Ultimate Cool Toys

[bushy]

In my opinion the coolest toy that ever appeared during the 70's were the Sizzler race cars and track by Mattel. If you were a boy between the ages of 8 and 12 during the early 70's this was a must have. They were the the coolest and had a juice machine that looked like an old 70's gas pump to charge them up. They would run for at least 5 minutes on a single charge and with the fat track design would never wipe out. I was lucky enough to get a set one Christmas I think around 71 or 72 and remember spending my entire Christmas break playing that with my friends.

Also remember:

Major Matt Mason (Astronaut series)
Creepy Crawlers with that Gloop stuff and the molds.

Best toys ever !!!

[tikibob]

Sizzlers


Sizzlers Juice Machine


Sizzlers Fat Track


Hot Wheels


Oh Yeah! ;D Sizzlers were cool! I've been a big fan of Hot Wheels ever since they came out, back in the late 60's. In fact, a friend of mine who lived down the street from me had a father who worked at the original Mattel factory in Torrance, Ca. My friend, who was much older than I, gave me a metallic blue 1967 California Custom Camaro. Wish I still had it. Not for the sake of money, but because of sentimental reasons. I loved it. I still have a few of my original red-line Hot Wheels from the first issued series from the 60's, along with their metal badges, and the very first Hot wheels carrying case, which looks like a racing wheel. Of course, I also have a few from the early 70's too. One of my all time favorites back in the early 70's was the "Jack Rabbit Special." Sizzlers were great too because they didn't have to rely on gravity to make them go. Just juice them up, and let them run on that Fat-Track. They were fast little buggers, weren't they? lol ;D


Major Matt mason

I also loved Major Matt Mason. Another great Mattel toy from the 60's! ;D I had many great adventures with Matt. Remember the space bubble he would travel in? way cool!


Major Matt Mason's Space Bubble


Capt Lazer

Speaking of Major Matt Mason, Remember Capt Lazer? he was from the same Major Matt Mason line. My friend had given me one. Capt Lazer was great! There were buttons on his back pack that when pushed, either his eyes, the symbol on his chest, or the lazer in his hand flashed, which came with clear colored plastic weapons that would shine though. I don't know what happened to my Capt Lazer, but I had to get another. I bought one off of Ebay. ;D


Fright Factory

Oh the memories! I love Creepy Crawlers! ;D Definitely one of the holy grails among the toys from the 1960's! I had so many different items from that toy. One of my favorites was the "Fright Factory" You could make scars, eyes, fangs, that you could attach to your face. Incredibly far out! One of the greatest features about that was Mattel had a goop called "Nite-Glo." It was a goop that glowed in the dark, so when you made all those great items from the molds,they would glow. To me, that was the ultimate! ;D

Thanks again Bushy, for bringing this up. I love it!!

[cheaptrickrocks]

My sister had Mattel's Fun Flowers. You had to pour the goop into the metal molds and bake in the machine.

[Susie]

My brothers had an Eval Kenival (spell?) motorcycle that you pulled the thingy-majigy and it took off like a rocket. I think it did wheelies, too. I played with it more than they did. We loved to play with the boxing robots (I forget what it was called) and when you hit your oponnent in the head, it's head popped up. That was fun.
Chinese checkers, marbles, hoola hoops, and this lemon on a rope that went around your ankle and you skipped with it. They still make these for girls, but not with the lemon. Anybody remember what it was called? It even rattled.
I loved playing with my jacks! In fact, I still have mine. They just don't make them out of good quality metal anymore. Now, if you find jacks, they are flimsy plastic ones that are impossible to pick up. Oh, and pick up sticks. The wooden ones.
Metal lunch boxes. How about Baby-Alive?

[cheaptrickrocks]

I think the robots were called the rock'em sock'em robots. The lemon thing was most recently called Lemon Twist ( my niece had one in the 80s). Back in the 70s it was called Skip it . It was a yellow ring with a green plastic cord and a red plastic bell (instead of a lemon).

