when she was young and wanted something.

I remember  SST racers, rockem sockem robots, I had the cars that would smash into each other and the doors and and the hood and trunk would fly off but I can't remember what they were called.

EDIT: They were called Smash Up Derby Cars


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## Adios Pantalones (Nov 30, 2012)

At 15? Dungeons and Dragons, Estes rockets, anything that would launch a projectile, illegal fireworks


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## FrankMA (Nov 30, 2012)

cricketfarmer said:


> My favorite toy was a Johnny Seven One Man Army. I can't count the number of bad guys I killed with that bad boy.


 
I've been trying to remember the name of that for years! My friends and I used to play Army all the time and that was my favorite weapon. I liked the pistol that could be accessed if someone got the drop on you. You'd throw the rifle part down to the ground but would release the pistol quickly allowing you to "shoot" the other guy before he knew what was happening.

OK, I'll go back to reality now, but it was fun while it lasted... I felt like I was back in the late 60's again!


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## jharkin (Nov 30, 2012)

By 15 I think I had mostly given up toys for video games, bmx bikes, skateboard, etc.  When I was younger some of my favorites included:

Legos - especially Lego technics
HO scale model train layout my Dad built for me
RC cars (later RC airplanes as an adult  )
Estes model rockets
Transformers and GI Joe action figures
Star Wars toys
matchbox cars


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## ironpony (Nov 30, 2012)

A set for melting lead and pouring it into molds to make lead figurines. now what was I saying..........................


get it ?? memory loss from lead poisining


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## firefighterjake (Nov 30, 2012)

Lincoln Logs . . . Legos . . . Slot car racing track . . . Fun Pad . . . Matchbox cars.

My favorite toy and Christmas memory however was a simple plastic Paris sled (made in Paris, Maine) . . . my brother and I woke up early one Christmas morning and there were sleds under the tree for all of us kids. Luckily enough on Christmas Eve we had freezing rain that had turned the long hill on the road outside our home into an ice rink. Since it was early and Christmas morning no one had ventured out yet . . . including the sanding truck. We ended up riding those sleds for an hour or so as though we were in training for the Olympics Luge Team. The fun finally ended when the sanding truck came through, ruining our "track."


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## rottiman (Nov 30, 2012)

Most favorite:  Tonka Trucks and Lionel Train set at Xmas.  Least favorite: Wooden paddle with rubber band and rubber ball attached.  Once the rubber band broke, which was fairly quickly, my mother then adapted the left over paddle for a "back side" warmer, and it was my back side that was the test bed!  LOL


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## Thistle (Nov 30, 2012)

Lincoln Logs,Tinkertoys,Lionel Trains,Matchbox,Hot Wheels,Tonka Trucks (the big dump trucks,wheeled crane,end loader all american made steel with the only plastic or hard rubber parts being the tires), model cars/trucks,few other things I dont remember right now.

I had one of these around age 10 - It was in parents attic,the wired remote didnt work as well with age.Took 4 Dcell batteries in that upper boom opposite the 'cab'.Almost 3 ft tall,boom if I remember was close to that.
Placed an ad in local paper just before Christmas almost 10 years ago.Local guy a few years younger than me had one as a child,he wanted this for his 5 yr old son.$35 & both of us were happy.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Hobby-E...racter_Radio_Control_Toys&hash=item3f1ee148bd 

This is cool & much more realistic than the one I had.I may splurge & buy myself one


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## firefighterjake (Nov 30, 2012)

Good thread . . .

Not a Christmas toy . . . and not from my childhood (that would have been the infamous Pong game console and Atari 2600 game console)  . . . but the other day I dug out my old Sega Genesis from a "few" years back to play some old games when my wife mentioned her interest in playing some games.

The bad news: It didn't power on.

The good news: I was able to get a Chinese emulation console at the Dollar Store for $40 which had 40 pre-loaded Sega games and the ability to play my old Sega games.

