Remember when toys were toys? (Ahhh the good old days!)

reply to post by Timely


No, the exact same one that he posted!

Originally posted by sk0rpi0n
reply to post by Timely

 

No, the exact same one that he posted!

Gameboy or Batmobile ( my original toy one is / was the same as the George Barris original 1966 car that-
sold recently for 4. something million ) ?

Checked online pics. OK crappy photo. ( if you turned it upside down, it had a full length Batman embossed on-
the undercarriage.)

Originally posted by Timely

Originally posted by sk0rpi0n
reply to post by Timely

 

No, the exact same one that he posted!

Gameboy or Batmobile ( my original toy one is / was

the same as the George Barris original 1966 car that-
sold recently for 4. something million

) ?

Checked online pics. OK crappy photo. ( if you turned it upside down, it had a full length Batman embossed on-
the undercarriage.)

edit on 3-4-2013 by Timely because: (no reason given)

Do you realise i have just spluttered coffee all over my desk? For a moment i thought you were talking about the toy car when you said 4 something million.

I do believe that i have the very same car with Batman embossed on the bottom which is in a box somewhere in a cousins house in the UK! (glad my cousin is not a member of ATS!!!) Shame it's not the same as Georges though!

Kindest respects

Rod

reply to post by Rodinus

The markings are one of the things that make such toys quite special. They're historic and represent a specific era in history.

It's like some of the old clockwork mechanical bears I have, especially a few from the former USSR (CCCP in Russian script). I even have one from 1973 with the original box, printed in Russian -- including the CCCP. It's almost forty years old (dated at 22-X-73), looks like new and works perfectly. Another still has a small cloth label sewn to its foot with the price printed on it: 2 R 60 K. (2 roubles, 60 kopeks.) This was not exactly cheap in those days but these toys were built to last.

Toys are a significant part of human history and help us to see how people lived, what they thought, and what sort of values they passed on to their children. In some ways, they reflect the trends in society at a given point. And because toys equate to free time and recreation, they also demonstrate the importance a society placed on giving children opportunities to play.

But yes, I like old toys. The attitude to producing them was different years ago. Toys were meant to last for an entire generation of a family's children, which in earlier days often spanned a couple of decades and several siblings.

And here's an interesting thing. Some years back I built three pedal cars from scratch, originally for my wife's grandsons. They've grown up now, so we took one of the cars out to our cottage and the neighbours' kids or grandkids take it out for a ride sometimes. And they love it because it's solid (with steel bodywork), so it doesn't make that crummy hollow plastic noise when it's rolling along and there's no chance of smashing it to bits when they crash into something, either.

When one kid goes off down the road in it (on a no-through road, so it's quite safe), everyone around stops to watch. The older folks talk about the cars they had as kids years ago, and the younger ones all want to drive it!

A pedal car that's not made of metal isn't a real car!

reply to post by JustMike


Thanks for your reply Just and i would like to congratulate you on your 6000th post firstly



I built a pedal car too for my sons although out of wood and this has been passed down to my nephew and niece now, it's great fun to see them trundling down the road and as you so correctly say "not hear those plastic squeaky noises!)

it even has one of those old original rubber and brass hooters on it!

Ahhhhh the good old days hey?

Kindest respects

Rodinus

reply to post by JustMike


This includes you too Rod. Any chance of posting some pics of your pedal cars?

I had a little red "lightening" pedal car ... and it went " thousands of miles per hour"!

My favorite toys were my G.I. Joe action figures. Not the RAH(Real American Hero) ones, the older ones, the 12-inch tall ones, with his friends Bulletman and Atomic Man, The Adventure Team ones. I'd play for hours by myself, and the adventures they'd go on
en.wikipedia.org...

S&F for good memories

Originally posted by Timely
reply to post by JustMike

 

This includes you too Rod. Any chance of posting some pics of your pedal cars?

I had a little red "lightening" pedal car ... and it went " thousands of miles per hour"!

I will do my best as that pedal car is down in the South of France now, but should be going there in a couple of weeks so will get some decent pics taken.

Kindest respects

Rod

My father worked for a company that was an agent for John Deere-and he brought me miniatures of JD tractors and combine harvesters-how i wish i kept them!

I was a tomboyish lil girl,loved climbing trees,roofs,riding my bicycle(a red Western Flyer) all over town.How i loved the feeling of freedom-that really was the best "toy" i ever had.

My mother felt a girl Should play with dolls-trouble is,i find dolls sinister,always have,always will.So when my l'il friends,usually boys,came over-we would have great fun mutilating them

reply to post by Rodinus

Arrgh! 6000 posts already? I should get out more!

Yes, kids like the "solid" sounds of the older cars. They're just so different from the plastic ones we most often see these days.

reply to post by Timely

I just did a few pics using my little handycam. Quality's not great but better than nothing. In reality the car is a much richer, deeper red. It's automotive paint so it should last quite well.

Anyway here they are:



The steering wheel was actually the trickiest part to make. (I didn't make the wheels. They came from an old pram that someone had parked by our dumpster as a "take it if you want it" offering. Old prams are great sources for parts. )

Oh, in the last pic you can see a packet of cigarettes to give you a size comparison.

reply to post by Rodinus


Geez Rod this thread has made me think. Other than Hot Wheels, the only toy's that come to mind for me were. Lots and lots of different toy guns, Cap guns, BB guns ( ever seen A Christmas Story?) Dart Guns, Guns that sparked, Guns that shot litte yellow balls, and yes of course a spud gun.

Then being from a rural area, at about 10, I steped up to real guns. They were not toys, and were treated with respect. But after about 10, Hunting and fishing took up most of my free time.

Wait a minute, my mini bike!! I spent a lot of time on that after chores were done.