[Susie]

I stand corrected...after doing my math, I realize it was the 80's but EARLY EARLY 80's. And if that isn't correct, I don't want to know. I was too old to be playing with such toys, but it was so much fun, I could skip it for hours. Great energy burner.

But, cheaptrickrocks, let me at least say Thank You for reminding me of the name (Lemon Twist) as I had long ago forgotten. Thank You.

Tikibob, can you find a picture of it?

I wonder if I can locate one on ebay? I'd still use it today IF I can still get my "old" bones to stand the jossling. Lord knows I can't even jump rope anymore...I'll get a headache.

And as far as these modern versions they have these days...the quality stinks. I bought my daughters some that they thought looked cool at toys r us and they played with them once, asked me what I saw in such a crap toy, and never played with it again. Kids these days.

[tikibob]

Susie said:

Tikibob, can you find a picture of it?

THE LEMON TWIST

This toy was pretty cool for the girls in my neighborhood. You'd put a shackle around your ankle and then skip in place for hours while a lemon at the end of the rope twirled in a circle. For guys with annoying sisters, this toy was a gift from God to keep them out of your hair for hours. The follow up toy, Aborted Pig Fetus Twist, was a bit too shocking for parents to buy, and was a huge failure for the company.

[bushy]

Tiki,

Where do you find all these amazing pics ?? I definitely look forward to your posts dude ;D

You guys should check out the In the 70's web site under the toys link. Includes a very comprehensive list complete with commentary. This is when of my favorites regarding one of the best games ever, "Battleship"



Battleship
You're not really a parent until you step on one of your kid's toys with your bare feet, and shag rugs just loved to collect the little white pegs that came with this game. They also wound up in the sofa, somehow. "You sank my battleship!" was a common saying in the '70s. Some kids tried to cheat by planting all five ships on top of one another in the same location! Electronic versions of this game appeared in the '80s, but they just weren't the same.

[Susie]

Thanks Tikibob! I knew that if it could be found, you'd be the man.

Battleship. I forgot about that gem. My brothers had one of those too. Again, I played it more than they did. I wouldn't play with them, though. They'd distract me and then peek at my board. I thought they were Battleship Gods for winning all the time.

[Susie]

Oh, I forgot...

I remember everyone always saying "You sunk my battleship!" hahaha I still say it today, if someone says something or does something that "deflates my ego". So funny. My kids don't know what I'm talking about.
And, bushy, I never thought about stacking them on top of each other...I wish I had...maybe I'd've won a few games here and there.

[tikibob]

(Circa 1967)




(Circa 1971)

BATTLESHIP

Description:

An age-old pencil-and-paper public domain game, kept continuously in print by Milton Bradley (now owned by Hasbro) since 1967.

Each player deploys his ships (of lengths varying from 2 to 5 squares) secretly on a square grid. Then each player shoots at the other's grid by calling a location. The defender responds by "Hit!" or "Miss!". You try to deduce where the enemy ships are and sink them. First to do so wins.

An electronic version exists that adds sound effects, and I think there even is one that allows you to soak the opponent when you win. A computer game version is also published by MB, which mercifully adds a whole slew of variants.

Some history of the published versions of the game:

1931: Starex Novelty Co. of NY publishes SALVO.

1933: The Strathmore Co. publishes COMBAT, THE BATTLESHIP GAME.

1943: Milton Bradley publishes the pad-and-pencil game BROADSIDES, THE GAME OF NAVAL STRATEGY.

1940's: Maurice L. Freedman Co. of RI publishes WARFARE NAVAL COMBAT.

1961: Ideal publishes SALVO.

Other titles over the years have included SWISS NAVY, SUNK (Parker Bros.), CONVOY (Transogram), WINGS (Strategy Games Co. of California),.

bushy said:

Tiki,

Where do you find all these amazing pics ??

Ancient Chinese Secret! LOL! ;D

bushy said:

Tiki, I definitely look forward to your posts dude ;D

Susie said:

Thanks Tikibob! I knew that if it could be found, you'd be the man.

