Ace-Garageguy Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 German wind-up toys were wonderful little exercises in precision machining. I had a wind-up Mercedes I hadn't thought of in years...until you mentioned that very cool little set above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1930fordpickup Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 I was the last of the 4 boys in the family. So The only new stuff I got was Matchbox and a few Tonka trucks and Tractor toys. But being last in line meant all there stuff was fair game. So slot cars and trains (when they were not home) was also in the mix. as I also had a few (7) sisters people would give my dad their grown kids toy boxes with assorted toys. You would never know what was inside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dieseldawg142 Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 (edited) ...... Edited May 10, 2018 by dieseldawg142 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disabled modeler Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 Some great memories seeing all these old one gents...thanks. I was always into vehicle related stuff...and I saved most of my childhood ones but there gone now for the most part sadly. Some I had were these...Smash up derby set with the 57 Ford and 57 Chevy wagon?Spin welders set.Normatt Winnebago motorhome.many Evil Kenevil sets.Old early 70s issued Monogram show rod kits.60s-70s promo cars.Hot Wheels and sets.Slot car tracks.and many model kits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikemodeler Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 Anybody have Tonka trucks? My friends and I had a ton of them. We would spend all day playing with them.I still have several of mine from when I was young. A Winnebago motor home, a wrecker and a Jeepster and boat/trailer combo. I had countless others that were left outside and rusted, but have fond memories of digging the backyard and playing for hours with friends with mine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikemodeler Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 Also should mention that I was about 5 when Hot Wheels came to the market. I had already been collecting and playing with Matchbox cars when Hot Wheels came out and at one point I had over 200 of them! I am the youngest of 4 kids and I was lucky that my oldest brother and sister would buy them for me when I was young, often to keep me quiet when they had to watch me! I still have my Hot Wheels tracks, wish I still had my Sizzlers race cars and Aurora HO slot car track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kit Basher Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 (edited) I still have this: and these: The bus was dug up from the sandbox when my Mom was converting it to a flower garden. I've also got a Structo construction set with dump truck, concrete truck, front end loader, and sand hopper. My Dad's old Lionel, and my Uncle's Marx train. I had one of those Mold Master things that would make cars, tanks, jeeps, and boats. You couldn't sell one of those now, they would burn the stink out of you! I had an Erector set that would make military vehicles: tank, halftrack, bulldozer, jeep. I took that apart and put it together a lot of times. Edited May 8, 2016 by Kit Basher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TooOld Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 (edited) I got started really early with Matchbox cars and Tonka trucks but When I was around 6 or 7 my brother and I shared this one . Mattel's V-rroom was about a foot long and was battery powered . It just went in circles while you held the stick attached by a string , made engine sounds , and was lots of fun for a little kid ! When I was eight I got a real remote control car ! The Crusader 101 was about two feet long and even had a spare and tools in the trunk to change the tires ! Edited May 8, 2016 by TooOld Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted May 8, 2016 Author Share Posted May 8, 2016 Remember those toy car dashboards? I had one, but can't remember the brand name. It was really big, and had all sorts of buttons and knobs and stuff that worked. You could sit at the table with the dash in front of you and pretend to drive. Mine looked something like this, but I don't think I had this exact one... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake45 Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 Remember those toy car dashboards? I had one, but can't remember the brand name. It was really big, and had all sorts of buttons and knobs and stuff that worked. You could sit at the table with the dash in front of you and pretend to drive. Mine looked something like this, but I don't think I had this exact one... They sold things like that at the grocery store we went to around Christmastime. Might have been made by Topper, who did several things in that market. I think I MIGHT have had a car dashboard very early, but it wasn't anywhere near as elaborate at this one. I did have an airplane one. It was called Flying Fox and had a model Lockheed Electra airliner mounted on it. The motors ran and the landing gear retracted and I think it even moved around. Was made by Remco and I think they go for big bux on ePay these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 Cool toys, gennelmen. Great thread. I'd forgotten this one until just now. International Rectifier "solar" model car. The solar cell didn't make enough power to run the thing, which was a actually powered by batteries, but it controlled a transistor switching circuit that would turn the power to the electric motor on and off. Can't find a pic of it out of the box, but mine was black. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GLMFAA1 Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 Oh boy did you open the toy box. Having two older brothers lots of military stuff, and cowboy paraphernalia from fanner 50's to hop a long Cassidy bed clothes. Lots of Marx play sets, knights, Roy Rogers, cape Canaveral and construction. Along with the Tonka fire pumper you needed the Marx ladder truck. Don't forget the Smith Miller trucks, Great Mack replicas, loved the tow truck, Customizing must have been in my blood, used house paint to paint my brown Jewel T Tonka delivery van. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted May 8, 2016 Author Share Posted May 8, 2016 Here's another one I had... the "Alcan Highway Torture Track" from Ideal. It was sort of a slot car set where the cars had to go through several "torture tests" like the steering test, the "crash through a brick wall" test, the jump test, etc. But the cars were battery operated, not run through a controller like a "normal" slot car. So besides coming up with the track layout, all you could do was switch the cars on and put them on the track and just watch. No way to control them. It was sort of boring, actually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petetrucker07 Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 Hot Wheels, Matchbox and Tonka. I played in the dirt and mud. I'm so glad my generation was before those ______ video games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 How'd you guys get this far into this thread without mentioning the Mattel Vac-U-Form and Creepy Crawler sets? I have this unit now and I use it to make windshields. When you look at it today you wonder how these open hot plates ever got approved for use. I remember burning my fingers as a second grader. And setting it up on my bed! I can only imagine how many houses got burned down! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted May 8, 2016 Author Share Posted May 8, 2016 I also had this remote control plastic tank, from the Sears catalog, that exploded if you ran over the hidden "land mine" under the play mat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted May 8, 2016 Author Share Posted May 8, 2016 I also had this big American Airlines jet by Marx (actually manufactured by Japanese tin toy company Yonezawa). The plane would taxi, then stop, and the door would open and the flight attendant (or stewardess, as they were still called back then), would sort of glide out to "greet" you. I bet if you had one of these today, in good condition, it would be worth a lot to a tin toy collector. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kit Basher Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 Dang, Harry! You had some cool toys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted May 8, 2016 Author Share Posted May 8, 2016 Dang, Harry! You had some cool toys! I sure did! My parents were very generous. And these are just the automotive or vehicle toys. Then there was all the cowboy holsters, all the building sets, all the board games, and more. I sure wish I still had all that stuff today. I would make a fortune on Ebay! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted May 8, 2016 Author Share Posted May 8, 2016 Oh, I just remembered... on the American Airlines jet... when the door opened and the stewardess came out, the faces of the passengers in the windows disappeared (like they had gotten off the plane). When the door closed, the passengers reappeared in the windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 Your description of the operation of the airliner triggered a memory of another one I haven't thought of for probably 50 years. ITC (Ideal) made a 2-foot long electric (battery, multiple D-cells) diving submarine kit. It was complicated, and had what they called "cam action" that was run by the electric motor that also drove the prop. The cam would activate the dive planes and rudder, sending the thing into turns and actually diving under water and surfacing. Sorta. If I remember right, the seals on the prop shaft, rudder and dive plane shafts were nothing but Vaseline. They leaked. Duh. One end or the other would get heavy and she would stop responding to control inputs and sink to the bottom of the pool. The battery life wasn't much either, and driving all the action parts would only give you power for a few minutes. A very few. And my parents, though generous, wouldn't buy D-cell batteries by the gross. The thing looked cool sitting on the stand, whirring its prop and cycling its control surfaces...but in water, she wasn't too impressive. After she sank repeatedly through one whole summer, I gave up (though I learned to hold my breath and swim under water quite well). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake45 Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 How'd you guys get this far into this thread without mentioning the Mattel Vac-U-Form and Creepy Crawler sets? I have this unit now and I use it to make windshields. When you look at it today you wonder how these open hot plates ever got approved for use. I remember burning my fingers as a second grader. And setting it up on my bed! I can only imagine how many houses got burned down! Probably because the thread started, at least, about automotive related toys. My cousing had that VacuForm. I talked her out of it sometime in the '70s, and I still have and use it to this day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xingu Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 I can remember having side by side hot wheels tracks with loops, Evel Knievel stunt bike and Guns of Navarone giant playset. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Geiger Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 Probably because the thread started, at least, about automotive related toys. My cousing had that VacuForm. I talked her out of it sometime in the '70s, and I still have and use it to this day. Umm, the thread is called "Automotive (and other) toys...." And I did make the little vacuformed car that came with the Vac-U-Form many times! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted May 8, 2016 Author Share Posted May 8, 2016 Your description of the operation of the airliner triggered a memory of another one I haven't thought of for probably 50 years... Yep, same here! That Sears tank, for instance... I had totally forgotten that I ever had it, but ran across it while googling other toys. I saw the image on google and thought "Hey! I remember that! I had that!" I'm getting memories back that haven't been active in my brain for 50 years! That's why I like this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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