Cool Christmas Toys - When You Were a Kid

[GregGleason]

I remember when I was growing up, there was a Christmas or two that I got some really cool toys.

One Christmas I got a GI Joe Mercury capsule, a Mattel X-15 (the one you ride), and a large dinosaur book.

Still have fond memories of it.

Greg

 

[Eric1]

Metal X19 three wheeled steel ride of terror (1966)!
Everything space you can name!

OOPS! It was an X15! Long time gone Ya know!

 

[NJRick]

Major Matt Mason!!

 

[RWmarlow]

Deluxe Reading "Jimmy Jet" And Mattel "Power Shop"

 

[Gary Byrum]

I had this killer Vac U Form by Mattel. LW Bercini still has his.



And I had this Cape Canaveral set complete with a rocket launcher. No pic available though. I used to crash my brother's Fort Apache set with my rocket launcher.

 

[Gary Byrum]

[/ATTACH] And Mattel "Power Shop" View attachment 107812

Oh SHOOT! I had one of those also. Great toy! It's no wonder I wanted to take wood shop in Jr High.

 

[kenstarr]

Laser tag! I still remember when all the cousins got a Nintendo but not us. My parents made me and my sister save up and get one by ourselves.
-Ken

 

[GregGleason]

Found this on YouTube on the X-15:

[YOUTUBE]8iwEJzLw7_Y[/YOUTUBE]

Boy, that brought back memories.

Greg

 

[Scotty Dog]

Lost in Space robot.
Batman battery car. With attached cord,that turned left in reverse only.
Creepy Crawler set.
Erector set.
Water rockets.
Gas Station.
Wood burning set.
Tonka Trucks.
Models

 

[Rockhiitt]

 

[Gary Byrum]

Broke my heart when this came out. I was too big for one of them.

 

[rstaff3]

For me, what comes to mind includes:

-A spring powered rocket base with a large Atlas-like missile and two banks of Hawks. The Atlas would take a cap in it's nose and would hit the roof of my grandparents high ceiling.
-Man from Uncle gun set
-Erector set
-Chemistry set
-Creeple Peeple
-Anything dinosaur
-And, of course, early Estes rockets

 

[cvanc]

View attachment 107833

I HAD THAT TOO I LOVED THAT THING

Does anyone remember the battery powered cars you "programmed" with a long flat card you cut notches into the edge of? There was a primitive card reader on the underside of the car. The card controlled the steering. What the heck were they called?

 

[JPVegh]

Hot wheels sizzlers race set with the juice machine and red Mach 1.

TinkerToys! I would spend hours building stuff and tearing it down and rebuilding.

Portable reel to reel tape recorder. Not really a toy but I had tons of fun with it and would take it everywhere I went.

Sheridan Blue Streak. This is the only present from my youth that I still have, 40 years old and still in good shape, quality lasts.

 

[NJRick]

I had one of those too!! it was awesome.....built many bridges for my hot wheel cars...I loved that thing

View attachment 107833

 

[NJRick]

Sizzlers were another cool toy!

Hot wheels sizzlers race set with the juice machine and red Mach 1.

TinkerToys! I would spend hours building stuff and tearing it down and rebuilding.

Portable reel to reel tape recorder. Not really a toy but I had tons of fun with it and would take it everywhere I went.

Sheridan Blue Streak. This is the only present from my youth that I still have, 40 years old and still in good shape, quality lasts.

 

[T-Rex]

We weren't allowed to have anything cool at my house, no GI Joe, no Creepy Crawlers (even though my Dad made the master dies for the molds). Major Matt Mason was as edgy as it got. Lincoln Logs, Legos (the plain brick kind where you had to use your imagination). My oldest brother had Erector Set, trains, and a chemistry set. Middle brother and I got an Aurora HO slot car set one year.
Tinker toys, Toosie Toys (cheap Matchbox cars)
Dad didn't want to get us anything too cool, because I would ususally take things apart to see how they worked, never seemed to get them back together again.

We each had the coveted Flexible Flyer sled.... Bicycles of course...