Thanks guys!

[tikibob]

Speaking of games, now that it's officially Summer,
How many of us remember these fun toys to help us stay cool?



1961: Slip ‘N Slide finds its way into the backyards of thousands of homes, becoming the popular hot weather pastime for millions of youngsters.



1962: Wild, wacky water fun introduced with Water Wiggle; kids just hook it up to their garden hose to have this friendly looking character come alive.



Frosty the Sno-Man Sno-Cone maker is a toy that if you actually used it on a regular basis would give you the forearms of Popeye. Originally produced in the 1960s.

These toys were a lot of fun! ;D I remember playing with the Slip n' slide and the Water wiggle in my backyard during the summer. All my friends from the neighborhood would come over, and we would have a blast! I used to have the Frosty the Sno-Man Sno-Cone maker, too. It was laborious to do, but it was fun and the snow cones were a treat to eat. Good Times! ;D

[Susie]

Slip'N Slide! Gawd those were fun. A neighbor kid had one of those and we had alot of fun. We begged my folks for one of those, but they said no-can-do and gave us old shower curtains and a hose. A lot shorter slide distance and we all had scratch marks on our upper chests and shoulders when we hit the hard grass. Not fun, so we used and abuse the neighbor kids slip'n slide. He didn't seem to mind, as he was the most popular kid on that block, while supplies lasted....hahaha.

***Hey you guys, I just have to ask you----in the 70's, in my local region anyways, we had these really cool twisted coke bottles filled with colored water. We used to win them at the carnivals. Everyone seemed to have one. I had two. They were made from plain glass coke bottles, you know, the ones with the metal cap tops. Someone must've used a torch and melted the center, twisted them up skinny, and then filled them with colored water and corked off the top.
Was this a national thing/fad...or just in my area? Did you guys have one?

I can remember when coke-a-cola was only sold in glass bottles and on the outside of the store fridge doors they used to have the cap removers mounted. I was never able to quite get my bottle tops off with it without nearly busting the bottle itself and so my dad let me have one of his beer cap removers.
What I don't miss about that time period was the trail of broken glass to and fro the Ice House.

One of the kids my mom babysat for had a Sno-Man Sno-Cone maker. My mom made us do it outside on the patio, but the ice would all melt before we could get a single cone out of it. I, personally, prefered to get my snow-cones from the Snow-Cone Man who drove around town daily. The Snow-Cone Man was like an Ice Cream Man, but he sold ONLY super yummy, soft snow cones that he made up as you waited. He would put on the syrup flavor of your choice and insert a straw. Mmmmm...and only a nickle apiece. Eventually he charged a dime...highway robbery we thought...hahaha. This was when you could get three peices of bubble gum for a penny.
Nowadays, the ice cream man will sell you an ice ROCK cones for a buck or more...they blow.

[tikibob]

Pleasant Valley Sunday

The local rock group down the street
Is trying hard to learn their song
Seranade the weekend squire, who just came out to mow his lawn

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday
Charcoal burning everywhere
Rows of houses that are all the same
And no one seems to care

See Mrs. Gray she's proud today because her roses are in bloom
Mr. Green he's so serene, He's got a t.v. in every room

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday
Here in status symbol land
Mothers complain about how hard life is
And the kids just don't understand

Creature comfort goals
They only numb my soul and make it hard for me to see
My thoughts all seem to stray, to places far away
I need a change of scenery

Ta Ta Ta...

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday
Charcoal burning everywhere
Another Pleasant Valley Sunday
Here in status symbol land

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday...