The bad news: I still stink at playing many of those games . . . I hardly landed any kicks or punches while playing Mortal Kombat.


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## Gark (Nov 30, 2012)

It's interesting to me how the toys of yesteryear sort of directed some of us toward the toys (tools) we use now for the woodburning thing, like saws, splitters and vehicles to move wood. Tonka trucks, incindiary things (fireworks, rockets) and mechanical toys become chainsaws, woodstoves and skidders. For sure many burn by necessity but I really don't have to. "The only difference between men and boys is the size (price) of their toys". My all time favorite toy was a box of those wooden kitchen matches.....


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## firefighterjake (Nov 30, 2012)

Gark said:


> It's interesting to me how the toys of yesteryear sort of directed some of us toward the toys (tools) we use now for the woodburning thing, like saws, splitters and vehicles to move wood. Tonka trucks, incindiary things (fireworks, rockets) and mechanical toys become chainsaws, woodstoves and skidders. For sure many burn by necessity but I really don't have to. "The only difference between men and boys is the size (price) of their toys". *My all time favorite toy was a box of those wooden kitchen matches*.....


 
Hehheh . . . now we have a program for kids like you . . . our juvenile firesetter intervention program.

Of course I always figured the kids that play with matches usually either up as arsonists or firefighters (or perhaps wood burners)   . . . and yes I am kidding as juvenile firesetting can be a serious and sobering issue as many of these kids end up starting fires that injure themselves or others.


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## Pallet Pete (Nov 30, 2012)

We where poor so my uncle made a hand carved train set for us and painted it all kinds of colors. Then when we got older I got a bucket and a cow to milk 

Pete


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## DAKSY (Nov 30, 2012)

Jack Straw said:


> We were dirt poor, I had a stick with a 3' piece of string tied to it with a rock tied to the other end of the string. Well that's what I told my daughter when she was young and wanted something.
> 
> I remember SST racers, rockem sockem robots, I had the cars that would smash into each other and the doors and and the hood and trunk would fly off but I can't remember what they were called.
> 
> EDIT: They were called Smash Up Derby Cars


 
They were called Crashmobiles in the 50s *sigh*


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## DAKSY (Nov 30, 2012)

Baseball glove & a ball. Moved around a lot as a USAF brat & I could entertain myself for hours with a wall or a roof or a set of stairs to throw against. Think "Hilts - The Cooler King" (Steve McQueen) in The Great Escape.


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## yooperdave (Nov 30, 2012)

Probably the best gift a kid could get would come in a long  box...and when you unwrapped it, you would see the "Winchester" or "Remmington" logo somewhere on the outside of the unopened box!!  Of course, that would be for a bit older kid.  How about the first tape recorder or radio a kid got??


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## Delta-T (Nov 30, 2012)

fire....still playing with it. thats what happened to all my action figures and model boats/cars/planes. Roadblock (of GI Joe) seemed impervious to fire, so he became an astronaut...hitching a ride on a model rocket). I still play with Lego.


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## Jags (Nov 30, 2012)

Remington 870.


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## Gary_602z (Nov 30, 2012)

Hot girlfriend and a new Camaro! First toys that came to mind!

Gary


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## Jags (Nov 30, 2012)

Gary_602z said:


> Hot girlfriend and a new Camaro! First toys that came to mind!
> 
> Gary


 
Pre 15 years old??? (for the car).


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## Gary_602z (Nov 30, 2012)

Jags said:


> Pre 15 years old??? (for the car).


Aw crap! I forgot about the age thingy there! Okay, Pre 15 had to been a Playboy magazine!

Gary


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## Thistle (Nov 30, 2012)

Jags said:


> Pre 15 years old??? (for the car).


 

Oldest brother bought his first car at 14 ('55 Pontiac if I remember for $70) but couldnt drive it without supervision until he was 16.When he was 18 & in Air National Guard bought his first new car - souped up '71 Pinto w/ 2 litre engine,hurst 4 speed,mag wheels & side pipes.