Terry

 

[hornet driver]

Yup, GI.Joe capsule--Hot Wheels--Maj MAT was TOO COOL , Wish I still had all that stuff. I always got a lot of models back then--and I mean a lot--I could'nt afford that these days!!!

 

[Fred22]

Guys who remembers the U-fly-it aircraft carrier. My coolest toy ever.

 

[Davidtmp]

Had the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with the Mickey Weeble Wobbles when younger.
When I was probably 11 or 12 I got the big Slot Track in the Sears Christmas Catalog. Came with the 440X2 cars that blew the doors off of the old tyco slot cars we had from my brothers childhood. Still have the track in the attic in a box. Will have to get it out one day and play around with the kids, show them what fun REAL toys are like.

 

[T-Rex]

I've been looking at buying a slot car set. Grand kids moved in for a while, so it could be a good thing. (Their mom lets them build rockets, as long as there is not "smelly glue or paint" and as long as we don't launch them, "I don't trust them around the fire")

 

[hcmbanjo]

My favorite was the Creeple People Thingmaker from Mattel.



Imagine today, giving a hotplate to a child.
Pouring liquid rubber into metal molds and heating it on the hotplate.
Then picking up the heated mold with a "coat hanger" handle and plunging it into cold water.
I still remember the "Hissssss" when the mold was set in the square, red plastic water tray.
Toys today are too safe. We had it rough, but we had it good.

 

[hornet driver]

I can't count the times I burned myself with the creepy crawly set or the vac-u-form---Damn I should have sued

 

[SecretSquirrel]

 

[spaceclipper]

Aurora Thunderjet slot cars, Aurora "Ready Ranger Back Pack", snare drum, woodburning set, Astrolight, water rockets.Can't forget SSP smash em up cars and Marx dinosaur play set.

 

[Pantherjon]

One Christmas I got a GI Joe Mercury capsule,

Wow, I got one of those too! At one point I had 2 of those OD green foot lockers full of GI Joe stuff! Wish I still had it, but went through a 'blow things up' stage and pretty much blew it all up with M-80's

The COOLEST gift I got was when I was like 8 or 9..Was a battery powered jeep that would traverse a track you built..The track was like railroad tracks with the cross pieces(this is what the jeep grabbed to propel itself)..I remember my dad helping me put the track together and he got so disappointed that one of the pieces broke on him(I was kind of bummed as well)..Was a COOL toy- even WITH the broken track piece..

 

[SecretSquirrel]

The COOLEST gift I got was when I was like 8 or 9..Was a battery powered jeep that would traverse a track you built..The track was like railroad tracks with the cross pieces(this is what the jeep grabbed to propel itself)..I remember my dad helping me put the track together and he got so disappointed that one of the pieces broke on him(I was kind of bummed as well)..Was a COOL toy- even WITH the broken track piece..

The Remco Mighty Mike Camelback Skyway?

 

[JPVegh]

The Christmas catalogs were almost as much fun as the gifts themselves. We would get one from each of the big three(sears, wards, penneys) every year. I could spend hours thumbing through those pages, day dreaming of the really cool stuff I would never get, like the Benelli minibike. Do kids still do that or has the catalog gone the way of the dinosaur?

 

[Pantherjon]

The Remco Mighty Mike Camelback Skyway?

no..Close tho...The track was either orange or yellow, and wasn't a rigid plastic..Track was 1.5-2" across..About the same scale as an 'O' scale railroad(I think)..

 

[Fishhead]

Broke my heart when this came out. I was too big for one of them.

View attachment 107834

Yeah, I think they were rated for 80 pounds and I was already 85. I eventually did get to ride one, but I was so tall that I couldn't use the seat or pedal. We started at the top of Valley View Drive and hit terminal velocity by the time we got to the bottom, where we'd hit the Vallandingham's driveway and go airborne. Cool points were given for extra violent crashes. Somehow we managed to not break any bones, lose any teeth, or otherwise maim ourselves. And I think we entertained the neighborhood.