A walk down memory lane - kid's toys

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.
Gark

Gark

Minister of Fire
Jan 27, 2007
808
SW Michigan
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.
 
Robert The Robot

 
Gark said:
Some still around but most long gone. My best toys were:
Visible V-8 Engine
Click to expand...

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

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. ::-) :p
Upgraded the machine shed from lincoln logs to a nice 48" x 36" playwood barn with a loft!
 
GI Joe with Kung Fu grip.


th


Footlocker too.


th


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

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!
 
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
 
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
 
  • Like
Reactions: Eatonpcat and Jack Straw
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."
 
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
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gark and Jack Straw
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 ;)
 
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.
 
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.....
 
  • Like
Reactions: basod
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.....
Click to expand...

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.
 
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 ;lol

Pete
 
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
Click to expand...

They were called Crashmobiles in the 50s *sigh*
 
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.
 
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??
 
  • Like
Reactions: MasterMech
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.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom
Back