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## FanMan (Nov 30, 2012)

jharkin said:


> By 15 I think I had mostly given up toys for video games...


 
When I was 15 video games were the size of a refrigerator... remember "Pong"?

One of my favorites was the "Phantom Raider".



yooperdave said:


> Probably the best gift a kid could get would come in a long box...and when you unwrapped it, you would see the "Winchester" or "Remmington" logo...


 
I got my daughter a shotgun for her 12th birthday... she had great fun telling her urban school classmates about it... 

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Erector sets... no matter which size you got (like many, my parents bought me the small starter set) the instructions were the same:  a couple of pages of what you could do with the starter set, then dozens more pages showing what you _could_ have built if your parents had sprung for the big one.

Then there was "Major Matt Mason" astronaut toys of the late 1960s...


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## Flatbedford (Nov 30, 2012)

Not in any specific order; Tonka, Matchbox, Ertle, matches and gasoline.


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## lukem (Nov 30, 2012)

Jags said:


> Remington 870.


+1

Still have mine...bagged one this season with it.

Suzuki 125.

And a job farming and landscaping.


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## loon (Nov 30, 2012)

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/11/30/george-barris-to-sell-original-1966-batmobile-at-barrett-jackson/


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## Mrs. Krabappel (Nov 30, 2012)

When I was 11 my parents got me a suitcase for Christmas 
For my birthday in January I got the matching piece


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## FanMan (Nov 30, 2012)

loon said:


> http://www.autoblog.com/2012/11/30/george-barris-to-sell-original-1966-batmobile-at-barrett-jackson/


 
I still have my Corgi Batmobile...


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## MasterMech (Dec 1, 2012)

Thistle said:


> souped up '71 Pinto w/ 2 litre engine,hurst 4 speed,mag wheels & side pipes.


 
WTH?!   

And kids today think they invented hot-rodding 4 bangers....


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## yooperdave (Dec 1, 2012)

Mrs. Krabappel said:


> When I was 11 my parents got me a suitcase for Christmas
> For my birthday in January I got the matching piece


 So then...you moved out on your 12th birthday???


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## yooperdave (Dec 1, 2012)

MasterMech said:


> WTH?!
> 
> And kids today think they invented hot-rodding 4 bangers....


 Man, what a waste!!  There were still plenty of V-8's to be had .


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## Thistle (Dec 1, 2012)

yooperdave said:


> Man, what a waste!! There were still plenty of V-8's to be had .


 

Actually he did no mods to the car,it was like that on dealer's showroom floor when he bought it.


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## Gasifier (Dec 1, 2012)

Adios Pantalones said:


> At 15? Dungeons and Dragons, Estes rockets, anything that would launch a projectile, illegal fireworks


 
I could not help but laugh histerically at your response. How did your response make me think "I can understand the word illegal being in this guys toy description!"  We did a few "illegal" things when we were young as well.  Good one. Understandable from a guy who's computer name is goodbye pants. Is your name because of the group or no?


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## Adios Pantalones (Dec 1, 2012)

Gasifier- yes, the band name inspired me. I liked the name, but really don't know their music. (Sort of a funk jam band deal.)


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## JoeyD (Dec 1, 2012)

Elector sets, Hot Wheels, G.I. Joe, before kung fu grip, looking through this thread brings back a lot of memories.


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## Blue Vomit (Dec 2, 2012)

Stretch armstrong... With the toxic goo inside.


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## Pallet Pete (Dec 2, 2012)

Gary_602z said:


> Hot girlfriend and a new Camaro! First toys that came to mind!
> 
> Gary


 
Your parents must have been cool 

Pete


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## Swedishchef (Dec 2, 2012)

Mrs. Krabappel said:


> When I was 11 my parents got me a suitcase for Christmas
> For my birthday in January I got the matching piece


 lol


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## Thistle (Dec 2, 2012)

On New Years Day once I asked Dad if I could go ice fishing.He told me to wait until it was warmer.


