most memorable motorized toy when you were a kid?

[nwcove]

ok, we did the best and worst automobiles......what motorized "toy" ( go cart, dirt bike, snow machine etc), brings back the most fond memories of when you were a kid? ......preferably something you saved your "paper route" money for , and bought yourself!!

#1 for myself was an early 70's ski-doo olympic 340 one cyl. a 13 year old with a sled that had a pop up headlight!!
#2...a 1980 "something", yamaha yz80 liquid cooled dirt bike, bought it well used....but what fun toy....if i rememeber right, it made 21 hp at 12000 rpm.
#3 ( which could easily be #1 or 2), was a 1978 john deere liquid cooled 440cc snowmobile, spent a whole summers pay on it....but worth every cent! ( if i could find that same machine now...in good shape, id pay top dollar)

 

[matt167]

Re: most memorable motorized toy when you were a kid?

1985 Commemorative edition Pace car Corvette... Go kart. IIRC it was made by Music city and was very beat. 3.5hp Tecumseh which ran ok.. Never ran it with the 'vette body on it because it went much faster without it ( 4 bolts and it lifted off ). Used to take it to the old dirt road and I could get it sideways in the turns. My dad, brother and I were running timed 'laps' around the lawn, and as the lawn got dug up that day, the steering got very loose in 1 of the turns we had, I hit a tree with it. Dad and I straightened it out a couple days later and it was up and running again.

 

[foodfisher]

Re: most memorable motorized toy when you were a kid?

Little steam engine thing that ran on solid "hobo" fuel. Couldn't posses any attachments though.

 

[JimS123]

Re: most memorable motorized toy when you were a kid?

When you said "toy" the first thing that came to mind was my American Flyer electric train. Got it for Christmas when I was 5. The set got expanded with Christmas money every year until I was a teenager. Then, girls took over.....LOL.

When my youngest son was 5 (by now its an antique) I picked up many used engines and cars and now have a huge set, awaiting my first grandchild.

We didn't have money for dirt bikes and stuff like that. When I earned money as a teenager, I only got to keep a bit of it. The rest was put in my college fund. Good thing too....when I graduated I was debt free and bought a brand new SS396 convertible (Malibu Chevelle) and paid cash for it. So, I guess THAT was my favorite toy!!

 

[colbyt]

Re: most memorable motorized toy when you were a kid?

Most toys did not have motors when I was a boy but then I did have a gas powered airplane that flew on the end of a string. It was almost as cantankerous to start as a cheap outboard.

 

[V153]

Re: most memorable motorized toy when you were a kid?

We were in Miami during the late 60s when my Dad brought home a 1/4 scale Lincoln 2 door convertible. Fiberglass body, 'go-kart' frame, solid tires, 24v electric motor.

With a pair of freshly charged batteries that thing would lay rubber halfway down the street. Steered via vice grips cuz we couldn't find a wheel that fit ...

 

[rbh]

Re: most memorable motorized toy when you were a kid?

Had the used dirt/trail bikes and a Tri-ang train set and the cox airplane!


But the only thing that still makes me laugh is the single track hot wheels booster station.

It had a control lever on it that would spin the foam covered wheels on it from super fast to super slow.
We got this for Christmas just before convoy came out, then we figured out by moving the control back and forth it sounded like a big rig shifting gears.
Then we were playing truck driver, LOL

Funny how this stuff sticks to the old grey matter.

 

[JB]

Re: most memorable motorized toy when you were a kid?

There were nothing like that when I was a small boy. As a matter of fact I only remember a top that I played with. . .no motor. I didn't play with toys. I went fishing and read books; built pond racer sailboats and a small gas engine with my Dad. I did play canasta with my Grandma's bridge club and chess with Dad's friends. Had to stop that because grownups didn't like getting beat by a little boy. The only thing I had with wheels was a hand-me-down bike that took me to my favorite fishing places.

 

[CharlieB]

Re: most memorable motorized toy when you were a kid?

Gas

Late 50's maybe 196o, Dad brought home a used Tote-Goat for us boys to take turns riding the logging trails. A 2 1/2 or 3 HP Briggs, Salsbury centrifugal belt/clutch and a couple of gear/chain reductions, that thing could pull a loaded truck and gradually get a load up to speed. With just a little kid it could go about 3 on open ground. We ran that thing for years.

Electric

About the same time (@1960) I had a kind of erector set, plastic base plate with low walls to keep the water from spilling, a holding tank and battery electric motor belt driven water pump. Plastic I-beams that snapped together to build a high rise building, plastic pipes and hoses to rig supply plumbing and drains.

Went thru lots of batteries running that pump until one of my brothers stepped on it and broke the main plate and half my girder beams.

 

[generator12]

Re: most memorable motorized toy when you were a kid?

My first and all time favorite motorized toy was a wind-up tractor somebody gave me while I was in a hospital bed recovering from removal of my tonsils. They had to take it away from me to get me to sleep. Loved it and wish I could find one even now, some 67 years later.

Next favorite was my Lionel electric train. It's probably still running for some lucky kid (or collector).

Third was an .049 engine that I used on a model airplane which I used to run on a tether. By the time it ran all the fuel out, I was dizzy as hell!

Great thread!

 

[82rude]

Re: most memorable motorized toy when you were a kid?