Good ole Slip n' slip! ;D Talk about your "Pleasant Valley Sunday"! Way cool! I remember if you didn't slide just right, you would always end up rolling on the grass, and depending how much you threw yourself on the slip n' slide for speed and power, it would result with a bigger grass rash! LOL! ;D As a kid, I loved Summer vacation! I remember those cool twisted coke bottles. They used to sell them at the swat meet. I remember they use to make them as comical birds, with fuzzy hair and filled with different color layers of sand. I also remember around that time when it was popular to have those glass displays that had colored oil and water. It looked like the tide of the ocean rolling in when you tilted it, remember that? ;D They were popular in places like "Spencer's" who dealt with psychedelic stuff for the masses, like (black lights, incense, posters,etc) Very very cool! I also remember it was about that time when skateboards had made a huge comeback. You were way styling if you had Trux axles and Cadillac wheels. I think Bushy knows what I'm talking about here. I also remember around that time that there was this reflexive tape (sticker) that had a rainbow prism effect. We kids used to buy it by the rolls, and plastered everything we could think of with it. This was before the Rainbow fad before everybody had a rainbow window decal on their car's back window. lol! ;D Of course, how could I forget the neighborhood ice cream man. I remember running barefoot across my neighbor's lawns ( because the sideway was too hot, ha ha! ;D) trying to catch him. I always thought it was a special treat when my folk gave me the money to buy something from him. That didn't happen very often, but when it did, I felt like the king of the hill.

[Susie]

Tikibob, I really dig you, man!

Ok...who besides me still has there prized PET ROCK??? I just took a digital picture of it, but I'll have to wait until my husband can transfer it to the computer so I can post it up here.

My Pet Rock was "captured" by my uncle and he mounted it to a piece of wood. He like originality, so he dubbed it (on the underside of the wood) "Wild Rock of Tex." Then wrote under that "Don't Tease or Feed" and you can barely make out his name and "76"...as he always signed and dated anything he made. He was a very cool guy.

I can remember my mom giggling when he presented to me...all serious in the face. He was pretending to make the box shake like it had something alive in it. I remember saying to him..."but mom says I can't have no pets" and he said "this is no pet, this is a wild animal!" For a minute I thought it was a rattlesnake or something really dangerous. Hahahaha!

Like I said, I just took pictures and will post soon, if I can.

[tikibob]

Thanks, Susie. I dig you, too. ;D

I have to admit, as young as I was ( early teens) I knew the difference between cool and hokey. Pet rocks were definitely and major put on! I remember thinking at the time, WHY? LOL! ;D I sure as hell wouldn't tell my friends if I was to buy one. I would of been seriously laughed at, not to mention ridiculed! ;D I think they were cool as a time piece of nostalgia during the 1970's. However, when I look back at it, even back than, I always considered it pretty lame! Like the old put on fad of the jackolope (a rabbit with antlers) LOL! no offense! ;D

[tikibob]

Speaking of corn, remember this cheesy toy? ;D



"Hey good looking, we'll be back to pick you up later."






Mr. Microphone was actually a low-power FM modulator, but through the magic of Ronco advertising, the device was turned into a hip tool to pick-up girls. The only problem with this commercial: you had to know what station the receiving FM radio was tuned to, so you could infiltrate their radio. Getting the frequency just right would have taken much insight and tuning time. Oh well, it's only TV. It's one of the classic commercials of the 1970's.

LOL! Too funny! ;D

[redhead]

Oh man-what flashbacks! Does anyone remember Ka-bangers? "They glow in black light!" I used to be a pro at those and I am sure they don't sell them anymore 'cause kids probably really hurt themselves with them.

There are so many toys now that they could never make because of kids injuries, yet when we had them, we had no problems...

[penlop]

Can anyone tell me what website those pics were from?I can't find it.They brought back alot of memories,you should check out e-bay,they actually have most of these toys for sale.A bottle of goop for the thingmaker machine goes for at least $75.00 a bottle.It is insane what these toys go for it makes me sick to think how much money i threw out in toys or broke them.No one knows what all will be worth money,but i have started a box for my 1 year old grandaughter of things,a holiday barbie every year,things that i would like her to have when she is an adult so she can see what kind of toys were out when she was little.

[bev]

Creepy crawlers and gloop stuff... Too dangerous for kids today!Can you imagine the lawsuits with kids getting burned?? Remember the Incredible Edibles? Same thing but edible!