So let's sum it up Fast Cars, Guns, and Motorcycles. I guess Americans might be spoiled and brainwashed from birth??

reply to post by JustMike


Wow... that is more like ARTWORK JustMike.. Bravo!

I will be ashamed when i get the pics taken of the car (if i can call it that now?)

Kindest respects

Rod

Originally posted by rockymcgilicutty
reply to post by Rodinus

 

Geez Rod this thread has made me think. Other than Hot Wheels, the only toy's that come to mind for me were. Lots and lots of different toy guns, Cap guns, BB guns ( ever seen A Christmas Story?) Dart Guns, Guns that sparked, Guns that shot litte yellow balls, and yes of course a spud gun.

Then being from a rural area, at about 10, I steped up to real guns. They were not toys, and were treated with respect. But after about 10, Hunting and fishing took up most of my free time.

Wait a minute, my mini bike!! I spent a lot of time on that after chores were done.

So let's sum it up Fast Cars, Guns, and Motorcycles. I guess Americans might be spoiled and brainwashed from birth??

edit on 3-4-2013 by rockymcgilicutty because: (no reason given)

LOL... Redneck toys... could have guessed coming from you mate!

But then again.... i am sure that many boys had toy guns, bows n arrows etc... at one stage or another!

Kindest respects

Rod

reply to post by JustMike


Man! They are the ducks guts!

I would have killed for one of those as a car mad ankle biter !!
Just secretly ... wouldn't mind a big version - with an LS3 instead of a pair of legs as motivation.

reply to post by rockymcgilicutty

Hey, look at it this way: at least you were getting outside and being active -- which is what kids really should be doing.

Kids should be outside and if they want to play in the dirt or the mud, just let them wear old clothes and go for it! It's healthy! You know, I reckon some of the allergy problems we see with many kids these days is partly because they just don't get out and about so much any more. Kids are supposed to mess around, get dirty, skin their knees and have fun by being active.

Yes, I know that for many kids in urban environments it's very hard for them to find good, safe places to play. But the solution is for urban planners to make sure they have these places. It's not natural for kids to grow up surrounded only by concrete and tarmac. Kids needs trees to climb, little hills to roll down, grass to crawl through while they "hunt" whatever, streams or ponds to go and mess around in. That's how humans lived for thousands of years and in just a few generations it's all changed and those changes are not for the better.

Remember when we (older ones of us here) used to go outside and invent games and find things to do? We had to use our heads. We didn't get all our games and activities served up to us on a plastic plate. In fact, my parents just wouldn't let us sit indoors and watch TV unless the weather was absolutely foul. Otherwise, it was "Go outside and play!"

This thread is about toys, but also about the "good old days". For me, memories of being a kid are not just about the toys I had, but of getting outside and messing around with a few other kids and having fun.

Now we have kids who actually say "LOL" when they hear something funny. That's almost scary. The whole way they interact has changed. And the modern-day "toys" they often spend time with are just turning them futher inward rather than helping them to interact with others in real-time, recreational situations -- a fancy way to say "helping them to play".

Those kids out at the cottage who drove the pedal car I took there. (Another one, not the one in the pics.) We had to teach them how to pedal it, because most of them had no idea how to do it. They couldn't do it intuitively as we often did. But they learned fast, as kids do when they have something solid and real to work with. And they had real fun. They took it in turns going down the road (others running along behind), they pushed it back up the road together, they had big brother sit and pedal while little sister steered (because she couldn't reach the pedals), and they gained something special: memories of truly playing together and getting happily tired out from it.

That's what good toys should do.

reply to post by JustMike



Wouldn't it be funny if some of us here asked our kids to explain what the following games are :

Tigs off ground
Kiss catch
What time is it Mr wolf?
Hopscotch
Japs n Commandos
Cowboys n indians
Home made theatre
Hide n Seek
Kite flying
Snake n Ladders

And goodness know how many more...

Kindest respects

Rod

reply to post by JustMike


Excellent reply, one paragraph inparticular got me thinking.

Remember when we (older ones of us here) used to go outside and invent games and find things to do? We had to use our heads. We didn't get all our games and activities served up to us on a plastic plate.

I remember!! Now after about 8 or 9 when kids learn computer games most imagination is lost.

In fact, my parents just wouldn't let us sit indoors and watch TV unless the weather was absolutely foul. Otherwise, it was "Go outside and play

When I was young I thuoght they did that to just get rid of us.
But they were right they did it for us.

Originally posted by rockymcgilicutty
reply to post by JustMike

 

Excellent reply, one paragraph inparticular got me thinking.

Remember when we (older ones of us here) used to go outside and invent games and find things to do? We had to use our heads. We didn't get all our games and activities served up to us on a plastic plate.

I remember!! Now after about 8 or 9 when kids learn computer games most imagination is lost.

In fact, my parents just wouldn't let us sit indoors and watch TV unless the weather was absolutely foul. Otherwise, it was "Go outside and play

When I was young I thuoght they did that to just get rid of us.

But they were right they did it for us.

Nah, they were giving us the flick. We just made the most of it.

We didn't need you beaut electronics. We had sticks, mud and imaginations, we would also need to be called home at dark for dinner.

Can't stand to hear the words ...I'm Bored.

reply to post by Timely


Your right, they were getting rid of us. The only time I remember saying I'm bored was when it was raining, and I was stuck inside.

reply to post by rockymcgilicutty


That's when you break out the scalextrics or a humungous hotwheels layout, maybe some smash-up-derby,
Or get out the soldiers and marbles and re-write history!

TV back in the day, maybe had two hrs. content worth my time. ( weekly )

A couple of my faves;

The Samurai
The Phantom Agents
Batman
Mighty Mouse
Superman ( George Reeve/s )

There are more ... all in glorious Black & White ...