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## Retired Guy (Dec 5, 2012)

BrotherBart said:


> Robert The Robot



 Brings back memories. Went to NYC on a family trip in '55 as a 7 yr old. Mom and Dad bought me one at a toy store. Played with it on the train all the way to Utica.


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## BrowningBAR (Dec 6, 2012)

The Sears Christmas toy catalog was awesome as a child.

As a kid, the toys I craved were GI Joe, Transformers, and Star Wars. I also remember playing Pac-Man on the Atari until my eyes bled. That screen was brutal, it's amazing I'm not blind. Then, in the mid-to-late 80s was Nintendo. And comic books.

The Christmas tree would end up being a GI Joe battle zone for a solid month. We had a fake Christmas tree because my mother insisted I was allergic to real ones. So, I was really able to take advantage of the sturdiness that a fake tree offered. Snipers everywhere. fighter jet wrecks in the upper branches. Tinsel was used as rope, vines, and handcuffs. The motorized train that went around the tree would end up with cardboard armor and makeshift missile launchers.

Ah, Christmas!


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## Mrs. Krabappel (Dec 6, 2012)

BrowningBAR said:


> The Sears Christmas toy catalog was awesome as a child.


 
We (5) loved that thing. My Mom would say "you can pick anything out of the wish book for $10 or less." I remember thinking "Santa has a price limit?"



BrowningBAR said:


> it's amazing I'm not blind.


  A by-product of other excesses I've heard


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## firefighterjake (Dec 6, 2012)

Mrs. Krabappel said:


> We (5) loved that thing. My Mom would say "you can pick anything out of the wish book for $10 or less." I remember thinking "Santa has a price limit?"
> 
> A by-product of other excesses I've heard


 
Zinger! Best one-liner this week


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## Jags (Dec 6, 2012)

Mrs. Krabappel said:


> We (5) loved that thing. My Mom would say "you can pick anything out of the wish book for $10 or less." I remember thinking "Santa has a price limit?"
> 
> A by-product of other excesses I've heard


 
That is why I stopped at the point of needing glasses.


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## Badfish740 (Dec 6, 2012)

firefighterjake said:


> My favorite toy and Christmas memory however was a simple plastic Paris sled (made in Paris, Maine) . . . my brother and I woke up early one Christmas morning and there were sleds under the tree for all of us kids. Luckily enough on Christmas Eve we had freezing rain that had turned the long hill on the road outside our home into an ice rink. Since it was early and Christmas morning no one had ventured out yet . . . including the sanding truck. We ended up riding those sleds for an hour or so as though we were in training for the Olympics Luge Team. The fun finally ended when the sanding truck came through, ruining our "track."


 
The land behind my parents' house drops off sharp into a low lying valley with a creek running through it. At one point there is a washout that very much resembles a luge or bobsled track with about a 150' run and a 60' elevation difference-one winter we strung all of our hoses together and convinced a friend's dad to turn the outside spigot back on after it had snowed. We ended up with a "track" of solid ice that was a hell of a ride on those old Flexible Flyer sleds with the metal runners! There would be three and sometimes four of us crammed on one sled holding on for dear life, dodging trees, and trying to stop the damn thing before we got to the creek at the bottom. All three of us were home for Thanksgiving recently (with kids in tow) and got together telling old stories which led our wives to wonder "how did they ever live to see this day!?"


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## BrowningBAR (Dec 6, 2012)

Mrs. Krabappel said:


> A by-product of other excesses I've heard


Which, again, goes back to the Sears catalog...


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## basod (Dec 8, 2012)

BrowningBAR said:


> Which, again, goes back to the Sear catalog...


So you weren't the only one?


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## CodyWayne718 (Dec 9, 2012)




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## Paulywalnut (Dec 10, 2012)

BrotherBart said:


> Robert The Robot


I had that exact robot. Really cool to see it again.


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