Most toys did not have motors when I was a boy but then I did have a gas powered airplane that flew on the end of a string. It was almost as cantankerous to start as a cheap outboard.

i had a spitfire like that .lasted 1 go around and i crashed it into a million pieces ,lol.

 

[southkogs]

Re: most memorable motorized toy when you were a kid?

i had a spitfire like that .lasted 1 go around and i crashed it into a million pieces ,lol.

...a model airplane which I used to run on a tether. By the time it ran all the fuel out, I was dizzy as hell!

Great thread!

I had one of those!

I don't remember a motorized toy. We had one pedal car that my brother and I thought was the pinnacle of cool. Legos and Hotwheels for inside. Outside it was guns, boats and airplanes (real ones).

Interesting but Dad let us play with his toys mostly ... that's pretty cool now that I think about it.

 

[BlkY2k]

Re: most memorable motorized toy when you were a kid?

Didnt have anything with a motor til my early teens, The first was a old 16' wood boat with a Ole Mercury super 10 hurricane. Start was about 3/4 throttle so you better have both feet planted when you pulled that rope. I was king of the lake, when I had gas that is. Second was a 1976 AJS 410 Stormer dirt bike that I still have. We set it up for ice racing and I made the rounds to all the festivals and actually won a fair share. I keep telling myself I`m going to get it running one of these days. Maybe this winter. They are pretty rare bike.

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: most memorable motorized toy when you were a kid?

I had one of those!

I don't remember a motorized toy. We had one pedal car that my brother and I thought was the pinnacle of cool. Legos and Hotwheels for inside. Outside it was guns, boats and airplanes (real ones).

Interesting but Dad let us play with his toys mostly ... that's pretty cool now that I think about it.

LOL. My initial reply to this thread was going be I never had a motorized toy until I started reading about the u-control airplanes. I had one too! I think it is a P-51. I still have it! Being plastic and the wings were held on by rubber bands, it somehow survived all the crashes. Getting dizzy is an understatement. Could never fly it now. Can't even do the tilt-a-whirl. They should rename it to the hurl-a-whirl......

Always wanted a hot wheels set, nope, too expensive. Pedal car, nope, too expensive. A kid on the block had one, he was the envy of the neighborhood. I think his dad worked for the bank or an insurance co. Dad wasn't into snowmobiles either, so..........

Had a Aurora slot car set. Does that count????????? Good times there.................

 

[ezbtr]

Re: most memorable motorized toy when you were a kid?

Pedal car, Big Wheel, Cox .049 buggy and airplanes on string, Cox .020 helicopter(free flight, was cool!) electric trains, dump truck that blew real "smoke", and bikes I'd build from 2-3 wrecked ones,

 

[jkust]

Re: most memorable motorized toy when you were a kid?

When I was 5 I got a train set which I played with for years. When I was 14 I built a hydroplane in the garage and bought an 18 hp Johnson from a local resort selling their engines off. The hydroplane was great and pretty fast until I took a hard right and flew out of it while it turned in circles around me. It happened that my dad was clocking me in the Bayliner (this was in the mid 80's) and so he jumped in the water, timed the circles the hydroplane was doing, swam up to it and managed to kill the engine. We then installed a lanyard kill switch. I still have the 18hp Johnson but my parents tossed the boat in a Bonfire many years later as it rotted in the woods at the cabin. I'd never let my kids do that nowdays but I have a lot of fun memories cruising the lake in it.

 

[southkogs]

Re: most memorable motorized toy when you were a kid?

Always wanted a hot wheels set, nope, too expensive. Pedal car, nope, too expensive.

You and I might still have lived in the same neighborhood. Never had a HotWheels set ... just the cars. The pedal car was a rescue we found and fixed (same way I would get a "boom box" portable stereo years later).

Had a Aurora slot car set. Does that count????????? Good times there.................

I forgot about those ... we had one too! Some of those old cars were really cool: I remember a Ferrari body and a Ford GT, but I don't know what else we had.

Wow ... I'm really dusting off some memories now!

 

[rbh]

Re: most memorable motorized toy when you were a kid?

You and I might still have lived in the same neighborhood. Never had a HotWheels set ... just the cars. The pedal car was a rescue we found and fixed (same way I would get a "boom box" portable stereo years later).


I forgot about those ... we had one too! Some of those old cars were really cool: I remember a Ferrari body and a Ford GT, but I don't know what else we had.

Wow ... I'm really dusting off some memories now!

Most of those expensive toys usually were for me and my brothers, kind of a group gift.

Learned to share fast or the fights broke out.

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: most memorable motorized toy when you were a kid?

Most of those expensive toys usually were for me and my brothers, kind of a group gift.

Learned to share fast or the fights broke out.

LOL, same here. Except I only had one brother....... Still fought!

 

[DECK SWABBER 58]

Re: most memorable motorized toy when you were a kid?

A neighborhood kid had a home-made mini bike that I had to have. It was a Schwinn stingray with a Briggs & Stratton mounted above where the pedals used to be. A pulley was welded on to the rear wheel for a v-belt. No centrifugal clutch, you pushed started it and jumped on, no brakes because the pedals we're gone. If you leaned too sharp on a turn your knee hit the spark plug. The throttle stuck and I crashed into the front steps and was forced to sell it.